ORLAND SENTINEL (Florida) 23 January 05 Snake venom supplies serpentarium's success - the owners milk about 50 poisonous snakes a day for research and medicine. (Elizabeth Kirk)
The eerie crowing of roosters makes it seem like just another day on the farm.
This farm is different, though. The livestock consists mostly of poisonous snakes, and the milk produced is pure venom.
Reptile World Serpentarium on U.S. Highway 192 in St. Cloud is not only a kitschy attraction, but it's also a business that supplies venom to about 400 companies that do research, including universities and pharmaceutical labs.
The roadside attraction evolved from the venom farm that opened in 1972, but owner George VanHorn said he hasn't tried to compete with larger tourist spots.
"It's not about success or anything. It's about the animal," he said. "We try to keep it just what it is and nothing more."
When VanHorn started in the business, venom was used commercially most often to produce antivenin. But within the past 10 years, one of the most toxic substances in the world has been successfully used in research for everything from gene therapy to cancer treatments.
The proteins in snake venom make it incredibly useful, VanHorn said. Each protein's structure is unique and performs a specific action; some aid in clotting blood, for example.
Researcher Frank Markland of the University of Southern California uses venom supplied by VanHorn to conduct research on cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
He isolated two proteins from the venom of Southern copperhead snakes, one of which is used to dissolve blood clots in people with peripheral arterial occlusion without causing the excessive bleeding that other treatments produce.
The other application of the proteins is used in treating cancerous tumors and stops them from migrating to other parts of the body. Tests are continuing and have not yet used human subjects, but Markland has high hopes for improving treatment and the quality of life for cancer patients.
"The advantage of this treatment is that there are potentially no side effects," Markland said. "We see this as being most effective when combined with low-dose chemotherapy."
VanHorn and his wife, Rosa, do all the venom milking at Reptile World, "working" about 50 snakes each day. They carefully open the boxes that house the reptiles, remove the animal and swiftly grasp it behind the head to get the snake's jaws to open and clamp onto a waiting container.
After milking, each snake is fed and left to rest for another 10 to 14 days to build up more venom. The venom is freeze-dried and shipped to researchers all over the world.
The milking sessions are on display for visitors to Reptile World twice a day. It was in just such a show attended by grade-school students that VanHorn was bitten by a king cobra in June 1995.
The bite, which delivered an estimated 20 times the lethal amount of venom to his left arm, nearly killed him. He required 56 vials of antivenin -- flown in from across the country -- and several surgeries, and he spent more than a month in the hospital. But VanHorn said he would never stop the work he loves.
The danger is what brings people to Reptile World, but VanHorn says snakes don't attack people and that the most dangerous thing he could do is drive to St. Cloud.
Although his venom farm houses about 700 snakes, he doesn't encourage people to have a snake as a pet.
"Snakes don't really care about you," he said. "They never become affectionate."
But VanHorn harbors a deep love for snakes that started when he was a boy growing up near the Everglades. He would bring snakes home -- much to his mother's dislike -- and ended up keeping his collection at his grandmother's house.
"I didn't need dinner. I didn't need anything," he recalled. "If I had a snake, I was happy."
He respects the snakes and says that is why the farm has had only 12 accidents in the 32 years it has been open.
Snakes have "all the characteristics that we would like to have as humans," VanHorn said. "They're benign and take only what they need."
Snake venom supplies serpentarium's success