Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My name is Shannon Beard and I usually post on the Indigo site. I was refered here. I have some high dollar snakes that I would like to mark. Has anyone here used the AVID chips implanted into their snakes? Snakes do get away, sad but true. And sometimes they are found. This happened to me but I could not prove the animal was mine. Scale clipping aside, diagrams of odd ventral scale aside does anyone know where in the body cavity would an AVID chip be less invasive? Any advice (please) Shannon

I almost had one put in my albino when I first got him years ago, but when the vet showed me how big the chip was I just couldn't do it. The thing was huge compared to the snake as he was a baby still. Maybe after all these years they have a smaller chip?!?!?!

guess it would depend on how high $ the snake is and the size of the snake before I would be willing to have one put in.
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Misty Sprouse Ball Pythons

Yeah, now that you put it that way. I mean, it is a 12 gauge needle; I implant them every day at a hospital. Though most dogs/cats don't feel vaccine needles, the toughest will feel a Microchip, which is why we like to do it while they're sleeping during neuters/spays, etc, despite it really not being that bad. But its really harmless, as long as you know what you're doing.
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Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)

I work with wild herps for conservation purposes frequently. We mark about 100 snakes a summer with microchips.
We insert them intramuscularly in the lower third of the body, specifically near the 20th ventral scale up from the cloaca. We then cover the insertion site with Liquid Skin to prevent infection.
All of the snake living examples of our state's species have these implants as well and are doing very well.

Most of my breeders are implanted with an AVID micro-chip. I have never had one develope any type of infection or have any problems that I am aware of. It definately helps if you were to mis-match a couple of snakes that look the same. A lot of people suggest & do a photo file on their animals which is a good idea as well. But I know of a person that had to vacate their house in calif a few years ago due to massive wildfires. They barely had time to pack the animals and just put as many in a container as they could before they had to leave. They grabbed the disk with the chip info on it, but did not get all the files & paperwork on their collection and left. Luckily they got back into the house afterwards. If not for the chips most of their whole collection would have been a "who's who" of guessing.
Bruce Delles c/o Twin Cities Reptiles
Link

I have chipped a lot of snakes for wildlife study’s and repopulation , and they work very well and cause no ill effects . The start up coast can be a little steep and most of that is for the reader , but if more people bye them the coast might go down some . But like you said you have some voluble snakes , how much are they worth to you!!!! David

2 problems - First, Avid isn't the only microchip manufactuer, so if you had an Avid chip, it wouldn't scan on another manufacturers scanner. Vets are usually exclusive on what company they use. Second, Snakes have been known to reject the chips. Meaning pushing them back out. It takes a bit to do, but the body treats it like a foreign object and brings it back to the skin surface. I'd never do it, just because I don't really feel the need to put something foreign into into a snake. Too many other ways to identify the animal fo rme to justify it.
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South Central Herpetological

Our chip scanner at work (animal hospital) picks up all chip numbers, be it AVID, Home Again, MicrochipID, etc. Usually, you can automatically tell the difference in numbers (AVID has stars in it, most Home Again will have a letter somewhere). If the number isn't an AVID number (which is the brand we use and the scanner type we have), we just call AVID and they can tell us which company it's from so we can get ahold of them.

Even my cats & dogs are Home Again chipped, but their numbers can be picked up with the AVID Scanner.

Maybe this isn't true for all, but it's true for us.
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Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)

We use the HomeAgain chips at my clinic, & yes the HomeAgain scanner will pick up AVID chip numbers, and even Euro chip numbers. The best feature is that if it cannot read the chip, it displays the type of chip it has found so that you can contact someone with that type of scanner. Most SPCA and Humane Societies carry multiple scanner types for this reason.

To comment on the actual implanting of the chip - I wouldn't do it in an unanesthetised animal unless it is an extremely docile snake, or was restrained safely in a snake tube. & watch yourself if the snake is big and strong. It's a BIG needle. It hurts. Also, HomeAgain does now have a silicone shell on their chip to keep it from migrating elsewhere in the body or out of the implant site. I have not personally seen any chip rejections on dogs, cats, birds, or reptiles.

Hope that helps.

-Tami*

It does! Thanks for the info!
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Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)

can someone post a pic with a snake that has one? also where it was implanted at? very curious to see it.

Pitoon

If the chip is implanted properly (be it AVID or otherwise) there shouldn't be anything to see. Most of the snakes we chip don't even bleed or struggle, so if it hurts, they don't show it.

We implant the chips in the muscle about 25 ventral scales up from the cloaca. We insert the needle at the junction between the ventral scale and the side scales. As I said, it is uncommon for a snake to show any discomfort to being chipped.

It is a large chip, and can be quite unsettling to folks seeing it and the needle for the first time. At this point, All shelters in WIsconsin are scanning reptiles for chips. Or at least they have been suggested to.

Home Again offers a chip that also gives a temperature reading that is accurate with in 1 degree.

With more reptile keepers now chipping animals, we must educate the sheltering system to SCAN SCAN SCAN. Most shelters have more than one company of scanners.
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Cindy
PHFaust

Email Cindy

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