Venomdoc Forums

[Samuel]

I could do what? If i every try that job it will be in 5-6 years after i get plenty of experience with hots under a pro.

[wiggles12]

I would suggest that!
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May GOD have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't!
- General George S. Patton

[Torben]

Samuel, its always nice to earn money for jobs as milking snakes.
But in my oppinion, i quess that's not the first thing you have to think.
If you are, experienced enough and want to milk snakes you have to this with the thaught you could help researchers making it possible to get anti-serums, and medicines for deseases. But that's the way i think.
I mean I'd love to help biologists like Bryan Fry, but also know that what he's doing, and that's something that goes way above my experience.
Iam studying the Echis species,, also hope to know more about the venom and maybe find something in it, for the research centers. But that's something i like to do,, not planning to make it my daily job.

regards,

Torben
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0.2 Echis sochureki

Work safe and be a story teller, not the story

[Venom Curator]

Working at a venom lab carries many tasks on a daily basis. Extraction is a small part of the daily duties. One must also process and store venoms (quite non- glamorous) provide quality husbandry, track nutrition and yes……here comes the one we all have that internal fear of…..paperwork. My daily battles with the computer often overshadow my scuffles with even the most belligerent cobra.
This is not to say that it isn’t rewarding, it is. As was stated before, our facility is a part of a larger research center that also uses these venoms in biomedical discovery.
Also, what Bryan was alluding to is that Crotalus venoms are very easy to come by and hence the price for this venom is cheaper by the gram than a night out with your girlfriend. Harder to acquire venoms such as Coral snake (Micrurus) are much more pricey per gram. One must then take into account that it takes a huge amount of extractions to make a gram of coral snake venom as they give very little. Snakes that give a large amount (King cobra, Gaboon Viper and such) also are minimal price because it does not take the effort to compile a gram. Let me rephrase…there is always an effort, though sometimes the risk overrides the payoff from a financial standpoint. Now, from the standpoint of drug discovery, the risk may be worth it. So, it depends on why a person is in the profession. If it is thinking that you will get rich or even support a comfortable lifestyle…think again.

Thanks-
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Douglas L. Hotle
Curator of Herpetology
Natural Toxins Research Center
Texas A&M University-Kingsville

[PhilodryasFAN]

If we could earn at least enough money to live, but doing what we love to do, that would be great.
In this last time I realized that I would prefer to live with the basics but having a job that I enjoy, than earning thousands but suffering each and every day with a tedious job.