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They antagonise the funnel-web until it begins striking and the venom is dripping from its fangs, and then they use a liquid dropper to suck that venom up. It is wild.

Here's a video of the place near where I live doing it: https://youtube.com/watch?v=tN-mHIXoXlQ

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And here's a video of them milking the snakes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JDwMDlcBhE

It's nuts. Hats off to Zac the snake handler.

Stats from the video: 1 vial of antivenom requires 20 milkings. Worst case, a treatment requires 10 vials. This is part of the reason antivenom is expensive. Seeing this process, one can appreciate the attraction of a manufactured pill.

>1 vial of antivenom requires 20 milkings. Worst case, a treatment requires 10 vials.

That really takes me back to my World of Warcraft days.

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