Snake venom

[cypher13]

Some years ago, I had occasion to research the world market for snake venom. Not knowing where to turn, I contacted the Director of Herpetology at the Bronx Zoo and did I ever get a lesson for hte price of a telephone call.

First, milking a snake is very traumatic to the snake and no ethical zoo does it. There are lots of unethical reptile collectors who do. The main market is for anti-venin, but - and this is what amazed me - the second most lucrative market is in biomedical and neurological research. Raw snake venom is pretty nasty stuff. Laboratories separate it into its constituent proteins and then freeze dry the results. Many of these proteins are active, quite literally, at the molecular level.

The prices then: a gram of common rattlesnake venom could be had for $5 whereas a gram of Australian tiger snake venom cost well over $1,000. All are presently available commercially from places like Sigma, though the constituent proteins are commensurately more expensive.

This is also an area that seems safe from encroaching technology: it is, for the time being, far cheaper to milk snakes than to make the stuff synthetically.

A

[nbk2000]

Interesting, but already well discussed in previous threads. Search for it.

Also, leave out the A at the bottom of your posts, as I've already explained to other newbies. That's what we have sig lines for. ;)

And a newbie posting in many topics at once, and creating a new one to boot, brings to mind "Over Eager Puppy" syndrome. Calm down.

Since this wasn't the typical lame newbie post, you won't be banned for the usual newbie offense of first post/new topic, but it's locked all the same because it's already been discussed.

SEARCH first, before posting, you'll live longer that way. :)