venomous???

[infernalis]

Originally Posted by reptile65

I'm pretty sure garters are indeed mildly venomous.

Originally Posted by Lankyrob

Not sure about that, they are definitely poisonous tho. Wayne arre your lil guys venomous and poisonous??

Originally Posted by whoaxmary

Lol, where is wayne? - I'm very curious to hear more about all this~

Garter snakes do indeed posses a very mild toxin to basically slow down the struggle of small items like minnows and earthworms.

The toxin is known as 3FTx produced by the Duvernoy's gland at the rear of it's mouth.

However, I have been bitten way more times than I can count, draws blood, mild itch and thats it.

As far as poisonous, I'd never eat my pets, so I can't really say

[vendettaseve]

Originally Posted by infernalis

As far as poisonous, I'd never eat my pets, so I can't really say

No matter how delicious they may look *evil laugh*

Thats actually news to me, Iv been nailed by garter snakes many times as a kid, feels pretty much the same as any breaking of the skin, painful at first(not really) then a little itchy as it heals.

This begs the question, now that we know they have said venom, would we notice it more when it happens?

[mistersprinkles]

Originally Posted by colender

im looking into getting a poisonous snake like vipers and i was wondering if anyone could give me some input on the subject, ive had about 13 years of experience with snakes.

If you're in Canada, you'll never get the permit. They won't issue you one without a doctorate or a prayer.

So not only are you in danger from venom, you're also in danger of a (read: S E V E R E) fine. We're talking like five thousand dollars. Also, obviously, they would take the snake.

I don't know if you remember the story of the idiot from Ontario who had a tiger and a proper crocodile in a bachelor apartment but apart from getting badly injured by the tiger, he got fined something like twenty thousand. That's about as crippling as fines get.. I would have just said he learned his lesson when a tiger almost killed him but there you go.. You'd be fined under the same law. Scary.
IMO, having a venomous snake as a pet is really stupid. It's like "Instead of owning a rifle for hunting deer, I'm going to own that rifle AND keep it loaded AND leave the safety off and always hold it with the business end toward myself".

Not worth it.

Also--- this thread is about garter snakes and a very very mild poison they have. This poison is the equivalent of a large case of beer for a toad. They become extremely dopey, confused, and helpless. We're not talking about proper venom from a viper that literally rips your body apart from the inside out. look up pictures of viper bites. Even if you get antivenom immediately, the necrosis you can get is horrible. You can lose a hand- or end up with one so deformed it becomes useless. That's if you don't die a horrible painful death by the way which is entirely possible.

It's literally owning a loaded gun aimed backwards as a pet. There are too many snakes you can buy legally that won't kill you. Don't do it.