|
Home
Up
Venoms
Discovery
Spider
Scorpion
Centipede
Toxin Index
Custom
Live Spiders
Educational
Spiders
Kits
Feeder Insect
Flies
Custom Services
Bioassay
Embryology
Silk
Tissues
Inquire
Contact
Inquiries
Suggestions
Wanted
Try our new Online Shop
This site is being revised and
updated. Expect broken links and empty pages for next few days and contact us by
phone or email if you cannot find what you are looking for.
| |
Methods
-
Collecting
We are
constantly looking for new material, harvesting spiders throughout the
United States and acquiring animals from other collectors and importers
and dealers.
-
Breeding
Most of
our spiders are obtained through in-house captive breeding.
-
Milking
Numerous
techniques have been developed for obtaining venoms from spiders,
scorpions and insects. Most of these use electrostimulation of
anesthetized animals to improve productivity and keep costs down as well
as numerous safeguards to prevent contamination.
-
Gland
Extractions
Dissected
glands and extracts are rarely used for collecting venoms anymore but they
are still used for mRNA extractions.
These
are usually done to client specifications and may be timed for better mRNA
yields. Alternately, clients may obtain live animals for their own
dissections.
Bioassays
Injection
assays can be done on request against a few types of insects and spiders.
Purifications
Purified
venoms are not available at the moment but please inquire if you need
assistance in this area. We have experience with this and may be setting up
a peptide purification laboratory in the future. In the meanwhile, we would
be happy to suggest other labs (e.g. Atheris)
that have considerable expertise in toxin purification.
|
