In an incredibly dangerous procedure, the Australian Reptile Park’s venom team has paired two Darwin King Brown snakes together for mating.
Known as one of Australia’s deadliest snakes, the King Brown (or Mulga snake), is notorious for its potent venom, often yielding the largest quantity among other deadly species.
This exciting development marks the first mating of King Browns at the Park since 2016, when 25 hatchlings were born, contributing to the Park’s life-saving venom program.
Operations Manager Billy Collett captured the extraordinarily rare event on camera during one of his attempts to pair the snakes.
The pair of King Brown snakes captured in the footage were transferred to the Australian Reptile Park from south of Darwin in the Northern Territory.
Breeding King Brown snakes from this locality is notoriously challenging and often proves unsuccessful, making this rare footage and successful pairing even more exceptional.
With mating season typically beginning in early to mid-Spring, the venom keepers have needed to work tirelessly to simulate the perfect temperatures, light and habitat to ensure the snakes are at their prime for mating.
“I was absolutely stoked to be able to capture such a rare event on camera,” Collett said.
“I had tried a few times before to pair them, however, this was the first time it was successful.
“In two months time we will know if the breeding was a success.”
The Park’s venom keepers also must become involved in the egg incubation process, which can take up to 60 days before a youngling hatches.
When born, the hatchlings break open their eggs with a temporary tooth called an egg tooth which assists in penetrating the eggshell and sit inside the egg with their head poking out until they’re ready to leave their egg, which often takes 24 hours.
“Our team at the Australian Reptile Park works exceptionally hard to save Australian lives every year with our venom program,” Collett said.
“We can only hope that this pairing will result in little hatchlings next year that can become a vital part of our program.”
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 CSL Seqirus, who transforms the raw venom into the final product of lifesaving antivenom.
The Australian Reptile Park extracts venom from five groups of Australia’s deadliest snakes.
Every year there are an estimated 2,000 reported snake bites in Australia, with more than 300 receiving antivenom and having their lives saved by the program.
Earlier this year, the Australian Reptile Park commenced construction on a brand-new state-of-the-art venom milking facility that 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 ground works well and truly underway, and project completion aimed for 2024.
Source:
Australian Reptile Park