Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i recently caught an aggresive adult garter. ive been bit twice, and im curious as to whether garters can survive without their fangs. id spend time taming it, but this is more of a concern of safety for my niece.

Garters dopn't have fangs, just lots of teeth. They need their teeth to be able to hold on to their prey! Without their teeth, they wouldn't do well.

ssssnakeluvr is right, garters have no fangs and there is no safety issue with their teeth. I wouldn't worry about it.

Cam Hanna
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"I'm tired of being a wannabe bowler! I wanna be a bowler!!"
-- Homer Simpson

......buy a captive bred cornsnake for about $20. Get a baby and raise it up. If you want to work with your wild garter...that's fine, too. There's no danger to anyone in your family unless you choose to let them handle it...which you don't have to do until/unless it calms down.
NO...don't even think about taking his teeth out (as the others pointed out...it does not have fangs). You might try wearing latex gloves for awhile. The kind that janitors and health care workers use (the cheap, disposable ones). You will be a little more confident handling the snake, and when it strikes, it won't care much for the taste. Sometimes that will get a snake to stop biting a little quicker.
If it does not calm down, you might want to let it go. Some garters seem to calm down pretty quick, and some don't. Maybe you will have better luck with the next one. Duffy

Let the poor thing go. All snakes can bite, and snakes that have lived their whole lives in the wild bite as their defense. Removing its "fangs" would probably just kill it. And they really do not have fangs so to speak. You would have to just cut out the jaw as they have tons of teeth lining the jaws. Let the thing go and buy a snake if you want something to be around kids.
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Andy Maddox
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