So, is Flicker a boy or a girl?

[Flicker]

After reading comments on size I'm no longer certain I have sexed Flicker accurately as female. I attempted to photograph the tail today - but that's challenging with the snake in one hand and the camera in the other. She wasn't real keen on leaving the tail to dangle and kept wanting to wrap it around anything, even itself.

So... I took a LOT of pictures - and figured if I post enough of them, there should be a collective consensus on what gender Flicker is... yeah?

Well, here are the piccy's - please let me know what choice of adjective I should be using. ^_^

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/thedbor/Flicker/Flicker042.jpg http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/thedbor/Flicker/Flicker041.jpg
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/thedbor/Flicker/Flicker039.jpghttp://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/thedbor/Flicker/Flicker032.jpghttp://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/thedbor/Flicker/Flicker024.jpghttp://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/thedbor/Flicker/Flicker019.jpg

Is that enough different views to be able to give a definitive opinion? I can try again with help if you really need one of someone pulling the tail straight.

Thanks for your help!

[ssssnakeluvr]

definitely a male.....long swelling past the tail. females have shorter tails and very little swelling past the tail.

[Flicker]

And here's some more pictures, just for fun ^_^ I took them while trying to get tail shots.

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/thedbor/Flicker/Flicker007.jpghttp://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/thedbor/Flicker/Flicker031.jpg
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/thedbor/Flicker/Flicker030.jpg

Depends on the lighting, but she often looks more brown than the red... but sometimes, in the right lighting, she looks as bright red as some of the photos you see.

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/thedbor/Flicker/Flicker027.jpg
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/thedbor/Flicker/Flicker026.jpghttp://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/thedbor/Flicker/Flicker043.jpg

What's the best/easiest way to pick up your snake?

[snakeman]

flicker is pretty awesome.agree male

[Mommy2many]

I would also go with male.

Best way to pick up your snake? No quick sudden moves. If you can, let the snake glide into your hand.

Flicker is a beautiful snake!

[Flicker]

Thank you - it's going to be difficult to start referring to him, as "he" - heheheh- anyway - that probably explains why he is not so big. As for gliding into my hand... hmmmm... no, he won't do that... always glides the other way. He's hard to pick up too - because he's so small... and he doesn't like it when I try. And if I try to get him to glide onto my hand by trickery - it just sets him off more and then he's really winging around the cage. LOL - once I have him in hand, he usually calms down quite quickly.

Thank you for the help!

[guidofatherof5]

Here's a link to show you what(photos) we need to help you with sexing Flicker
http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/breeding/5069-sexing-pics.html (http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/breeding/5069-sexing-pics.html)
Male or female, Flicker is a great looking snake.

I missed the first group of photos, sorry. Flicker is a male.:)

[ssssnakeluvr]

thats a sweet looking ordinoides!!!

[adamanteus]

What a beautiful ordinoides.... can I have him?:D
Definitely male.

[guidofatherof5]

What a beautiful ordinoides.... can I have him?:D
Definitely male.

Sorry James,

If Flicker is going anywhere it's Iowa, to the T.radix Ranch. Thought I would clarify where in Iowa so Jeff B. didn't think I meant him:D

All kidding aside, you've got a beautiful snake there.

[Laura]

Ditto, very beautiful indeed

[ConcinusMan]

thats a sweet looking ordinoides!!!

I agree. Very awesome. Where'd you get him?

[Flicker]

I found him as a wee wiggling scrub on the fanno creek trail on the beaverton/tualatin border. Yes, he was a "city flicker" - though granted it was in a park. Right on the path, probably fairly newly born. It was Sept/Oct-ish 2008.

I used to walk the trail on my lunch break at work every day. Unfortunately, I got laid off that next spring. (2009)

[ConcinusMan]

Huh, cool. I got my red stripe girl not very far from there. probably within 2 miles of there.

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/5274/gedc1462.jpg

[Snakers]

that is a beautiful snake

[ConcinusMan]

I just met Taunya (username Flicker) and one of her daughters. They picked out two young concinnus and took them home. A nice pretty hypoerythristic female and an anerythristic female.

Since I got that red stripe ordinoides girl, and she has that incredible red male...

Well, you know. I'll be borrowing Flicker (the snake, haha) to breed with my red stripe female to produce a litter, probably early next summer. Those ought to be some awesome babies! "Flame" northwestern's anyone?:D

[Flicker]

Won't that be awesome????

love my new snakes - thanks Richard!!!

[ConcinusMan]

I can hope so. Dang polymorphism can reek havoc with selection though. Still, with these two together there's a good chance of producing some awesome offspring. I'm going out that way next monday and will be on the lookout for more like these two.

Once again, her male:
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/thedbor/Flicker/Flicker042.jpg

My female:
http://a.imageshack.us/img171/3812/gedc1097.jpg

Hey flicker, can we get a full body pic of that gorgeous guy?

[Flicker]

pshaw - you shoulda looked at my welcome post - where you asked for pictures - there are more extensive ones in that post.

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/thedbor/Flicker/Flicker001.jpg

[ConcinusMan]

Oh, sorry. Missed that somehow. Do you realize how dang lucky you are to find that guy? I could go my whole life and see hundreds of thousands.. well heck, I have. Never found one quite that awesome.

[Flicker]

The lighting is lovely on the last one, plus, he looks more red after he's just shed and more brown as he gets closer to shedding - *shrugs* he's heading towards a brown phase atm... here's another couple piccy's I JUST took - especially for you...

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/thedbor/Flicker/bodyshotsofflicker008.jpg

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/thedbor/Flicker/bodyshotsofflicker004.jpg

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/thedbor/Flicker/bodyshotsofflicker006.jpg

And after handling all your snakes, which were beautiful nice and lovely - but quite squirmy - I realized how completely spoiled I am with Flicker. He might be difficult to catch sometimes, but once I have him he is so easy to hold and mellow to handle. ^_^ Always has been, since he was a wee little scrub.

He's really really small though - you sure you're stripey won't just eat him?

[ConcinusMan]

Yeah I'm sure. Northwesterns and concinnus get along very well. Just don't feed them together. Sometimes concinnus will grab and try to swallow anything that gets the smell of food on it, even if it's a football. Also important to feed them say, in a tub with paper towels or newspaper substrate so they don't end up swallowing something that could block their intestines. Adult northwesterns are generally more mellow and easier to handle than a young concinnus. They are less "squirmy" as you say but your concinnus will mellow out a bit as they get bigger.

[Flicker]

Mmmhmmm... and will Cocinnus also eat slugs?

[ConcinusMan]

I've never had one accept them. Most of them absolutely adore night crawlers though.

Some northwesterns won't eat slugs but most love slugs and night crawlers and won't eat much else. DO NOT feed your garter red wigglers, those blood-red little worms with the weird stripes. They are toxic. Fred Meyer sells 13 fat juicy night crawlers for $1.99. Feed your northwestern often (every 3 days or so) and as much as he wants.

[Flicker]

.... red wigglers. I thought those were something that only the fish stores sold - didn't realize they were found in the wild here. Actually - I had read about them when I first got flicker and researched everything - but I didn't know what they looked like, so I just avoided buying worms and always dug them out of the garden.

Last fall, I found a bunch of worms under some boards that had strange stripes on them. Didn't think any thing of it - and gave them to Flicker. That's about the time, Flicker decided to quit eating worms and would only eat slugs. Snake's smarter than me - when I joined the forum I found a picture of red wigglers, looked just like the suckers I tried to give him last fall *facepalms*

I haven't gotten him to eat a worm since. getting a bit more challenging to find slugs in the heat though... <.< I keep finding gynormous ones - that uhmm... flicker can't eat.

As far as being lucky to find such a beautiful snake - I completely know - it was what intrigued me to catch him in the first place - I thought he was absolutely adorable. I didn't even realize how rare at the time, but yeah, that's why I'd like to breed him - share the love. ^_^ He's a great snake, personality wise and beautiful. His genes are worth being spread.

[ConcinusMan]

Yes, you can find the red wigglers here. Be careful. Anyway, keep trying with regular worms, he'll come around. Try giving him sections of a big one, or a whole small one, after he's had a slug and is in the mood to eat. Sometimes just mixing slugs and worms will get them to eat both. BTW, I know it's gross, but you can cut up the big slugs. Also, he'd probably surprise you with how big a slug he can swallow.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

that is most beautiful ordinoes I have ever seen! :eek:

[ConcinusMan]

Isn't it though? he and my red stripe girl are definitely going to get together soon for some 2011 babies. She agreed to swap (a concinnus or two) temporarily for the winter and I'll be brumating him at my house with my red stripe girl. Yes! How cool is that? Also, I know exactly where he was found and I'm going to go poking around next monday morning (or perhaps this WED) and see what I can find.:D

[Flicker]

I have not tried chopping up larger worms... and I often give him food that's larger than I think he'll eat. Most of the time, he doesn't eat it - but once in a while, he does surprise me with eating something I thought was too big. I've got a slug in there now, that I think is probably just wishful thinking and am about to dispose of.

I've tried chopping the slugs - he wasn't really happy with that and they seemed to really ooze and deflate - so I don't think that's a very good route to go - probably works better with the worms. ^_^

And yeah - I think he's gorgeous too. I've always enjoyed just looking at him and loved how curious he is and that he comes over and looks back.