- I think I just went to the bathroom
in my pants, a little bit.
Holy cow, look at the size of that snake!
Wow, the most dangerous job in the United States,
right here folks.
Wow, that is a very, very strong snake.
Whoa!
(animals growling)
(dramatic music)
- When it comes to creatures that humans
are afraid of I always say there's the three big S's,
sharks, spiders and snakes.
You're very unlikely to be attacked
or bitten by these animals.
Yet unfortunate, accidental encounters do happen
and in a worse case scenario, a single bite
could put your life on the line.
Today we are visiting the Reptile Discovery Center,
located in Deland, Florida.
Owned and operated by Carl Barden,
this serpentarium is home to dozens
of the world's most dangerous snakes.
Many of which, are on display to educate the public.
This location is also a Medtoxin Venom Laboratory
and it's the dangerous work going on behind the scenes
that is saving human lives.
Ohh, venomous reptiles.
Good morning, Carl.
- Coyote, how you doing?
Welcome, thanks for coming.
- Mara.
- Good morning Coyote, welcome.
- Thank you guys so much for having me,
this looks like the ultimate snake milking setup.
This process is incredibly important.
You guys are milking these snakes
for the creation of antivenom.
So, tell us a little bit about this process
and I would classify this as, agruably,
the most dangerous job in the United States, at this point.
- But we never see it that way,
we always think it's pretty well practiced.
We do it so frequently, we handle 50-100 snakes a day.
Typically four or five days a week
and probably, most importantly, a number of these venoms
are produced for the antivenoms, both here in North America
and around the world.
- So, let me just repeat that real quick.
You said between 50 and 100 snakes a day,
have you ever been bitten in the process of milking snakes?
- 'Cause accidents do happen. - Yeah, you know.
We have about 500,000 venom extractions, now
and every once in a while, he zigs and you zag
and the whole thing goes bad.
So, I've had 11 snake bites in the last 27 years,
only nine of those resulted in envenomation
and actual hospital stays,
we had two of those bites were dry.
But you'll see the work here at the table is close work
but it's really rehearsed
and it's done very carefully and methodically.
So, we like to think it can be done very safely.
- So the first snake we're gonna get out,
you see there's these enclosures behind me,
now let me ask you this question real quick,
how many snakes, total, do you guys have?
- [Carl] We've got about 1000 onsite, right now,
about 500 on the venom line.
- Okay, the first snake we're gonna take a look at
is the southern copperhead and oh, wow,
oh my gosh, beautiful.
- Wow! - and that's a big example
of a southern copperhead.
This is about as big as these guys get
and she's really a perfect example.
That's a big copper.
- I was gonna say, I've seen my fair share of copperheads
this is without question the biggest one I've ever seen.
Wow!
I'm gonna pivot out, Mara, and let you get into position
and we are going to begin the milking process, copperhead.
Now, where would you rank the toxicity of the copperhead's
venom, as compared to, a cottonmouth
or a diamondback, right?
This is not, necessarily, a bite that's gonna kill you?
- Typically no, typically no, copperhead venoms
are not seen as especially toxic.
Copperhead venom is extremely hemolytic so, hemorrhage
and destroys blood cells and this kind of thing.
And that's a lot of copperhead venom,
something like 50 milligrams in a shot, perhaps,
a little bit more for her
and probably takes well over 100 milligrams
of copperhead venom to actually kill somebody.
So it's just not, typically a lethal dose
that you get in a bite.
She's beautiful if you want to touch her,
it's just a spectacular snake in every regard.
And we always think that color,
that pattern is just unmatched.
- Amazing, I mean, that venom yield right there,
you can just hear the power of those fangs going into
- the plastic cones there. - Yeah, they bite.
A very decisive bite, a rapid bite
and so it's an easy snake, you can see why copperheads bite
more people in the eastern United States than anything.
- Yep, wow.
- All right, we'll bring her back, put her away.
- Oh, that was fantastic and that's just our first snake.
- [Carl] Ready?
- All right, this is it, I'm going to assist in the milking
of a water moccasin, as soon as I give Carl the go-ahead
the snake is coming out and it's up to me to make sure
that we get a good soft body press
so that Carl's not bitten in the process of what this is.
All right, Carl you set?
- I'm set.
- [Coyote] Okay, here we go.
Bring out the viper.
- All right, again, kind of an average size snake.
Perfect condition and this is really typical
of our local cottonmouth.
This guy's a Volusia County snake,
she was caught right here as a baby.
These guys are really prolific,
are common in some of the forests surrounding Deland.
All right, let's go we'll bring this guy in.
I'm gonna do the same kind of sweep here,
come on in with your press.
Good, beautiful, you got her, your excellent, I've got her.
You can pick her up, you're safe, good.
Put your press down,
get ahold of that body, excellent Coyote.
- [Mara] Make sure you're hand's covering that vent.
- Gonna get musked on?
Okay.
- Really good, really good.
Let's see if she'll give us a shot here.
There she goes.
- [Coyote] Oh yeah, look at that.
You can feel the power in the whole body
when they bite down like that.
- There she goes again. - Holy mackerel.
- That's good, perfect.
All right, we're gonna return her to her cage,
you got her, excellent Coyote.
- Oh, my hands are shaking.
- [Mara] You did it.
- I was hands on with the snakes in Australia
when we milked those species but didn't, necessarily,
have that pressure of having to gently pin down the body.
But anytime you're that close to one of these animals,
I mean, even a slight margin of error
can go catastrophically wrong
and from the venom yield that you see,
that came out of that snake, just unbelievable.
It's just one bite from one of these snakes.
- Yeah, it was excellent.
- I feel, I feel all that adrenaline rushing through me
that's one snake and I wasn't even holding
the snake by the head.
So, I can only imagine you doing this for a couple hours
at a time, snake after snake after snake.
And if you thought the water moccasin was impressive,
now we're gonna bring out the eastern diamondback.
Which, arguably is the most dangerous pit viper
in the United States, based on venom yield.
I have a feeling that this is going to be intense.
Wow, that is a big eastern diamondback.
I think I just went to the bathroom
in my pants a little bit.
Holy cow, look at the size of that snake!
Wow!
That might be the biggest eastern diamondback
I have ever seen, wow!
Okay so, now one of the key elements.
- Don't get any closer than you are right now.
- Okay, yeah, I know, I see she's,
I'm just gonna go like this
and talk over to the side like this, just in case.
She's in that classic S strike pose,
now what makes these snakes so dynamic
is that heat sensing pit on the front of their faces.
So right now, she's looking at me, she see a heat signature
that's definitely too big to a prey item,
which means I am likely a predator.
I'm a threat at this moment and, like Carl said,
I don't want to get any closer because as you can see
they strike incredibly fast.
And that strike happened so quick,
if you're bitten by a snake of this size
it has the potential to kill you.
- No question about it.
The eastern diamondback, a bite from an adult
eastern diamondback rattlesnake is a potentially
fatal snake bite, there's no question.
- Now when it comes to eastern diamondback
versus western diamondback,
which one do you think is more dangerous, Carl?
You can see she's getting agitated.
- I think both of those, I'm just gonna shift her
on the table, a little bit.
I think both of those snakes
are probably, equally, dangerous.
Eastern diamondback venom is probably just the slightest bit
more toxic, but just a little bit.
And quantity-wise and size-wise, both of those guys
are very serious rattlesnakes.
So, I think you're probably an equal on dangerous.
Everybody good?
I'm gonna go ahead and catch him.
- Yeah, it's time, here we go guys, we're gonna do it now.
- [Mara] You okay, Carl?
- [Carl] I gotta shift him, I got him, up.
- Take just a step back here.
- No pressure yet.
- The most dangerous job in the United States,
right here folks.
- [Mara] There's a little now to keep him on the table.
- [Carl] I'm gonna shift him a little.
- [Mara] And coming off.
- [Coyote] Carl you're unbelievable,
the focus that it takes to perform what this is.
- Don't change anything, you're good, easy.
- All right, all right, got the backside.
Wow, that is a very, very strong snake.
Unbelievable muscular power without the body.
Okay, you guys good?
Whoa, that was a serious venom yield right there!
My goodness!
- And that's really what makes the eastern diamondback
so potentially dangerous.
It's that capability to really pile it out,
when they need to.
- Look at those fangs and oh, I actually see
it's got a double set of fangs,
which means its getting ready to shed out
one of those fangs right?
- That's exactly right, that's exactly right.
- [Mara] You want me to get that fang?
- Yep. - Yeah.
- Wow, look at that, all right guys.
Zoom in as best you can to get a shot of those fangs.
You can see the hooked nature.
If you're bitten by one of these snakes
it's going to be a very, very bad day.
A bite from this viper will definitely kill you
if you do not receive antivenom treatment.
Okay, it's okay to let go of the tail?
- Yep good, I'm gonna go by.
- Okay, going back in. - Very good Coyote, excellent.
- That, that was intense!
- Just needing to control a snake of that size
on a table like that it is a challenge.
Wow, Carl that was impressive my friend, holy mackerel.
It's important to note that this venom will go
into the creation of antivenom which, eventually,
will save lives so the work
that Carl and Mara are doing here, on a daily basis,
is saving anybody who accidentally comes upon
one of these snakes and is bitten.
Carl, I'm gonna give you a very dangerous handshake
to say thank you for having us behind the scenes
at the lab here today, to milk snakes.
This was unbelievable.
I'm sure one venom searing question that you all have
is, what exactly happens when snake venom enters
into the human body and reacts with its blood?
Stay tuned guys because that episode is coming up next.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild,
we'll see you on the next adventure.
All right Carl, I'm gonna hand this off to you
so that I don't drop it, that was crazy.
Amazing job, oh my gosh, I'm so stoked.
Being bitten by an animal is one of the worst experiences
most people can imagine.
Yet, no matter how careful you are,
accidents can and do happen every year.
In the United States, it is accurate to say that Carl
and Mara are literally putting their own lives at risk
to ensure that anyone who is bitten by a venomous snake
has a fighting chance for survival.
If you would like to visit the Reptile Discovery Center,
or learn more about their Medtoxin Venom Laboratories,
make sure to visit the website.
Schedule your chance to see these snakes in action.
Hey Coyote Pack, if you can't wait
for the thrilling conclusion, where we see how human blood
matches up against pit viper venom, you can join Memberships
right now and see the episode before anyone else.
Make sure to subscribe and click the Notification Bell,
so you can follow along with me
and the crew on our next wild adventure.
(animals growling)