The Male Reproductive System of a Boa Constrictor

Jared Macmaster
Dr. Boyd
Anatomy and Physiology

Boa Constrictor: Male Reproductive System
This research paper is about the reproductive system of a male boa constrictor. The reproductive system is not very complicated, and really is very simple.
First off, the main part of the boa’s reproductive system is the hemepenes, which is what releases the sperm into the female’s vaginal pocket. The hemepenes will extend out during mating and sometimes during defecation. The way that a male mates with a female boa is by wrapping its tail around the female’s, and this process is called copulation. Copulation can last from a few minutes to a few hours, and can happen multiple times over a week.
Secondly, there are several ways to differentiate a male boa and female boa. The most common ways are “popping” or probing. Popping is the easiest way of telling the sex of a snake, although can be dangerous with older snakes. On the male boa (or any male snake for that matter), the hemepenes will pop out (hence the name) by gently holding the tail in between the forefinger and thumb, then sliding your finger down. Eventually, a large scale called the anal pallet will be reached, this is a pouch that holds the hemepenes, and on the female it contains the vaginal pocket. Something that needs to be watched, however, is when doing the “popping” technique you must be careful about snakes that are older than a few weeks. The reasoning for this is the tendons that hold the hemepenes back are very soft when young, so they will just stretch, but when the snake is older, they are tougher and stronger, thus can risk tearing. The second way of differing the sex of the snakes is called surgical probing. This is more difficult and risky as well, and should be done by an experienced snake handler or under supervision of others. Basically, a tiny probe in pushed into the anal pallet, and judging by how deep it will go, will tell you whether or not it’s a male or female. On the male, the probe will go about 10 scales deep, and on the female, it will only go 4 to 6 scales. The reason why this is dangerous is because the tissue is extremely soft, and can break easily.
So, that was the basics of the male reproductive system of a boa constrictor, along with how to tell the difference between a male and female. It is all quite simple, although the same cannot be said about the female reproductive system, which is more complicated.