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Boa tail photo: male or female?

SnakeAround

SnakeAround

Formerly Blutengel
I want to knwo what you guys think this boa is: male or female, judging from the photo:

staart.JPG


She measures about 4 feet and weighed 4700 grams in October 2011. I want to know because I bought her as a female, she was probed about half a year ago as a female but she harasses her room mate (a slightly smaller female) with sexual behavior. The room mate does not seem to care about it and does fine but I do not want babies and as far as I know a female must be 4 years old before she is ready to have a litter. She was born in January 2009 but still...
 
Looks male to me, I'm only somewhat experienced with Rosy boas and slightly with Sand boas but those are some big spurs on "her!"
 
Looks to me as a dude snake as well. Can you get a better pic showing the tapering of the tail?
 
Not a 100% sure. I've seen big spurs on both males and females..

could the mating behavior actually be fighting? When I had two corns together (both males) they'd constantly display what I thought was mating behavior, was actually fighting according to here.
 
This is a BAD way to figure it out... unreliable.
I would venture a guess and say male because:
1- Spurs are dominant.
2- The tail is wide and even swells a bit after the cloaca, which may suggest the presence of the hemipene.

Regardless, this is NOT a good way to check the sex of the animal... the Boa needs probing by an experienced keeper.
 
I second trying to get a shot of the rest of the tail. It looks a bit thick to to me but I'm even shakier on telling gender by tail shape.
 
That swelling past the vent is the reason I asked for a better pic. Probing is the best way though.
 
It was already probed by a very experienced keeper... he was 100% sure because he really felt he 'hit the bottom' with the probing needle at a certain moment when she started moved her tail a bit. But I will try to find someone else to probe her again.
 
At this age, they can easily constrict their muscles powerfully enough to block intrusion.
At any rate, spurs are not a really solid indicator.
 
Yeah the guy that probed her first hesitated to say what she was because he thought she might be contracting her muscles. She was not at all relaxed about it. But a few secs later she moved in a way that made the probe go towards the end of the tail and it 'hit bottom'.
 
If you are unsure of the sex and don't want premature breeding, seperate the pair then there's no problem.
 
Yeah I know... but the smaller female is too big for al vivs I have now....I might arrange she can get in the biggest one available for now. I trusted on the probing so far.
 
I know but she does not seem bothered by it: she is not trying to get away, or if she does it is in a calm manner like they usually do and she eats very well. She does not avoid the larger female... she seems indifferent about it. Sometimes I 'chase off' the larger female if it annoys me, and she does stop and gets away of the smaller one, the eagerness to go on with the behavior seems very low. Maybe the courting ritual in boa's is always that calm and gentle... dunno.
 
So if you really think it's breeding behaviour and the smaller female is too young, then I don't really see any answer but to separate them to be safe. But they are your animals and it's your choice.
 
I know... but I would have to sell one of them because I do not have space for two boa vivs.. I don't wanna chooe...first I need a definitive probing, I don't want to sel one for nothing...
 
SnakeAround said:
I know... but I would have to sell one of them because I do not have space for two boa vivs.. I don't wanna chooe...first I need a definitive probing, I don't want to sel one for nothing...
Click to expand...
I'm not anti-cohabbing. But I would have thought as a minimum requiremnt a keeper would make sure they have provisions for if it doesn't work out and the snakes have to be separated, in case of illness or of one of the snakes not thriving. If you haven't got space to keep two boas why buy two boas?
This really plays into the argument that this is an example of cohabbing as a convenience for the keeper, not in the benefit of the animals, because keeping them together saves you space.
 
Kokopelli said:
This is a BAD way to figure it out... unreliable.
I would venture a guess and say male because:
1- Spurs are dominant.
2- The tail is wide and even swells a bit after the cloaca, which may suggest the presence of the hemipene.

Regardless, this is NOT a good way to check the sex of the animal... the Boa needs probing by an experienced keeper.
Click to expand...

I agree with Oren, this a not a very reliable way to sex them, but that tail has a very male look.

SnakeAround said:
I know but she does not seem bothered by it: she is not trying to get away, or if she does it is in a calm manner like they usually do and she eats very well. She does not avoid the larger female... she seems indifferent about it. Sometimes I 'chase off' the larger female if it annoys me, and she does stop and gets away of the smaller one, the eagerness to go on with the behavior seems very low. Maybe the courting ritual in boa's is always that calm and gentle... dunno.
Click to expand...

That sounds like courting behavior. Redtails can also have dominance issues.

This is one of the LAST types of snake I would ever cohab.

SnakeAround said:
I know... but I would have to sell one of them because I do not have space for two boa vivs.. I don't wanna chooe...first I need a definitive probing, I don't want to sel one for nothing...
Click to expand...

Do you understand the size of tank needed to keep two full grown adult female boas? If you had room for that, you have room for two vivs.

Why on earth would you buy an animal without the means to house it properly?
 
I never said I co-hab for the animals, I do it to be able to be keep more animals, but in a way I prefer above drawer like racks, because they have more space available per animal and height so they can climb. Looking at the animal alone we would keep most species individually in large vivs with loads of climbing material and such. People who keep snakes in drawer like racks, do so because they want to keep more snakes too, not for the snakes sake.

That said, In case of an urgent need to separate I can arrange a viv, but that is not large enough for a permanent stay.
 
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