With more than 250,000 people seeing him each year, Titan needs to look and feel his best at all times for the public.
However he's also been described as intimidating by those who care for him.
Titan is a king brown snake (also known as a Mulga snake) which is considered the longest species of venomous snake in Australia. He resides at the Australian Reptile Park in Somersby, NSW.
At his health check in July 2022, Titan measured 2.68m and weighed 7.8kg. This leads staff at the Australian Reptile Park to believe it could be the longest venomous snake in captivity in Australia.
"He's an intimidating animal," explains operations manager, Billy Collett.
"Titan is impressive, and a great ambassador for his species, educating over 250,000 people who visit the Australian Reptile Park each year about our role in the lifesaving antivenom program that saves 300 Australian lives each year."
As a part of the health check, Mr Collett completed a venom milking to review the condition and amount of venom Titan can produce. This resulted in Titan biting a vial and producing 5.58g of venom - enough to kill over 20 adult men.
The Australian Reptile Park is the only place in the world that milks Australian terrestrial land snakes for the production of antivenom. This is done with the help of Seqirus, who transforms the raw venom into antivenom. The park extracts venom from five groups of Australia's deadliest terrestrial snakes including taipans, brown snakes, tiger snakes, death adders and black snakes.
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The king brown snake is a part of the black snake family and while its venom is not as potent as the eastern brown snake, it is delivered in such large doses it is deadly to anyone who is bitten and envenomated.
Unlike mammals, reptiles don't actively show signs that they are unhealthy.
"Weighing reptiles is crucial in monitoring their health and a task where Keepers need to show extreme care, one wrong move could be deadly," Mr Collett said.
"As reptiles don't need to eat that often, it's not like they just stop eating when they feel sick. The best way of ensuring their good health is by weighing, measuring and giving them a close-up inspection of their condition."
In early 2023, the park will start building a venom milking site that visitors can walk through and witness the work first-hand.
Click here for more information.
