Who needs a thumb anyway?

By April Corbin

Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010 | 2 a.m.

The puff adder is one of the world's deadliest snakes. It's responsible for taking more human lives than any other serpent in the world, partially because its venom will kill you in only 23 minutes.

Right now there is nothing stopping it from biting me.

Ok, maybe a few things. I'm covered from toes to nose with the modern-day equivalent of a knight's armor; two professional snake handlers are within three feet of me, watching my front and back for potentially hungry reptiles; and certain sections of the floor are more heated than others to encourage the cold-blooded creatures to stay in those areas.

It's day three of Donald Schultz's snake spectacle, Venom in Vegas, during which the herpetologist will live inside a 320-square-foot glass tank outside of O'Sheas Casino on the Strip with some of the world's deadliest snakes for 10 consecutive days. He began with 50, and each day brings five new snakes until he reaches 100 total, from about 20 different species.

I have to be inside his temporary terrarium for only a short while, but still. Fear is getting the best of me, and with good reason. One of these pros is missing a thumb and the other a fingertip, both courtesy of snakes just like the ones surrounding us. So, it's not difficult to remember that being a professional goes only so far. An ambulance is stationed nearby for a reason. These still are wild animals — 60 of them, to be exact.

Many, like the puff adder, are deadly. Schultz can't say which snake is the deadliest, though, as that depends on the definition of deadly. The puff adder might kill you the fastest, but his venom isn't the most lethal of the snakes in here. That honor belongs to the boomslang. The tank also houses the gaboon viper, which has the longest fangs (up to 2-and-a-half inches), but fortunately doesn't strike much.

Then, there's reputation.

"The black mamba is an iconic snake that doesn't kill that many people, but it's big, gets up to 14 feet, has venom that kills very quickly, is extremely intelligent, is the fastest moving snake in the world," Schultz explains. "So, that might fall into the definition of deadly."

The mamba isn't in the tank, yet; he'll arrive during the tail end of the 10-day run. That's good for Schultz; his raised bed is eerily similar to a black mamba's preferred environment.

Still, when the infamous snake arrives, Schultz will be comfortable, even without wearing the same Hex Armor suit the cameraman, photographer, second wrangler and I are sporting. In fact, the host of Animal Planet's Wild Recon (Tuesdays at 9 p.m.) was even comfortable with including an African vine snake in the mix, but his doctors vetoed that idea because no anti-venom exists for the species.

"I've been working with them for the last 20 years," Schultz says to explain his lack of concern. "We have to listen to the advice of our doctors."

Like most snake handlers, Schultz has been injured in the field. He lost his fingertip after being bitten by a rattlesnake. He readily admits he could have lost his finger, hand or entire arm if not for the phenomenal doctors and their aggressive treatment of his injury.

Which brings us to the point. According to Schultz, Venom in Vegas is more than a two-hour Animal Planet special (airing February 9 at 8 p.m.) and a cleverly executed publicity stunt. It was inspired by his travels filming Wild Recon in underprivileged countries with no medical crack teams to treat snake-bite victims.

Schultz claims that more than five million people get bitten every year. Of those, 100,000 die. Often those that survive lose digits or limbs, making it impossible for them to secure agricultural or labor work. Snake awareness and treatment are global issues, Schultz insists.

"Put that in comparison to sharks," he says. "Less than 100 people die from shark attacks each year. It's a thousand times as bad as sharks, yet people just don't speak about it."

(Remember it is Shark Week — not Snake Week — that Animal Planet fans go gaga for.)

Schultz's solution was to attract attention to the cause by bringing a bunch of deadly snakes to the middle of a big city and spending some quality time in front of a camera. During his snaky staycation, he'll be extracting venom to be shipped to research facilities, conducting Q&A sessions with the audience outside the tank and chatting with online fans streaming the three 24/7 webcams in his makeshift studio apartment (he admits many of them are calling him crazy).

After their Vegas appearances, the snakes will go on to be "wildlife ambassadors" for African reptiles and snake-bite victims, Schultz says. They'll have good homes, and his time in what he calls "the fishbowl" will have been worth it.

"If I have to do this to basically create a platform to raise awareness," Schultz says, "it's an easy thing to do."