Snake Milking: The Most Nerve-racking Aspect of Producing Antivenom

Producing antivenom starts with snake milking. A skilled (and brave!) herpetologist needs to coax a venomous snake into relinquishing its venom, which is precious and limited in supply. This encompasses a variety of techniques, first among them the ability to calmly handle a snake that could turn on you at any moment.

Chapters

0:06 Intro
0:28 What is snake milking?
0:49 Juvenile Calloselasma rhodostoma (Malayan pit viper)
2:04 Adult Calloselasma rhodostoma (Malayan pit viper)
2:54 Bungarus fasciatus (banded krait)
3:35 Storing the snake venom
4:32 The importance of this work
4:59 Credits

Credits

Shot, edited, and directed by Joaquim Baeta

Narrated by Donan Satria Yudha (Lecturer in the Laboratory of Animal Systematics, Faculty of Biology, Universitas Gadjah Mada)

Produced by Lelly Marliana

Snake milking performed by Dr. drh. Slamet Raharjo, M.P. (Lecturer in the Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universitas Gadjah Mada)

Snake milking assistants were Rahma Izzati, Ananto Puradi Nainggolan, Noorman Hendry Fauzy, Saliyo, Dino Ashar Setiawan, and Anindwi Nugra Afianto, S.K.H.

"Blackout & Blue" by Little Glass Men, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Little_Glass_Men/Debut_EP, CC BY 4.0

Snake icon by Andrew Doane, https://thenounproject.com/icon/snake-1173205, CC BY 3.0

Bungarus candidus photo by Wibowo Djatmiko, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bungar_candi_120608-0338_krw.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0

Filmed at the Laboratory of Animal Systematics, Universitas Gadjah Mada

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License & Attribution

By Joaquim Baeta and Lelly Marliana. This video is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. You are free to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon them in any medium or format, provided you give appropriate credit to Joaquim Baeta and Lelly Marliana, indicate any changes, and redistribute any derivative work under the same (or equivalent) license.

Example attribution: "Snake Milking: The Most Nerve-racking Aspect of Producing Antivenom" by Joaquim Baeta and Lelly Marliana, https://scenoptica.com/documentary/snake-milking.html, CC BY-SA.