AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION 25 April 08 Death adder breeding program a success
A Northern Territory Wildlife Park has achieved a rare reproductive success with captive reptiles, with the birth last week of 25 baby death adders.
Senior reptile keeper, Grant Husband, says the breeding result was surprising, given that the northern death adder would normally give birth to only half that amount of snakes.
He says it's the first time the park has had success with death adder breeding, but removing 25 venomous baby snakes from their highly venomous mother was quite a challenge.
"First I removed Mum very carefully, because she's quite bitey, and then I had to actually had to find the 25 babies amongst a big pile of leaf litter," he said.
"So I used a little tiny wire hook and carefully picked each one out.
"Some were extremely hard to pick up on the hooks.
"They're potentially lethal at that size so you don't take any chances at all."
Death adder breeding program a success