Question: Have you ever been hurt by the animals you work with?

Adam Hargreaves answered on 11 Jun 2017:

Hi OliverB,

No, thankfully not. I’ve been bitten by some of the non-venomous snakes and lizards occasionally but it’s not painful and nothing really to worry about.

For the venomous snakes we are obviously a lot more careful, and the way we handle them is a lot different. We do everything to minimise the possibility of any bites, and (touch wood) we have had no accidents or even close calls. A lot of TV shows have presenters grabbing snakes by the tail and dodging out of the way etc., this is definitely not what happens in real life! It’s actually very boring, and generally involves using a hook to move a snake from one box to another. That’s about it I’m afraid, not very glamorous but a lot safer, and I definitely do not fancy getting bitten! Sometimes we do have to do some things which are a bit riskier, e.g. milking the snakes for venom, removing any shed skin which has become stuck on the snake, but we do these in a very controlled way which is as safe and stress-free as possible for both the human and the snake.