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Venomoids - A Practitioner's View
Reproduced with permission of Raymond Hoser
Removal of both venom glands - 10 minutes
Suturing wounds - 10 minutes
Application of Betadine and anti-biotics - 1 minute
Measuring snake (s-v and tail) - 1 minute
Removal restraining material, cutting free snake and placement in cage - 1 minute.
In other words 20 minutes is a reasonable estimate of the time taken to conduct the operation. Most operations are completed in under this time.
Some snakes I operated on had other health issues of note that were dealt with at the time of the operation. One large female Tiger Snake had five ticks on it's body. These were left on the snake for some weeks and until the venom gland removal operation, because it was deemed easiest to remove them at the same time. One of the ticks was on the back of the head.
Another snake had skin worms which were cut out at the same time as it's venom gland removal operation. As a matter of procedure, the moment was seized upon to accurately weigh and measure all snakes.
Weighing was done by placing the snake in a container (pre-operation) and weighing it, while measuring was done at the termination of the surgery and immediately before releasing the snake and placement in the cage.
POST OPERATION
Again common sense is the rule of note.
Post operated on snakes are best left alone to heal.
As a rule, they should be kept in cages on their own and not fed for some time. I violated these rules on well-adjusted Tiger Snakes and the said snakes still healed without problem.
Feeding is an important issue as it is generally agreed that if a snake feeds and digests it's food post operation, then the operation has been a success. Snakes of all species operated on would feed voluntarily within days of surgery, including on amazingly large food items. Included here are Brown, Tiger and Copperhead.
Some sense here is required as if food items too large are fed, then the healing wounds may be damaged. As to why I rushed to offer food to recently operated on snakes, it was to establish the level of pain and discomfort felt by the snakes from this operation. It was deemed that if the operation caused undue pain and undue ongoing pain, then the snakes would refuse food. That they took food so shortly after the operation implied that the pain was neither terribly acute or debilitating.
That so many snakes of so many taxa took food so shortly after the operation, showed that my results weren't just a "one off" from some mad voracious snake, but actually reflected the minor nature of the operation.
Putting it in perspective, most snake keepers know that ailments as "minor" as mouth rot and mite infestations will put snakes off their food, so a snake three days after a (dual) venom gland removal operation is already well ahead of these others.
Healing is so rapid that sutures removed six days after the operation have left the mouth apparently healed and without sign of open wound. In such cases, the only evidence of wound is minor scabs around the suture material itself.
I have preferred to leave the sutures in for ten to 14 days post operation before removal and then not to feed the said snakes for at least three days thereafter.
This non-feeding is to allow the sutured gap further time to heal. Food sizes should be kept small post operation so as to prevent reopening of the wounds, although this has never occurred in cases involving myself. I have fed snakes before removal of sutures, the only guideline I have run on being not to sedate snakes for suture removal while food remains in the stomach (usually within about 3 days of feeding).
TESTING THE SUCCESS OF THE FINAL PRODUCT
The final "product" in this case is a non-venomous snake. The means of choice to test is a live rodent or similar.
As I don't have ready access to them as a matter of course (I get my rodents frozen), I used live Indian Mynah Birds (Acridotheres tristis) (a feral species here in Australia) that are trapped in a specially made bird trap in my back yard. The snake is made to bite into the flesh of the bird and if the bird doesn?t die then the snake is presumed harmless. The test is repeated three times on three different birds to confirm the result.
THE NET RESULT
In terms of the operated on snakes, they have presumably gained as a result of the operation. Instead of being handled like "deadly" snakes, they have been able to be handled more like harmless pythons.
Those operated on were already tractable and docile and had been selected for operation on that basis. However based on their deadly nature, their handling had still been constrained despite their tractability.
For those unaware of what I am getting at, put it this way.
A relatively docile python pinned by the head with a snake stick and then grabbed by the neck is likely to be more agitated than if it is picked up calmly and handled mid body. For the operated on snakes, this means that their handling in public displays for many years to come can be less stressful for them and they are unlikely to be unduly agitated by repeated pinning and neck grabbing.
For myself and the watching public, the risk of deadly bite is greatly reduced.