My Venomous Snakes

[Najakeeper]

Oh my gosh, now THAT is an absolutely GORGEOUS cobra! I have a question, my niece had a de-fanged cobra(i believe it was a cobra, I'll have to double check) is that a common thing folks do with the venomous snakes?
Anyways, beautiful snakes you have, thanks for sharing!

Hello,

You cannot 'defang' a cobra. I mean you can, but it is a brutal procedure and if the snake survives the trauma, it will produce new fangs and will be ready to evenomate pretty soon.

On the other hand, you can surgically remove a venomous snakes venom glands and ducts, and if done properly by a vet (a lot of vets will find this unethical and won't do it) then you will have an altered snake, which won't be able to evenomate anything anymore. It is not very common but it is out there. The procedure is found unethical and shunned by most snake keepers, as an animal should not go under life threatening surgery for someone to be able to keep it as a pet.

However, to tell you the truth, my first cobra (over 10 years ago) was a venomoid. The poor animal had a very scarred, disfigured head as he did not have implants for the removed glands hence his cheeks sunk in. Still, he survived until he was 10 or so and died due to an unrelated illness.