The Herpetarium

The herpetarium is a UK Home Office accredited and inspected experimental animal housing facility and is critical resource for all the activities of the Alistair Reid Venom Research Unit.

Under the expert husbandry care of Mr Paul Rowley, the herpetarium houses more than 200 specimens of some of the world’s most dangerous snakes. The great majority of our snakes are African haemotoxic vipers (including Echis species saw-scaled vipers; Bitis arietans puff adders; Bitis gabonica gaboon vipers) and neurotoxic elapids (including Dendroaspis species of black and green mambas, and several spitting and non-spitting Naja cobras). Paul Rowley and Gavin Laing extract venom from these snakes at regular intervals and the venom is immediately lyophilised and then stored at 4°C. The venom is used for (i) antivenom production, (ii) clinically-associated studies and (iii) laboratory studies.

We have also become increasingly reliant upon the data emanating from molecular sequence analysis of snake venom glands as a rapid means to assess the specific protein composition of venom. This information (EST databases) is being used to design synthetic proteins for the development of novel antibodies as potentially new treatments of the effects of venom in either the tissues or blood stream of envenomed victims.

Paul Rowley runs a Home Office-accredited one day course on “The Handling of Venomous Snakes”. This course is offered to anyone possessing a current Home Office Personal Licence.

Below: Paul Rowley illustrates the process of restraining snakes and the extraction of venom from an eastern diamondback rattlesnake, Crotalus adamanteus.