help sexing...

[bob]

nessy: do you know the sex of your parietalis? can you count your's and i can see if mine is the same/different sex... or indeed anyone else who has a parietalis and will be willing to help...

cheers

[suzoo]

Hello Bob,
I have been sexing my own snakes for 10 years, and I would say male at 1st glance. I could be wrong, but I haven't been yet with my own.
Suzoo

[GarterGuy]

Males have 84-85 subcaudal scales on one side of their body, posterior to the vent. Start counting at the vent when the first two subcaudal scales from different sides actually touch one another. Don't count the first few scales near the vent that don't touch. Females have about 71-72, plus the tail spike.

Cool, thanx Rick!

[nessy]

hi bob, not sure what sex mine is, was told by the shop owner that it's a girl cos i planned on breeding later... but he was wrong about the species! haha so i dont really trust the sex...
i had a quick count, about 69-73 from a picture...quite easy to lose count especially at the tip of the tail!
probably be more useful if more snakes were counted and compared though.

[Cazador]

Sorry Nessy. I don't have data for T.s. parietalis, but it would be fun to start a database for reference among forum members. All it would take is for people to post their subcaudal scale counts (like you, Bob, and I are doing) and say what species/subspecies they have, OR they could post clear pictures of their snakes from the vent to the tail spike and mention what subspecies they have.

Bob,
I got 66 on your snake before the tail went behind that handle (or whatever) in your picture. Your camera really takes nice pictures. Let us know the final count, okay?

Rick

[nessy]

what a great idea Rick!! that would be a great piece of work!
yeah i'll get a better count on my parietalis now, but my info might not be that reliable cos i dont know for sure what sex mine is.







GarterGuy's idea: genius

[GarterGuy]

Also, I imagine that you could count the ventrals using a shed skin...might be lots easier then counting on a swirmy snake or taking a good enough pic.

[bob]

[Cazador]

I'd offer one more tip, if you're going to use a picture. Take several pictures from different angles, and try to focus near the tip of the tail since that area has the smallest scales. The larger scales near the vent are always much easier to see.

Bob, I counted 85 scales on yours before the small gap in dots near the tail spike. Then I couldn't tell where the scales ended and the spike began. If you come up with anything different (besides 85 or 86), please let us know, okay? If we get enough responses, we'll start keeping better records. Cheers,
Rick

[abcat1993]

Or can't you just wait until it sheds and count the shed?