At 110 centimetres and 1.55 kilograms, she is almost double the size of a normal death adder. She has been at the Australian Reptile Park for nine years. And she is still growing.
Some snakes are big. Shazza is something else entirely.
The Australian Reptile Park and the Australian Museum Herpetology Department have officially declared Shazza, a common death adder who has called the Park home for nine years, the largest living common death adder ever recorded in Australia.
She measures 110 centimetres in total length, with a snout-to-vent length of 95 centimetres, and weighs 1.55 kilograms. The average female common death adder in southeast Australia has a snout-to-vent length of around 55 centimetres. Shazza is nearly double that.
She was wild caught in the Mid North Coast region before joining the Australian Reptile Park's venom program, and from the moment she arrived, her keepers knew they were looking at something unusual. By 2023, she had already reached 102 centimetres and 1.41 kilograms. Then she kept going.
Park Manager Billy Collett decided it was time to find out exactly what they had on their hands, and brought in Dane Trembath, Collection Manager of Herpetology at the Australian Museum Research Institute, to assist with the measurement. Trembath manages the largest herpetology collection in Australia and has measured thousands of snake specimens both in the field and in the laboratory. Together, they got Shazza on the scale.
"The moment I first laid eyes on her, I knew she was just a monster and her potential to get over a metre was definitely there. I don't want to get bitten by any snakes, but I cannot get bitten by her. She's so big, her venom yields are so big, it's frightening," said Billy Collett, Park Manager.
Trembath's assessment was equally unambiguous.
"She's a big death adder, way bigger than I thought she would be. I'd say she's almost double the size of a normal death adder,"
said Dane Trembath, Collection Manager of Herpetology, Australian Museum Research Institute.
Shazza's size is only part of the story. She is also one of the most productive snakes in the Park's lifesaving venom program, producing up to 270 milligrams of venom in a single milking. That is roughly twice the yield of an average common death adder, and that venom feeds directly into Australia's supply of death adder antivenom.
"Her venom yields are literally twice the size of the average common death adder, so there's no doubt she's saving more human lives with the venom she's producing," said Billy.
The Australian Reptile Park has operated its venom program since the 1950s and is the sole supplier of terrestrial snake venom for antivenom production in Australia. More than 200 venomous snakes are milked fortnightly at the Weigel Venom Centre, with the program estimated to save around 300 Australian lives every year and more than 25,000 since it began.
At approximately 15 years of age, Shazza has not finished yet. Trembath believes her growth will slow, but has not ruled out the possibility of her one day surpassing the largest death adder specimen ever recorded at 117 centimetres, a specimen currently held in the Australian Museum Collection.
"Most snakes have this initial growth spurt when they are born. She's way beyond that so her growth will now slow down. As she slowly grows, she may actually surpass the biggest death adder ever recorded, but we don't know how long that is gonna take," said Dane.
For now, at 110 centimetres and 1.55 kilograms, Shazza has well and truly earned her place as one of the most remarkable snakes in Australia.
Visit the Weigel Venom Centre at the Australian Reptile Park in Somersby on the Central Coast, just one hour from Sydney or Newcastle, to learn more about the venom program and the snakes that make it possible.
