How often do westerns shed their fangs? Found a pair in her feces and i thought that they were worms at first until i got them out.
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C. Atrox
sflaskamp
Jan 03, 2011 09:45 PM
Replies (3)
Kelly_Haller
Jan 04, 2011 05:13 PM
Crotalids typically replace one fang on alternating sides at an interval of roughly one month. This means any given individual fang has an approximate lifespan of roughly about two months before being replaced by a new one. The new replacement fang is fully developed and functional at the time the old one is shed. Both fangs are never shed at the same time with the exception of a traumatic injury.
Kelly
sflaskamp
Jan 04, 2011 06:57 PM
>>Crotalids typically replace one fang on alternating sides at an interval of roughly one month. This means any given individual fang has an approximate lifespan of roughly about two months before being replaced by a new one. The new replacement fang is fully developed and functional at the time the old one is shed. Both fangs are never shed at the same time with the exception of a traumatic injury.
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>>Kelly
I am fairly sure that the captive born snake that i was sold is actually wild caught. She does not "act" captive born. I am sure she probably consumed another venomous reptile before she was caught.
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Shane Flaskamp
LarryF
Jan 06, 2011 12:37 AM
>>Crotalids typically replace one fang on alternating sides at an interval of roughly one month.
This may (or may not) be a useful generalization, but it is certainly by no means a hard rule.
All my crotalilids (actually all my snakes) are housed individually, and I regularly (as in maybe 25% of the time that I find fangs) find 2 or more in one cage during the same cleaning. I use paper substrate and rinse the container and replace the paper at every cleaning, so these are not leftover from previous defecations. I have found as many as 4 in one cleaning, and I don't look very hard...
They usually pass though the digestive system but are occasionally "spit out" so, some of these events may include fangs that were shed up to a few weeks apart.
Captive snakes in particular sometimes retain fangs longer than "intended" and it's not two uncommon to see 2 fully formed fangs up against each other on EACH side of the mouth. So shedding 2-4 fangs in a short period should net be surprising.
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What goes up must come down...unless it exceeds escape velocity.
