Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, self explanatory I guess! Thanks, Leo

Skin & Scales

Why stress the snake out, hold it improperly, and risk getting bitten? Just to post picture of the fangs on a forum? I'm pretty sure everyone here should already be pretty familiar with venomous snake anatomy. All a picture like this does is prove to us that you are willing to take unnecessary risks.

NO POST

The snake is non-living. The dark un-oxygenated tissue at the front of its mouth and its sheeths are a dead give away to an experienced eye. Maybe you should ask questions before jumping to conclusions. Showing the dentition of a venomous snake is a valuable tool and reminder (see post above) not to be wreckless.
Skin & Scales

SnakesAndStuff,
I think you need to relax a bit... First of all, you can never have too many pictures of a snakes anatomy... Secondly, dont be so fast to jump on someone...

I only jump when warranted, which is too often for my tastes too.

The "dead give away" could easily be attributed to shadows in an already dark photograph. Maybe you should describe photos that need to be described. My experienced eye has probably only looked at a few hundred copperheads both living and dead in my research for my M.S.

Maybe the photo was self explanitory... It was a picture of a copperheads fangs just like the title stated... Why does it matter if it was alive or dead??? I am not understanding your logic... There also could have been other reasons for holding a live snake in this manner... How would you have known that if it was a live snake, it was not having meds administered... I have a picture of gaboon fangs like this copperhead picture... The reason why I was handling the snake in that manner was because I was getting a swab for a culture... While I had the mouth open, I had a friend snap a pic...

Seriously, people need to get off this kick about telling people what they should do with their animals and getting snippy... You can not educate someone while you are putting them down or giving them a hard time about a picture they post...

Get off the high horse!!!

I'm not necessarily on a high horse, I just expect better out of the venomous snake community.

The problem I had in the photo was that if it was a live snake, it could have easily landed a fang in the individual holding it. Copperheads are notorious for pushing fangs through their lower jaw at times. I've seen them do it, others that work with copperheads have seen them do it, and I've seen it mentioned in the literature several times as well as on message boards. I'm not putting him down for doing a head grab on the animal as I know it is sometimes needed (although rarely). I admit I've probably done that at least 200 times in the last year on copperheads (getting measurements from my study population).

Gregg is right.... It gets pretty old seeing people constantly correcting what somone else is doing.
I couldnt even see the pic..didnt load for me.
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Jason

Well, how do you know that he didnt hold the snake like that, for another reason, and took a pic, while he had it like that. Lighten up dude. And especially, when you just told everyone, that you do the excact same thing, your self.

Very nice picture, by the way
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Best regards

Mark