Taking the "hot" out of a venomous animal?

This is a bit weird to me, but recently was talking to someone who wanted to get a cobra. Typical idiot with no snake experience, and I was trying to talk him out of it in a calm and reasonable fashion. He then comes out with "Oh, it'll be safe cause I'll get one with the venom taken out." He proceeded to explain that he had seen a news story or something about someone selling animals that had been made safe and legal for sale somewhere that didn't allow venomous by having the venom removed somehow. Now I'm certainly no expert when it comes to hots, nor am I one in any sense really, but is this even possible? Maybe with a surgical procedure to remove the glands involved? Will venomous animals eat f/t? Just raises so many questions in my mind, thought I'd see some info from those with some knowledge and experience. And no I'm not interested in getting one like this, I just like to be able to pass on good info.

Yes you can remove the glands, they are called venomoids. Why anobody would want to do this is beyond me, actually it enrages me. If you can't handle the animal as it is you should not even think about keeping it.

There is a surgical procedure to remove the glands, but the glands may grow back in time. Its not 100%.

Either way, there is no reason to underestimate and disrespect a hot, glands or no glands. And you could tell he will from his tone. That guy is going about it with the wrong mentality. Sounds like a fool who just wants to have a cobra just to say he does and not for the actual love or passion of keeping one.

And yes, they would take f/t.

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Look up what goes into a venomoid surgery. It is pretty traumatic, and as stated above, not necesarrily 100% sucessful.

I cannot think of a single good reason to make a venomoid.

Venamoids are disgusting!! The surgery is barbaric and as already stated is not 100% that that animal will not produce venom. It also as far as I'm aware does not affect in any way the legal side of owning a hot. This guy is anouther idiot in the news story waiting to happen. :(

As a former venomoid owner, I have to say that there are a lot of myths about venomoid surgery.

Let me start with saying that my view on the subject has evolved and now I also do not like the idea of venomoids unless there is a "real" educational reason behind the procedure.

My reason behind getting one was to get the training I needed by myself without working with a mentor as I had none around. I treated the animal as a venomous snake and it worked fine. I later sold the venomoid to someone else, who had the same mentality. But looking back, I still shouldn't have done it as it is animal cruelty like declawing cats, debarking dogs etc.

However, if the surgery is done properly (anesthesia, life support, antibiotics etc.) by a licensed veterinarian:

-Both venom glands and ducts are removed.
-Regeneration is impossible, there is not a single documented case on properly altered animals.
-Most of the snakes, which have undergone the surgery, survive.
-If the animal is conditioned to f/t rodents, they keep feeding fine.
-The snakes digest their prey items fully.
-The longevity is still a question due to not enough data but under proper care, these snakes live a regular life. I have personally seen snakes that over 10 yrs old.
-Even scarring is avoided with proper surgery techniques.

Noting all of the above, this is still major organ surgery for no reason than being able to say "I have a cobra." and in my "evolved" personal opinion, I think it should be frowned upon. If you cannot take care of a cobra, do not get one. If you don't have a mentor nearby to train you and you are really passionate about this hobby, then move to another place. Also, under most jurisdictions, a venomoid snake is still considered venomous and is subjected to the same laws.

Ps:

I have dug around a bit for a picture and here is the snake in question:

http://imageshack.us/a/img7/2092/52533kobrayeniarka.jpg

I dont understand why this guy would want a Cobra for the "coolness" factor. To me part of the "coolness" factor is that a hot can drop you dead if you make a mistake and do not have the appropriate medical attention. Its a playing with fire kind of "cool" that he is going for but then he is saying he will venemoid it? Doesn't make sense to me, youd be just as hardcore getting a colubrid. I am sure all the ladeez will jump into his manly arms because he is such a risk taker. :rofl:

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Originally Posted by OctagonGecko729

I dont understand why this guy would want a Cobra for the "coolness" factor. To me part of the "coolness" factor is that a hot can drop you dead if you make a mistake and do not have the appropriate medical attention. Its a playing with fire kind of "cool" that he is going for but then he is saying he will venemoid it? Doesn't make sense to me, youd be just as hardcore getting a colubrid. I am sure all the ladeez will jump into his manly arms because he is such a risk taker. :rofl:

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Yeah, but he won't tell the ladies the snake is venomoid though ;) .

Ok, thanks for the info everyone. I had never heard of doing this, and couldn't imagine a good reason for it as I imagined the surgery involved would be extremely traumatic for the poor snake. And yes, this guy fit the stereotypical "I wanna be cool holding the dangerous snake" bs. Young and dumb, and I seriously doubt he'll ever have the money needed to get hold of something like this, thankfully. As a wise man once said, you can't fix stupid.

Cobras are cheap but the surgery costs quite a bit more. I wouldn't guarantee him not getting one based on price alone.

How horrible.

Poor snakes...kinda seems like a vasectomy.

Usually the fact that I keep snakes is not exactly what I use to try to impress women. In fact, having an extra-scary snake seems like it would help even less.

Sure, lots of women find danger attractive in men. But they can ride on your motorcycle, not your cobra. The previous sentence is not intended as a euphemism.

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Originally Posted by Mr Oni

Poor snakes...kinda seems like a vasectomy.

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At least you are making that choice. This seems more like de-clawing a cat.

1. Yes, venom glands could grow back over time- just like tonsils, gall bladders and appendix often do.
2. As an experienced gun owner I know that keeping my guns unloaded in no way lessens the risk of accidental shooting. That is why I keep all my guns loaded at all times. If I'm afraid to keep my guns constantly loaded I shouldn't have guns at all, right?
3. Unnecessary surgery is a cruel thing to do. That is why I never spay or neuter my pet dogs or cats.

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Originally Posted by auxkas

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3. Unnecessary surgery is a cruel thing to do. That is why I never spay or neuter my pet dogs or cats.

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Spaying and neutering has a lot of benefits for non-breeding animals though- it can help with behavioral issues for one. If you have a female dog in heat around a few male dogs and one happens to be not neutered... it's a dog fight waiting to happen. Plus, unaltered males can be a pain. Dogs and cats in heat are pretty uncomfortable. Male dogs and cats will want to seek out females in heat. There are cancer risks for unspayed females... the list goes on and on. It's not unnecessary and it's minimally invasive (especially on male animals), and it's a very, very, very common procedure that most vets know how to do.

Venomoid surgery is a completely different thing. It's very new, and very experimental and it's something that doesn't really have a benefit for the animal. I mean, how many VERY good and very experienced herp vets are in the US? And how many of them are qualified to do this surgery? And how many of them actually perform it on a regular basis?
I personally doubt the regen stories- I think it's more likely that since it's a new procedure and not many vets (in the grand scheme of vets) are trained herp vets and are trained to do that surgery... probably some functioning part of the gland was left in and it eventually healed enough for the animal to be hot again. I get their use in education, a group I volunteer with does lots of fairs and public exhibits and some of their hots are actually venomoids just in case, god forbid, something happened and one got out. But they are treated as if they are 100% hot.

I doubt that making an animal venomoid (which I think is a horrible practice) would put you on the good side of the law. I live in Illinois, for instance, and the laws are against "poisonous reptiles" and not "venomous reptiles." Everyone knows a cobra isn't poisonous, but you'll still get in trouble with the law if you owned one. Law enforcement will not care about nitpicking terminology.