Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok before i say anything let me say that i would never intentionaly cause any pain to a snake, im just wondering if this would work the way i think it would. besides youde never get one to sit still long enough.

my tattoo artist tattoos his 10 year old daughters fingernails and in time it grows out and goes away

so heres the question if you tattooed a snakes belly scales (not on the skin) at the right depth would it be painless to the snake and go away with a few sheds?
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jake barney
1.1 ball pythons
0.2 corns
1.0 cal king
0.0.1 wc garter
1.o cb son

I'm thinkin' that you might as well attach some electrodes to the snake's belly!, it would feel the same to the snake.

Could you maybe just pull the wings off a few flies instead?

~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Hahahaha!!!

Loved the cat pic, Doug. Quite befitting & cheered me rght up.

Thanks!
Mike
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

First off i don't think you would ever get one to hold still enough, as you mentioned. I also think that it would traumatize just about any snake, snakes are pretty sensitive to vibrations, it might be like holding someones head to the side of a running power tool. But other than that i would think it could work in a purely anatomical way, you could tatoo human skin like this, only into the upper layers of skin. It would wear off pretty fast though, not to mention the difficulty. Only anatomical, not ethical! =P

In essence when a person gets tattooed ink is deposited in the dermis layer of the skin to make it last long. In order for a snake to get tattooed, the needle would have to go past the heavily thick layer of keratin of the epidermis before it can get to the dermis layer. With that being said, I see two big problems with a snake getting a tattoo: 1. the snake will not like it when a needle goes that deep into their skin. 2 even if were possible to get the ink in the dermis, the snake is seriously being exposed to bacteria from the fresh puncture wounds caused by the needle. Since their skin does a great job keeping bacteria and the like from entering they won't be prepared for such a bacteria infection because they never developed a strong immunity in that layer and they heal slowly so the window of infection is wide. That can potentially cause the death of the snake. If you chose to tattoo the snake in the epidermis only to prevent infection, the ink will be shed in the subsequent sheds. Hope this helps.

I'm gonna give my snake a tongue piercing and put him in a metal cage so I hear "tink tink tink tink, tink tink tink tink" all day.

Lets not mix hobbies.

How is the snake supposed to shift his Harley???

Geeze,
Wayne A. Harvey

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! thats a hilarious mental image =D

Lets throw in a studded collar too!
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--SneakySnakesINC--

1.0 Northern Pine Snake (Oshy)
1.0 Bull Snake (Irwin)
0.1 Ball Python (Nagini)
0.1 Yellow Rat Snake (Ember)
1.0 Albino Black Rat Snake (Vegas)
1.1 Oriental Fire Bellied Toads (Spot and Dott)

2.0 Equines (Sherlock the draft and Cleatis the donkey)
4.0 Felines (Caesar Ray, Pharoh, Phoenix, Boomer)
1.0 WC boyfriend (Ryan)

now WHY would you want to even tatoo a snake????????
IMO that is cruel.........

That's why we are having so much fun with the absurdity of the idea.

Most of us would let one of our snakes chew on our hand rather than risk the snake hurting a tooth while pulling it off. Trust me I have more than once.....

Peace,
Wayne A. Harvey

Some of our snakes - Click here

I WOULD NEVER CAUSE UNESSISARY PAIN TO A SNAKE, and it wouldnt last long and microchipping is way better. i know it would be a risk for infection and that there are way more cons than pros, i was just wondering if it had been tried and what the outcome was or if it was a completely new topic.

i hate how every time i ask a question about someting that is rarely brought up or i have an idea and i clearly state that its just an idea or theory some post ridiculous comments.

im just a thinker by nature, i like to learn new things, to figure out new ways of doing things and try things that have never been tried if you all want to just follow the same footsteps as everyone else, always doing things exactly by the book and never try something new thats fine with me, but you dont have to put me down for expressing my ideas and wanting to engage in conversation that actualy involves deep thought.
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jake barney
1.1 ball pythons
0.2 corns
1.0 cal king
0.0.1 wc garter
1.o cb son

Guilty as charged. Sorry, I never meant to bash on anyone.

As soon as this went in the direction of piercings and such, the comedian in me took over.

When it comes to snakes, I would bet that somewhere, someone has tattooed one.

Why not, people hack up cobras and vipers, torture reptiles in strange rituals, I even seen a guy on TV bite the head off a snake and swallow it whole, So I guess it would stand to reason that someone has inked a snake somewhere before.

I just would not be one of their fans....

Kind regards,
Wayne A. Harvey

i dont take things personally (especially on the web), i just get annoyed when you cant have intelligent conversation without jumping to the conclusion that i want to do something harmful to a snake.

"Why not, people hack up cobras and vipers, torture reptiles in strange rituals, I even seen a guy on TV bite the head off a snake and swallow it whole, So I guess it would stand to reason that someone has inked a snake somewhere before"

i understand what your thinking but i was thinking of using the ink for identification purposes, i agree it would be extremely negligent to use tattoos on snakes to make them look cool.
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Jake Barney and Brandon O'Dell
eight02exotics

current (small) collection
1.1.1 ball pythons
0.2 corns
1.0 cal king
0.0.1 wc garter

Oh if you're main goal was for identification purposes you can get a vet to do a microchip implant. It's the ones they do to dogs and cats just in case they get lost and get picked up by the local pound. It depends on the vet but I would think it would be less than $100 for each snake.

a microchip is obviously the best way but its still a little expensive. once its been around for a while i bet it will be cheap enough for the average small breeder to get all thier animals chipped and have a reader, bye-bye paperwork just scan em and all the info is right there
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Jake Barney and Brandon O'Dell
eight02exotics

current (small) collection
1.1.1 ball pythons
0.2 corns
1.0 cal king
0.0.1 wc garter

Tattoos are used in agriculture and wildlife research for identification purposes. Horses, cattle and other livestock are routinely tattooed for ID purposes, and to discourage rustling (yes it still happens). Many species of wild large and small mammels are tattooed for research purposes by wildlife biologists. Dogs and cats are tattooed by their owners for similar reasons.

Identification of individual snakes in the field has always been problematic for field researchers...besides the clipping of ventral scales, tattooing has been proposed for permanently marking wild snakes. There is some doubt that tattoos would be permanent on snakes, given their habit of repeatedly shedding! This also tends to repair any clipped scales. The most effective current technique is the implantation of radio tracking devices. What could be more invasive than that?

Identification of captive snakes is just as fraught with pitfalls...hence tha recent move towards "PIT Tagging". This is certainly as invasive as tattooing, but perhaps less painful. I can envision Big Brother requiring tattooing of captive animals, including snakes, as yet another attempt to protect us Sheeple from ourselves.

So, ID tatooing of animals is here to stay. Personaly, I can not envision vanity tattooing of any of my animals. As for my own epidermis, I faint at the sight of blood, so not for me, Thank You.

Regards,

John D
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I am so not lesdysxic!

0.1 Creamsicle Cornsake
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake
0.1 Desert Kingsnake
1.1 Eastern Kingsnakes

just a thought henna, is a vegetable based dye, doubt it would harm the snake, certainly would not be painful, and would come off in the next shed. personally would not do it, don't know enough about henna's composition to know for sure if it would hurt the snake, but since it would not penetrate the scales i doubt it would. if you really really need to personalize your snake i would look in that direction......carefully of course.
mike
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Jayne "The Hero of Canton", Ball Python
Edmund Slackbladder, Mexican Kingsnake
El Diablo "They haven't built a cage I can't get out of" Pueblan Milksnake
(Currently serving 25 to life in a Maryland Supermax)