# Defanged tarantulas



## Josh Perry (Sep 12, 2011)

I've never seen one but I am curious if people actually do it, do they grow back or is it doomed to starve and does anyone have any experience with this?


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## KoleyLarie (Sep 12, 2011)

Honestly? Until I joined this forum I never heard of it outside of when they are sold to food vendors in foreign countries and I've worked with exotics in the retail pet trade for the last 5 yrs.


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## jake9134 (Sep 12, 2011)

no they don't, the T would die if both fangs were removed either by starvation or due to the injury. Have heard of some T having a single fang ripped out due to a bad molt but can't remember what happened to it.


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## Josh Perry (Sep 12, 2011)

Ok I was just curious cus people always ask me if they are defanged and I was wondering if there is any truth to it thanks for the info


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## annabelle (Sep 12, 2011)

i've heard of it before but i don't think people actually do it.


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## paassatt (Sep 12, 2011)

They'll lose a fang, or both due to some type of injury sometimes, but someone de-fanging their spider the same way they would de-claw a cat is wholly unnecessary and cruel.


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## kanito107 (Sep 12, 2011)

ive herad about it but never actually seen it, but think about it if you were taken all of the tools you needed to survive, i dont think you would make it. 
sure a t is different and can regenerate limbs, lets say that there is a possibility of it growing theyre fangs back, but there is a small chance


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## captmarga (Sep 12, 2011)

There are people here on the boards that have Ts that have lost a fang... it will regenerate if you can get them through to the next molt.  There is even one thread about a T that lost BOTH fangs in a molt.  If it will eat cricket soup, and the owner can get it through to the next molt, they will grow back.(Look at an old molt, and you will see that everything is shed on the exo, including old fangs.)   However, this is incredibly stressful on the T, not to mention the owner.  

No one in their right mind would deliberately de-fang a T.  The animal would be crippled and maimed. To suggest anyone should do so is stupidity (IMHO) and cruelty. 

Marga


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## Amoeba (Sep 13, 2011)

Can't stay out of this any longer. De-fanging is a petstore practice that often leads to a dead tarantula (off-ish topic: Declawing your cat is a bad idea too think about removing your finger tips at the first joint.) Sometimes a T will lose a fang or two in a molt or other freak accident. You can make a cricket soup that it can digest or you'd need to inject the liquid cricket into the mouth, and you'd need to do that until it molted again. Let nature be nature, its had more time to work itself out than humanity has.


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## Chris_Skeleton (Sep 13, 2011)

FLAmoeba said:


> De-fanging is a petstore practice that often leads to a dead tarantula


Have you seen this before? I highly doubt any petstore does this. Most employees are too scared to even open the enclosures.


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## Drakk (Sep 13, 2011)

I asked to handle a T...just a rosie at my lps....lady said "you do know its not defanged right?" only time ive ever heard it mentioned.
If i knew of someone doing it id have to consider them less than dirt personally.


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## Vilurum (Sep 13, 2011)

Drakk that made me smile


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## Josh Perry (Sep 13, 2011)

I've never seen it before but have heard it was wondering if there was any truth to this btw glad I have never seen it


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## captmarga (Sep 13, 2011)

Drakk said:


> I asked to handle a T...just a rosie at my lps....lady said "you do know its not defanged right?" only time ive ever heard it mentioned.
> If i knew of someone doing it id have to consider them less than dirt personally.


It's an old wives tale in pet stores.  I used to work at a pet store, and people asked it all the time. "Is it defanged?  Has it had the venom sacs removed?"   I've heard it more than once.  All one can do is try to dispel the myth. 

UNfortunately, it's harder to eradicate the myths that teach and learn properly in the first place. 

Marga


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## Drakk (Sep 13, 2011)

Vilurum said:


> Drakk that made me smile


Hah...its true...glad u got a smile out of it though!

---------- Post added 09-13-2011 at 09:39 AM ----------




captmarga said:


> It's an old wives tale in pet stores.  I used to work at a pet store, and people asked it all the time. "Is it defanged?  Has it had the venom sacs removed?"   I've heard it more than once.  All one can do is try to dispel the myth.
> 
> UNfortunately, it's harder to eradicate the myths that teach and learn properly in the first place.
> 
> Marga


Definitely....sad sad truth it is...


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## jim777 (Sep 13, 2011)

It does definitely smell like an old wives' tale though. But I guess since they take the scent glands out of skunks to sell them as pets (the skunks, not the scent glands  ) people will believe anything is possible.


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## Formerphobe (Sep 13, 2011)

> they take the scent glands out of skunks to sell them as pets (the skunks, not the scent glands


Glad you clarified that.    Though it wouldn't surprise me if someone wanted to buy just the scent glands, not the skunk...

I've had people try to tell me that it is illegal to own a tarantula with its fangs intact...  ::  People are uneducated.


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## pavel (Sep 13, 2011)

paassatt said:


> but someone de-fanging their spider the same way they would de-claw a cat is wholly unnecessary and cruel.



I agree though I would add, for that matter, declawing a cat is unnecessary and cruel.


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## captmarga (Sep 13, 2011)

Believe me, as the registrar for an Equine Stud book, I've heard some things that will either make you drop your teeth or fall over laughing.  The tales, misnomers, and mispronunciations of some things are ludicrous! 

We had Ts come into the 2nd store I worked at... one a big Stirmi type (I remember her fondly, though there is no telling what she actually was) and once a lividum.  Here, have a hug, it's a great pet!!!  *I* at least went and read what literature was available (no internet then) on Ts so I could educate the customers.  On all the animals, snakes, rats, birds, not just the Ts.  But I was already getting a reputation for being "that weird gal who will handle the snakes and bugs". 

Marga


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## paassatt (Sep 13, 2011)

pavel said:


> I agree though I would add, for that matter, declawing a cat is unnecessary and cruel.


I agree with that.


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## gmrpnk21 (Sep 14, 2011)

paassatt said:


> I agree with that.


I don't. Both of my cats have had their front claws removed, and they get along great. The pain was minimal, and the stitches were out in like a week. Now my furniture and skin are perfectly intact. Considering how my female likes to get in front of my 52" samsung and act like she is sharpening her claws, I am sure it was a good choice. Please stop comparing a cat's claws to people's hands! They are nothing alike!

Reactions: Dislike 1


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## paassatt (Sep 14, 2011)

gmrpnk21 said:


> I don't. Both of my cats have had their front claws removed, and they get along great. The pain was minimal, and the stitches were out in like a week. Now my furniture and skin are perfectly intact. Considering how my female likes to get in front of my 52" samsung and act like she is sharpening her claws, I am sure it was a good choice. Please stop comparing a cat's claws to people's hands! They are nothing alike!


I never compared a cat's claws to a person's hands.

Also, it's unnatural to remove its claws, no matter how you look at it. Nature gave it the claws, and you removed them. Ergo, it's unnatural. And just because they "get along great", that doesn't make it right. Cats scratch stuff. It's what they do. People who want to own cats should keep that in mind. 

The only unnatural thing I could possibly see being acceptable to do is spaying and neutering, but that is a different thing all together. Your cat can't go out and impregnate or become impregnated with its claws.

Reactions: Like 1


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