Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Removing the fangs is both inhumaine as they are needed to grasp food, and it is not something that would be viable as a safety measure. Bitis species (as all other snakes) shed their fangs...meaning if you used any crude means to extract them they would merely regenerate...often times they are missing a fang or only use one to envenomate, but they are still able to envenomate without the primary fangs. Any puncture wound from the smaller secondary fangs would allow access to the venom (which with fangs or not could be injected by seaping through the ducts), and it could still easily get into your body in a dangerous level.

That said, this snake has a set of fangs that are not to be tampered with! Do the research it all makes sense

-Steve Clark

because they remove threads like that : ) I just want to know about illegal venomoid surgery and how common it is. No attack here. please do not remove. This is a post with a legitimate question about vipers and viper keeping.

Sorry about that. My post was in reply to your previous post about it not having fangs.

As far as venomoids go several people are doing them. Many are licensed DVM, others are not. From what I have observed the best are the ones that are not DVM's. It isn't really taught in vet school, so its up to the vet to figure it out himself. With that said there are various procedures with varying results. The majority of them are done by experienced, but unregistered individuals. I would say about 30% of venomoids on the market were done by a DVM.

The most important thing is that the procedure is done correctly, with the proper pain meds, anesthetics, and conducted with clean equipment and tools. There may be still a few people doing "hack jobs", but there are also a few very qualified individuals out there.

For more info research Dr. Richard Funk. I hear he is one of the few DVM's out there who can do it properly! I would rather trust someone who isn't a DVM and learned from roadkill and other experiences than an improperly trained vet!

As far as laws...it varries, being certified to preform the procedure is very different than being legally allowed to do so.

-Steve Clark