African Reptiles and Venom is the contracted supplier of snake venoms to the South African Vaccine Producers (Pty) LTD. (SAVP) a subsidiary of the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS). SAVP uses these venoms for the manufacture of their polyvalent (SAIMR) antivenom.

Our Venoms

As snake venom is prone to attack from bacteria, great care is taken to keep the venom free from contaminants.

The snakes are milked into sterile beakers. The beakers rest on an ice brick, so the temperature of the venom drops from 25 degree Celsius to about 5 degrees Celsius. The pooled venom from a number of snakes of the same species is then centrifuged, to remove debris and salts and the clear venom is then placed into liquid nitrogen which freezes the venom and keeps it at -190 degrees Celsius.

The venom is then later freeze-dried, and in three days the venom is now a completely dry powder, which will retain its properties for many decades. The venom is placed in suitable sterile specimen bottles, weighed, labeled, and stored.

We extract the following venoms at present:

Bitis arietans	Puff Adder
Bitis gabonica gabonica	East African Gaboon adder
Bitis gabonica rhinoceros	West African Gaboon adder
Dendroaspis angusticeps	Green Mamba
Dendroaspis jamesoni	Jameson's Mamba
Dendroaspis polylepis	Black Mamba
Hemachatus haemachatus	Ringkals
Naja annulifera	Snouted Cobra
Naja melanoleuca	Forest Cobra
Naja mossambica	Mozambique Spitting Cobra
Naja nivea	Cape Cobra