Health check for deadly death adder

The Australian Reptile Park Operations Manager Billy Collett recently faced the daunting task of performing a health check on one the Park’s most venomous snakes, Shazza the death adder.

The reptile is known to be incredibly deadly with one bite proving fatal without antivenom treatment.

With the species also being known to have the fastest strike in the world, the health check had Collett’s heart racing.

Collett completed a milking to review the condition and amount of venom the snake can produce, yielding 270mg of venom.

“My previous record for death adder venom extraction was 160mg and as the only place in the world to milk common death adders for their venom, this has got to be a new world record,” he said.

“That’s enough to kill over 60 adult men.

“Death adders also have longer fangs than any other Australian snake so you can imagine that a single bite would definitely pack a punch,” exclaimed Mr Collett.

“Shazza is impressive and a great ambassador for her species, educating over 250,000 people who visit the Australian Reptile Park each year about our role in the lifesaving antivenom program that saves 300 Australian lives each year.”

Collett also measured and weighed the snake, with Shazza coming in at 102cm long and weighing a whopping 1.41kg –  almost double the average weight of death adders.

Unlike mammals, reptiles don’t actively show signs that they are unhealthy.

“Weighing reptiles is crucial in monitoring their health and a task where keepers need to show extreme care; one wrong move could be deadly,” Collett said.

“As reptiles don’t need to eat that often, it’s hard to judge their condition by how much food they eat and how often.

“The best way of ensuring their good health is by weighing, measuring, and giving them a close-up inspection.”

The Australian Reptile Park is the only facility in the world that milks Australian terrestrial land snakes for the production of antivenom.

This is done with the help of Seqirus, which transforms the raw venom into the final product of lifesaving antivenom.

The Park extracts venom from five groups of Australia’s deadliest terrestrial snakes including taipans, brown snakes, tiger snakes, death adders and black snakes.

Early this year, the Park will begin construction of a new state-of-the-art venom milking facility where visitors will be able to walk through and witness the lifesaving work first-hand.

The NSW State Government has committed $300,000 to the project with initial planning stages well underway.

Source:
Media release, Jan 10
Australian Reptile Park