A Lymphatic Workout.
An interview with Nathan Checuti and
the bite that broke the internet.
Mitchell Hodgson catches up with a young keeper with a very pragmatic attitude,
considering the life-changing ordeal he has just endured.
Nathan Checuti is a 19-year-old reptile enthusiast from
Queensland who recently became a major discussion
topic among Australian herp enthusiasts after suffering
an envenomation from his pet Inland Taipan (Oxyuranus
microlepidotus). This episode raised a lot of questions
within the community regarding private ownership of
venomous snakes as well as the way the media reports on
snakebite incidents. It elicited a strong response from the
international reptile community, with many people
offering support to Nathan and others scrutinising the
circumstances behind the event. We thought it would be
worth having a constructive chat to Nathan to firstly set
the record straight, and then get his thoughts on the
media portrayal of what happened, as well as his opinion
about the community’s response.
snakebite should always be taken seriously, as compla-
cency is one of the biggest threats to elapid keepers or
enthusiasts herping in the bush. With that all said, let’s
find out where Nathan fits into the hobby and his
thoughts on the whole ordeal. As a final note before the
interview, when I use the term elapid I am referring
specifically to members of the family Elapidae that have
a medically-significant bite and/or are dangerously
venomous.
Mitchell: Starting off with something light, where did
your interest in reptiles come from? I am always fasci-
nated to find out what drives people to become interested
in reptiles.
Nathan: It all started when I was around five years old
and I was walking on my neighbour’s dirt bike track. We
came across a big Red-bellied Black Snake, and my
neighbour freaked out and ran off to get his dad so that
he could come kill it, while I stood watching it. I was
impressed by the snake and couldn’t understand why
someone would want to kill it. From that day I
harassed my dad about keeping a snake, until even-
‘These snakes have an incredibly
tually he ended up getting me a Spotted Python,
potent venom that rates as the most which I still have to this day, about fourteen years
later.
toxic of all terrestrial snakes.’
Before we get to talking to Nathan, let’s have a bit of a
closer look at an Australian herp icon – the Inland
Taipan. Although this impressive animal is commonly
referred to as the world’s most deadly snake, such broad
statements aren’t entirely accurate. Whilst it’s true these
snakes have an incredibly potent venom that rates as the
most toxic of all terrestrial snakes on an Ld50 test (a con-
trolled experimental method that uses mice deaths in
response to venom doses to determine toxicity), this is
belied by a track record that is nowhere near as ‘deadly’
as many people may think. The venom of the Inland
Taipan is medically significant to humans, and consists
of a powerful cocktail of presynaptic and postsynaptic
neurotoxins (that interfere with the nervous system),
procoagulants (that induce clotting) and myotoxins (that
destroy muscle), yet there are very few recorded human
bites, and most of these envenomations are from captive
animals! Quite simply, due to the fact that these animals
live in remote parts of Australia, there is very little inter-
action with humans.
The reality is Australians are lucky with our healthcare
system and knowledge of snake first aid. Venomous
Mitchell: When and why did you decide you wanted to
keep elapids? What made them attractive to you?
Nathan: I’ve been interested in keeping elapids for about
five years now. Before that I didn’t really have an interest
in keeping them - I didn’t really know why people would
want pet venomous snakes. Slowly, I began to get more
interested in keeping them and the idea of having them in
proper naturalistic set-ups was really appealing. I’m a
real passionate collector of reptiles, rather than a breeder
or anything like that. After thinking about it I became
convinced it would be awesome to have an Inland Taipan
in a proper natural desert-style set-up. I’ve also always
liked Red-bellied Black Snakes; red and black are just
nice colours to me, plus they are the snake that really first
inspired me about reptiles. That’s what made them
attractive for me to keep.