C insularis- male or female?

Hi guys. I am fortunate to have a beautiful C. insularis CBB 2011. cheers

The sire was owned by Mike Torocco and the dam is Al Coritz's. I got this snake back in July, and have been feeding it f/t mouse fuzzies every 1-2 weeks since. I've never owned an arboreal viper that ate like this one- it's insatiable!! It would eat every day if I let it I think. Al thought it was probably a male, but it's growth has been so rapid that I am wondering. I am nervous to probe it as I do not want to injure it; can I get a good idea of gender from subcaudal scales? The tail is very long and thin, the head is large, and the overall snake has tripled in size since July. It is one of my favorite specimens....I really love the bright yellow. Here are a few pictures of the snake, if that helps anyone guess at sex for me.

C insularis- male or female? 20121114_211145

C insularis- male or female? 20121114_211145

C insularis- male or female? 20121111_180848

C insularis- male or female? 20121111_174656

The snake shed in one perfect piece this morning. I intend to use the shed to get a subcaudal scale count.

Nice snake, but for determinating the sex of it - only the other end is what we need!
Please make pictures from the tail!

Best will be to put it in a box and make a picture, when possible from the bottom side

for the possibility that you can´t ame new pictures, here are some to compare with yours.

Note also, that males are allways a littel bit smaler and slender than females. Here at my room, the females are now 70-80 cm and the three year old male only 40 cm!
Yours look to me as an snake of around 50-60 cm and much like a female.

But compare by your self. Have a special view on the lenght & shape of the tails!

First pic - Tail of a male T. insularis - Wetar

C insularis- male or female? T_insu12

2nd - tail of an female T. insularis Wetar

C insularis- male or female? T_insu13

last one, a couple to compare the size

C insularis- male or female? T_insu15

hope it helps a bit.

Peter, I can take new pictures. I did dig through my Photobucket and found this tail shot...female?
C insularis- male or female? Fc8b1f65

This is the picture given to me by Al when I was choosing the snake:
C insularis- male or female? 6a603fbe

Here is the size when I brought it home...it's hard to believe Parallax (viper's name) ever fit into that cup...would take up every inch now! This was early July 2012.
C insularis- male or female? 5ee4b1e6

Hi Kimberly,
not realy usefull pictures, but better than the first ones.

So, when I have a look on the 2nd picture, I will sugest, that´s a female.
Not for 100%, its only the best what i can say about this now.

I don´t know how are your experiences about Vipers in gerneral, but it´s nearly the same than in most of them. Longer Tails in Males , shorter in females. Males are slender, females bigger.... But, I know it´s hard, when you have only one snake and nothing to compare.

I'm going to do a subcaudal scale count today... can you tell me what the count range should be?

Males: 70-75 subcaudal scales;

Females: 54-59 subcaudal scales.

I just completed the scale count.

Counting the scales immediately after the cloaca, depending on which I chose as the first, it was 59-61 subcaudal scales. I did not see evidence of hemipenes on the shed, although there is a trace of some tannish deposit near the cloaca

I just counted the left side of the caudal scales and got 54 and 57. I guess it's somewhere between 54-60 caudal scales.....that would mean female right?

Can anyone tell me how definite a scale count of between 54-61 is for female?

Yes Kimberly, you will have for sure a female!

Well that's cool. I prefer a female as she will get larger and breeding loans can be arranged with my friend, who has a number of unrelated males.

Thats nice for you, and yes, they grow up very big. I was suprised that now my females are between 70-90 cm! My male only 40 cm. And very slender.

Wow, I can't wait until Parallax gets full grown. She's such a stunning snake. A good friend of mine has an unrelated male that he has offered for a breeding loan when Parallax is old enough. Smile

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