- 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)
I can't imagine snake milk being very delicious.