hey guys,
this is the first time i've ever found these in a bucket. most of you know i've got most of my breeding experience with rosies and kenyans. in twelve years of breedin' little boas i've never seen real "plugs". if anyone out there has some across the board experience with different species, and can chime in with some valuable first hand stuff regarding the presence of plugs in a bucket, the floor is yours.
i'm stoked about finding these 'cause there from our YB pastel while in the company of our spider girl. never caught them locked, but i'm hopin' hard for the elusive belly bees !
wish me luck, and please let us know what your take on finding plugs is.
ck
http://www.reptileradio.net/reptileradio/picture.php?albumid=62&pictureid=281
sorry about the crappy pic...

"Sperm plug" is a term that most people use incorrectly. The only snake that produces a "sperm plug" is the Garter snake. The males put a plug in the female so no other males can reproduce with her. VPI has a great description on their site. Here is an excerpt.

"If you sexed this snake with a probe and did it correctly and there was some of what is (incorrectly) referred to as a "sperm plug" on the probe when you withdrew it, then I would say there is a strong probability that this animal is a male. A python "sperm plug" is better referred to as a "hemipenial cast" and is comprised of shed hemipenial skin and dried mucus, with probably a dash of the reptilian equivalent to smegma. We've never seen it form in a female python.

No species of python has or makes sperm plugs. A sperm plug is a waxy deposit that a male of some species of snakes (gartersnakes, for example) leaves in the gonadal openings of a female after copulation--the sperm plug blocks the sperm of other males from getting into the oviducts. "

From VPI.

I have always thought that people should stop using this term when describing a male that is ready to breed because he is "producing sperm plugs". If it doesnt even contain sperm than in my mind it has nothing to do with the male being ready to breed nor does it mean that he is producing sperm.

Nice post Noah I didn't know that. Some good info right there..

I have always thought that people should stop using this term when describing a male that is ready to breed because he is "producing sperm plugs". If it doesnt even contain sperm than in my mind it has nothing to do with the male being ready to breed nor does it mean that he is producing sperm.

Look at it this way -- if it's not found in female snakes (which is up for argument as many breeders claim to find them in females) and its not found in baby male snakes -- then you might infer the probability that the presents of the sperm plug indicates the snake has reached maturity and is producing sperm or some secretions relating to sexual maturity thereby causing the plugs to form.

But you are right just because the male is producing the plugs or even producing sperm doesn't mean it's ready to breed.

But you are right just because the male is producing the plugs or even producing sperm doesn't mean it's ready to breed.

They may be producing it, doesn't mean they are going to part with it....

Look at it this way -- if it's not found in female snakes (which is up for argument as many breeders claim to find them in females) and its not found in baby male snakes -- then you might infer the probability that the presents of the sperm plug indicates the snake has reached maturity and is producing sperm or some secretions relating to sexual maturity thereby causing the plugs to form.

But you are right just because the male is producing the plugs or even producing sperm doesn't mean it's ready to breed.



I would not be so quick to say that females do not produce these. Recently I attended the blood python convention hosted by Dave and Tracy. Dave talked in depth about hemipenal homologs (spelling?) found in female bloods. Basically a space located distally from the vent very similar to the inverted hemipene. It made sexing bloods a difficult task.

Dave did go on to say that finding these pieces of shed skin in a waterbowl was a good indicator of the snake being a male.

Perhaps females shed these pieces with the rest of their skin. Maybe the simple fact of an erection during the breeding season forces these little stuck piece of skin out. My understanding of a snake erection is that the hemipenes sit inverted distally to the cloaca. When stimulated they engorge with blood and revert outwards.

I know this is probably far more than most people want to know about snake anatomy and sex but I see this question a bunch.


David

Perhaps females shed these pieces with the rest of their skin. Maybe the simple fact of an erection during the breeding season forces these little stuck piece of skin out. My understanding of a snake erection is that the hemipenes sit inverted distally to the cloaca. When stimulated they engorge with blood and revert outwards.

I know this is probably far more than most people want to know about snake anatomy and sex but I see this question a bunch.


David

following what you're saying david.
i have heard that they are not in fact made of sperm, hence the quotation marks when referring to them. but following the logic you adequately present i'm sill left with a quandary. this particular male last shed on 9/19, since then, he's copulated multiple times with multiple mates as witnessed by many locks being observed. many photographed and posted here on these boards. how is it that at no point in the past two months plus were these plugs evacuated ?
the simple act of engorgement alone should have forced them out at the point of the first post-shed copulation, if in deed they are nothing more that built-up shed residue. he copulated with a different mate, in a different tub (so not likely a left-over from then ) back on 9/20. with five subsequent copulation observations since then...
anyone ?
thanx for all of your input so far guys, and welcome to the boards dacalio.
ck

good info

I think most people know but it seems to be a "industry" term! Good info though......