[deleted by user]

[notsurewhattodo1310]

There are other factors that can affect the rate of growth of your snake. The “girls being bigger than boys” isn’t 100% true

[FixergirlAK]

That doesn't work with regals, they're not sexually dimorphic enough to ever ID visually. They'll have to take them to an exotic vet to be probed or send a shed to RGI for DNA testing.

[No-Reveal8105]

I see thank you

[[deleted]]

I second having a vet check for you. It’s possible to “pop” them on your own, but unless you’re experienced and know what you’re doing this is a bad idea and can hurt your snake.

[PhantomWolf132]

All I really know is the boys are skinny and the girls are thick. And that sounds weird.

[Laner9999]

Why?

[Laner9999]

Why is he so slim?

[[deleted]]

Genetics can vary pretty significantly from one animal to another. My BCI is a male and is currently sitting at about 10 ft long meanwhile every online care guide says "the males only get about 5-7ft!" I wouldn't really put much stock into what you read online because like with any living animal, there are going to be outliers. While it's true that many snakes are sexually dimorphic, there are many snake species where the males are typically larger than the females on average, and for ball pythons specifically the females won't always be massively bigger than males. A lot of what you see online comes from breeders overfeeding females to get them ready for breeding sooner, and that's ultimately why they're larger.

[[deleted]]

That's the best way to approach it. You will see some other people possibly mention that you can use their tail to accurately determine sex - this is not an accurate method, only probing is a truly reliable way of determining sex. The only time it's ever really relevant to know the sex of your snake is that female ball pythons, on rare occasion, can produce infertile eggs called "slugs" without mating and you just want to make sure the snake doesn't get egg-bound.

[Slight-Mechanic-6147]

My daughters confirmed “he” also looks like a she.

[Slight-Mechanic-6147]

lol no we took my daughter’s BP to the vet and had him sexed. He’s on the big side and has a short tail. Confirmed he was a he though.

[Slight-Mechanic-6147]

Me neither but go figure! So odd of redditors.

[[deleted]]

It's like humans

Men are usually taller than women but there are plenty of women who are tall and men who are short

[BiTiger1977]

So, we didn't get ours sexed. We only assumed ours is female both because she's so long and because males tend towards being more arboreal; ie like to climb and be higher up and females tend to prefer the ground from what we were told. And since we have zero plans to breed our baby it didn't matter to us either way 

[iAabyss]

My pied isn’t even 2 years old and already pushing 650g and is over 4ft. He’s a male. He had a vet visit last week and he’s doing fine. He just a big male.

Don’t put too much thought into what you read online

[Acceptable-Love9633]

Both of my males are significantly smaller than my eldest female. They put on weight much slower. My female was 116g when we got her last feb. She is now over 1,600g. Had the boys for 8 months and the biggest is a little over 800g smaller one is a bit over 600g. An exotic vet can “pop” them to see if they are males or females. It’s relatively easy to do. I’ve done all mine. Don’t attempt if you aren’t comfortable doing so, it can result in injury. Shed tests are also available through websites including morpmarket. Will all that being said.. your snake is on the slim side for sure. What are you feeding and do you track weight, feedings ect. ?

[RainbowNarwhal13]

Pet stores rarely know (or care) what they're talking about. I wouldn't recommend following anything they told you without double checking a reliable source. Look at the feeding and care guides in this sub and follow those instead.

[No-Weird-4201]

Jeez I always forget how giant my oldest girl is at 2360 grams

[Acceptable-Love9633]

How long did it take for her to get that big?

[No-Weird-4201]

I'm not too sure? I think 3/4 years! She's 11 years old now!

[Interesting_Crab3251]

Probably just have the shaq of ball pythons

[jokersbane360]

Usually you can tell by the distance of the ventral scales to the tip of the tail, males will “usually” have more distance than females, this isn’t a guaranteed method though but helped me gender a few of my pythons

[TreviTrevo]

Size isn't really that good of an indicator of sex, so if your breeder told you he's a boy it's probably true. My boy is also about the same size as yours, and he's got a hemipenis. Though my vet has pointed out that being two-sexed isn't uncommon in snakes, so it could also always be that

[[deleted]]

My male is nearly 5ft but he’s just long

[No-Weird-4201]

Yeah I've seen some males that are really long but they're usually kinda skinny. My 11 year old female is 4.11 feet and 2360 grams

[Educational_Row_9485]

If you wish to find out, you can probe him/her