Venom glands

[ThEmAdHaTtEr]

Hey guys, I know next to nothing about Hots other than they have venom :D . Could it be possible to extract the venom glands of a snake somehow? I was just wondering how this might work...

[BWSmith]

They are milked for their venom by venom labs by (generally) pressing the fangs through a thin membrane. Some rear fangers are milked using pipets and a hyper salivatory agent. Pulling the venom from a gland with aneedle or something would not be good.

["Red-eye"_Matt]

You could be looking at a lot of nasty replies to this one. I am assuming that you are talking of having the entire gland removed? If you are these are known as venomoids and the glands are removed through surgery and I would say that around 99.9% of people on these forums are completely against it. I am one of them and do not agree with it as it is a cruel practice to put a snake through. In my opionion if you are planning on getting a venomoid, I will ask you to please not. Snakes are presious animals and people have been killing venomous ones for years so we need to start leaving them alone after all of the damage that has been done in the past.

[reptilez]

Well said,
I too am against it.

[jadegrasse]

Why get a hot and then get it 'un-hotted'? IMHO If you want a hot then get a hot if you can handle the risks and planning needed. There are lots of nice non hot herps. If you really want a hot but not the risks then get a western hog nose. They can be considered hot but are a great little snake with little risk to humans.

[marisa]

I really don't think this thread was started to become another "hot or not" debate. I believe he was asking a general question because he doesn't know about hots.

BWSmith answer is totally correct.

Marisa

[ThEmAdHaTtEr]

No no no...I'm deffinetly nto looking to keep hots, and I'm against extracting venom glands too. Thats just wrong. I was just wondering if it's ever been done before cuz I've never heard of it. :-\

[BWSmith]

I thought we were talking about extracting venom. Maybe I misread it.

["Red-eye"_Matt]

Sorry about that . . . I read it like you were thinking of getting some snakes de-venomed. Didn't mean to start a new argument about it or come off sounding harsh.

Matt

[ThEmAdHaTtEr]

No problem. So people buy hots and have their venom glands taken out? Is it legal?

[BWSmith]

Check out this thread (http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11721) for info about venomoids.

[ThEmAdHaTtEr]

Ick, thats messed up....You have to admit, it would be sweet to just handle a Gabboon or Rhino with no problem. But who in their right minds would do something like that? They need a law for that, its sick.

[ReptiZone]

well you asked and now you know god got to love this site you can ask almost any thing and recive a answer prety cool eh

[Pythonian]

i know the leastabout hots i am sure of it....but once removing the venom what about those huge teeth??

mike

[Ed_r]

True with a Gaboon it may not kill you then but your still going to get a pair of 2.5" spikes through you.

[Matt]

the teeth wouldnt pose too much of a problem.

[dead bob]

Originally posted by Matt
the teeth wouldnt pose too much of a problem.

There are quite a few veins and arteries just under the skin, especially on your arm. I think a well placed bite could do significant damage. But any bite is going to introduce bacteria and a bite from a Gaboon is gonna push all that bacteria pretty far into your body. A quick wash of the bite area is not going to get all of it. Not to mention, all it would take is just a nick to a vein or artery to introduce any bacteria into the blood stream.

[Matt]

true enough!
I was thinking along the lines of: compared to being envenomated, it shouldnt cause much problem. :)

[dead bob]

Ya, compared to being envenomated it's a kiss on the check. But I would still hate to get some nasty flesh eating bacteria or staff infection... :eek: :eek: lol

[ThEmAdHaTtEr]

Bleh, that would suck...