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injury by popping or probing

Audrey87

New member
Hi all,

me again.. i sent my king to be popped by a fren and he came back female.. but now i sent him for probing, he turns out to be male. is this common?

also, i dunno if my friend has injured him although he is moving normally as usual. coz now i read so many post about injury by popping im scared. i stood by my fren to see him pop the king and he did it a number of times (about 10.. ) but never had the hermipens come out.

also, what are the ways a snake can get injured by probing? by ppl pushing too deep and breaking the membrane and what else?

want to educate myself more on doing this myself instead of sending to my fren coz i dun think my fren is very expereinced. btw, we dont have vets or pets stores to do this.. and most of my breeder frens only know how to pop.

so help would be great!
 
If a mistake is made in popping, it is usually a male who pops "female" because the person popping can't get the hemipenes out. I always pop females three times to confirm. (Females can also have stubby musk glands which a person might mistake for hemipenes, but true hemipens on a hatchling look like little red or white sticks, not cone-shaped bumps). Now you don't need to exert a lot of pressure, but you need the right amount in the right place. If you don't get hemipenes on your first try, move further away from the vent, toward the tip of the tail, slightly, and try again.

When probing, of course it is possible to injure the animal. Some people recommend probing both sides, too, to confirm the result. You are more likely to injure the snake by using a probe that is too small, not too large.

It is likely that your snake was popped once as a female, but has been probed male by a more experiences person. It can be confirmed by reprobing.
 
oh thanks Nanci!! ur a life saver as always.. putting my mind at ease..

have u ever seen any visible injury during popping or probing? anyway to tell other than bringing it to a vet? because we dont have such vets in our country.. =(
 
Are you sure there are no reptile vets in your area? They're not common, but usually if you can get a snake, there's a vet for snakes within a half-decent distance. Try http://www.herpvetconnection.com/. I did when google yielded no results, and I found several vets in my area who see reptiles. :)

Then again, I notice you said "country". While Herp Vet Connection does have info on several herp vets outside the US, it is admittedly much more difficult to find a vet for herps outside the USA. I've been researching herp vet careers, however, and discovered that most zoo veterinarians are required to be able to work with herps. If push comes to shove, I'd try and see if a nearby zoo might have a vet willing to see your snake in an emergency. It never hurts to ask! :) Otherwise, any sort of wildlife rescue center should have someone with some experience with reptiles.
 
Hi Lycari,

lol trust me, there are no official petshops or vets that do reptiles in my country. I'm not from the US.

=)
 
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