A possible trick to recover shedded teeth?

I recently read on a blog (I'll have to find the link later) that snakes usually lose some of their old teeth/fangs around the time they shedded their skin. The author claimed you could sometimes recover the shedded teeth from the feces that often accompany a shed by dissolving the feces in alcohol and strain the teeth out.

Is this true? Has anyone tired this with any species of snake? I know they have smaller teeth, but has anyone tired it with a ball python? Do they generally only lose their teeth when they are in shed?

What type of alcohol to use? Methanol, Ethanol (grain alcohol), isopropanol (rubbing alcohol), etc? Or doesn't it matter?

I know a lot of people including me keep old shedded it might be fun to collect some old teeth as well. Obtaining these teeth might be a little messy though......:P

I don't think I'll try it...

:rofl: I have no idea about how likely it would be to recover teeth in that manner....but it makes me remember the time when I was a kid and our dog ate a $20 bill! My dad followed her around the yard for days until he finally recovered a particularly colorful pile o' poop. Washed and filtered carefully until he had almost all the pieces of the bill recovered. Taped it together and put it into a plastic baggie....and took it to the bank to exchange for a fresh one. I don't know if he told the bank teller exacly what the bill had been through! :rofl:


(Back in those days, $20 was no small amount of money, and we were always tight on cash...no effort was too small to recover that much money! :P )

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Originally Posted by JLC

:rofl: I have no idea about how likely it would be to recover teeth in that manner....but it makes me remember the time when I was a kid and our dog ate a $20 bill! My dad followed her around the yard for days until he finally recovered a particularly colorful pile o' poop. Washed and filtered carefully until he had almost all the pieces of the bill recovered. Taped it together and put it into a plastic baggie....and took it to the bank to exchange for a fresh one. I don't know if he told the bank teller exacly what the bill had been through! :rofl:


(Back in those days, $20 was no small amount of money, and we were always tight on cash...no effort was too small to recover that much money! :P )

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Very funny story.......hopefully that bill was quickly retired......:P

Is your family Dutch Judy? (no offense meant of course)

Interesting info on the teeth recovery. I wonder how likely it really is? Snakes break down bones pretty well so I would imagine their own teeth would fall into that category but I guess sometimes as with any animal some things do make it through! :-o

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Originally Posted by TekWarren

Interesting info on the teeth recovery. I wonder how likely it really is? Snakes break down bones pretty well so I would imagine their own teeth would fall into that category but I guess sometimes as with any animal some things do make it through! :-o

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Very good point....and maybe it might work only with those species that have larger teeth/fangs. Reminded me of this thread

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Originally Posted by TekWarren

Is your family Dutch Judy? (no offense meant of course)

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Haha! No...but my Dad was ever a frugal and practical soul. :D