clipping rodents teeth

[bchapman]

Has anyone ever heard of trimming rodent teeth so that they are unable to do any harm to a snake if they bite it? The animal hospital that my wife works at - they said that they have seen people clip rodents teeth with nail clippers or wire cutters prior to feeding to the snake

not sure if this is a common practice or anything.. anyone?

[Nate]

that seems pretty cruel IMO

[elevatethis]

Never heard of it...and totally not necessary. How in the world would you even go about doing that?

[bchapman]

Never heard of it...and totally not necessary. How in the world would you even go about doing that?

no idea.. was wondering if anyone here had anyone done it

it sounds kinda rough.. making a bad day even worse

[SnakeySnakeSnake]

Sounds moronic... first of all youd have to all but rip them out otherwise they would still be sharp and jagged...

Second of all, if you dont know how to feed your snake live rodents in a safe way to prevent injury, then dont!

[Nate]

if you, or anyone for that matter, really wants to struggle with holding a rats mouth open, and torturing it by clipping its teeth, why waste the time and effort? I think rats, although they are food in our (and our snakes) eyes, deserve a certain amount of respect, regardless if they'll be dead in 10 minutes.

If you're that worried about it biting (and 99% of the time it won't), then just throw it in a pillow case and sling it against a wall....instant death...won't feel a thing...

[Jeanne]

I have clipped pet rats teeth on occassion, however, I would never consider doing what you have proposed, in order to "disable" a rats teeth, you would have to cut them way up close to the gum, where they should never be clipped to begin with..and this would also be very very very painful to the rodent and a bloody mess.... teeth clipping on rodents is rarely done if at all... and clipping them before feeding them off is not a viable option because of how far up into the gums you would have to cut them to actually disable the teeth, so if your wifes employer is doing this or reccommending this, I would seriously question its effectiveness unless they are cutting way into the rodents gums. The fact that a vets office says they "have seen" ppl do this, bother me.. b/c if they know anything at all about rodents, they would understand thier mouth anatomy enough to not reccommend this.

[Adam_Wysocki]

then just throw it in a pillow case and sling it against a wall....instant death...won't feel a thing...

Unless you don't do it right.

-adam

[Nate]

ah yes that's true adam. i'm scared of that...so i always make sure to swing for the fence

[Adam_Wysocki]

so i always make sure to swing for the fence

Not everyone gets it right ... that's why the American Association of Veterinarians has deemed "whacking" a cruel and inhumane method of euthanizing animals ... When done correctly it can be effective, but the high margin for error (especially when done by a novice) could leave the animal in a state of severe suffering.

-adam