Defanged RTB?

[xotikpetz]

I had a customer bring me a 6 year old RTB that she said was "defanged" (detoothed?)... I have never heard of a defanged non-venemous snake. I dont want a discussion on humanity and such, I would never personally have it done to one of my snakes, but the snake seems to be sweet, and has no trouble eating. I guess what i am really curious about is whether or not it is possible to remove the Boas teeth and not have them grow back?

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[KMG]

Have you looked in its mouth to see if it has teeth? That would be my first action. If you can't I would simply ask the person what exactly they had done.

As for your question im not sure if a snake's teeth can be removed where they will not grow back, maybe surgically they could. I know their teeth will grow back if they lose one.

[Sunnieskys]

Whaaaa? That's like declawing a cat. Is it actually true? Very sad.

[Kcl]

It would likely be possible if you did sufficient damage to the dental lamina, but I'm not sure what that would look like or if the snake would survive it. Just pulling all the teeth wouldn't do it. Even "defanging" for venomous snakes isn't actually removal of the teeth, although I'm sure that's involved for the sake of access. Making a venomoid involves surgically removing the venom gland. Even then, the venom gland has been known to occasionally grow back although it doesn't do it reliably like snakes' teeth. Literally defanging wouldn't do much good for the intended purpose.

[xotikpetz]

I haven't actually checked, I just took her word on it. I will be headed in to my shop shortly, and I will check as soon as I am there

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[Stewart_Reptiles]

I have seen people in the past firmly believing that all snakes had fangs and therefore if theirs did not it must have been defanged, there are a lot of people out there that are very ignorant about what they own and or in general, probably one of those.

Some people don't know the difference between fang and teeth.

[L.West]

Deborah, do the teeth grow back if they are pulled out like while biting a person??

My snake bit me last night and he lost a tooth in the process. I was just curious.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Deborah, do the teeth grow back if they are pulled out like while biting a person??

My snake bit me last night and he lost a tooth in the process. I was just curious.

They do grow back the only thing you need to watch out for infection, sometimes infection does happen which is why my main concern when I get bit is for my snakes

[xotikpetz]

I do know they grow back from a bite, no idea with a surgical removal.

I did however just check, amd she does have teeth, at least on the bottom

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[Kcl]

I do know they grow back from a bite, no idea with a surgical removal.

I did however just check, amd she does have teeth, at least on the bottom

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You'd have to remove parts of the jaw to remove the dental lamina for them to not grow back. They can grow from cultured slices of the dental lamina. They also don't really have tooth sockets so that's not an issue.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3760860/