Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is anyone on this forum using the Microchips for ID purposes and if so any draw backs? Does anyone know how small of a snake can be chipped?

I am seriously considering chipping my high end animals and available offspring.

Any comments?
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Tim Cole
www.Designeratrox.com/
www.AustinReptileService.net
www.AustinReptileExpo.com/
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Conservation through Education

Tim,

I guess I have some experience with them, and I have yet to notice any obvious drawbacks.

Silly Ohio law mandates PIT tagging of all native OH animals over 18 inches in captive care. I can't say I agree with it, but I have yet to hear any conclusive evidence against the practice. Yeah, people have been raising a fuss, but they can never really back up their claims.

Personally, the last two seasons I was involved in Sistrurus monitoring that used PIT tags to mark the animals. I would say about half of the snakes captured when I was there were recaptures. A couple of these were gravid females. I know the procedure is commonly used for research, and I would really hope if it was that detrimental to the animals, then someone would have noticed by now. I still would be very cautious about implanting into neonates, but as long as some caution is used, I think the procedure is minimally invasive and can be used with success.

Jason

Tim,
We use them at the zoo on our high end snakes.
I have never had a problem with them.

A lot of breeders of pythons/boa's use them, makes recovery of stolen animals easier since each chip is indivually numbered.

Randal

I also vouch for microchips; although I've implanted far more dogs and cats than reptiles, if I had identification concerns for my reptiles I would definately use them.

It's a 14 ga needle that the chip is implanted with. Probably the same size used when humans donate blood if you need a comparison. This is obviously more traumatic the smaller the animal. Anything snake over 12 inches should have no problem whatsoever with chipping. Under this size is sort of the gray area; not that it's a problem, but more invasive.

Microchipping is done only by vet clinics where I'm from, but I'm sure it's more varied in the states. If you're only chipping a few, get a vet to do it. If you have a large collection, get the vet to do one or two and show you how it's done.

Ian

The PIT tags in Ohio that the state recommends are of a 12 gauge. Most of the fuss in Ohio, from what I've seen/heard/read hasn't so much been the dangers of the PIT tag, but more of the semi-commage implantation of the tags by inexperienced pet owners. I have heard of several cases of that causing problems. But again, thats not the tag, just the procedure. Things such as the needle being pushed in to far, through organs and such. Oh, almost forgot, I've heard a lot of fuss about the state recommending a 12 gauge needle when most PIT tags are implanted with smaller sizes.

I don't doubt that inexperienced owners have taken it upon themselves to try and implant the tags. The fact is, if it was my animal, and I didn't know what I was doing, I would have some else do it. I don't feel sorry for these people one bit. There was a lot of fuss a few years back (and even a couple weeks ago) and many allegations made as to the deadly effects of the Avid chips. People were claiming the tags were extremely harmful and responsible for killing a number of animals at the Columbus Zoo. They also claimed a few of the researchers in the state were also responsible for "killing" the native massasaugas with their use of the PIT tags. Their stance was that even if the procedure was done correctly, the animals were still harmed and more vulnerable to predation and road mortality after their release.

I don't know if they make smaller PIT tags, but the Avid chips I have fit right into a 12 gauge needle, and would not fit into a smaller one.

I don't exactly agree with some of the info in this article but...

http://www.journal-news.com/local/content/gen/ap/OH_Reptile_Tags.html

Now that you have me on a tangent, if anything is killing the Sistrurus right now, it is the poor land management practices of the people running the Wildlife Areas. Not all of them are bad, but some of them are terrible. Mowing at the wrong time of the year, in all the wrong places and cutting the grass way too short has led to the deaths of far too many massasaugas in my opinion. In other areas, they let the best habitat turn into mature forest. Many of the men running these areas will admit to shooting every rattlesnake on site less that 20 years ago. Just because their status changed a few years back now, I don't think many of these people decided to start liking these animals. Are there other problems as well? Sure, but this sure doesn't help things...

Tim, we just purchased a pit tagging device and will be tagging ALL of our animals. You can go pretty small on these animals....I've tagged juvie garter snakes.

Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center

>>Is anyone on this forum using the Microchips for ID purposes and if so any draw backs? Does anyone know how small of a snake can be chipped?
>>
>>I am seriously considering chipping my high end animals and available offspring.
>>
>>Any comments?
>>-----
>>Tim Cole
>>www.Designeratrox.com/
>>www.AustinReptileService.net
>>www.AustinReptileExpo.com/
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<
>>Conservation through Education
-----
Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL