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Hello all...I've been quiet here for some time, but I'd like to add my 2 cents on this, since in years past I've kept 7 venomoid rattlesnakes (plus a few other kinds) & kept quite a few hot rattlesnakes as well*- for a total of 20 safe years. *I did rescues/re-locations & accepted those unwanted that were in captivity too long to be released...at no time did I ever deliberately capture wild snakes, hot or otherwise, unless injured or about to be. I also did many educational programs with both native & non-native snakes.
Anyway, the venomoids I had were all given to me, NOT fixed for me and were then unwanted by their previous owners. (think about that, ok?) While I really enjoyed having some venomoids, I would never deliberately have that done.
You are under the impression that venom is not essential to their digestion, but that is not always true...it starts the digestive process. One of a pair of eastern diamondbacks had very poor digestion: his body was triangular (cross-section) and in spite of a good appetite, it was obvious by his foul smelling & greasy stools that he was unable to digest properly. I first tried adding digestive enzymes to his food, with little effect. Finally I decided to just use a "venom donor" to bite his prey for him...that worked pretty well & he slowly gained some weight, but he was never as healthy as he should have been, nor were his stools entirely normal.
As for your original question, I can't help you there...those who fixed the snakes I had aren't around any more. There was a vet in Phoenix AZ that used to do them years ago, but he didn't like to, so he charged a lot, I heard. I do hope you'll reconsider.
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