Indonesian Snake Charmer Finds Fame With Claims That He's Immune to Cobra Venom

The King cobra has seemingly met its match in Indonesia's cobra king.

Ice Habibi has become something of an internet celebrity in Indonesia after cell phone videos of the gaunt, shirtless man casually handling several deadly King cobras before a stunned crowd in a village in Sumatra's Riau province went viral. In the videos, Ice, 22, strolls around a dirt lot near his house in Mentulik Village while he nonchalantly handles the 4-meter long snakes.

The King cobra is a crazy dangerous snake. Its bite is venomous enough to kill an elephant. It delivers enough venom in a single bite to kill 20 people. Most would die in less than an hour.

Ice, though, has a surprising reason for his ease around deadly snakes. He claims to be immune to the snakes' venom. The snakes are obedient and relatively docile, but when they bite—and they do bite—Ice claims the poison feels no worse than an insect sting.

"The worst effect was a fever," his friend, a man named Roni Kurniawan told local media. "Once he was cured from the fever, he was completely normal again."

It's a bold claim. I called an expert at the Bali Reptile Rescue (BRR), a nonprofit that's had more than its share of experience with King cobras. BRR co-founder Sinta Sukma Wati said that one of her workers lost his life when a King cobra bit him on the leg. The man, Putu Eddy died while he attempted to clear a field of snakes in Bali's Jembrana district. A farmer had called BRR worried after he found some suspicious snake eggs in his field. He refused to work until BRR declared the field safe. It wasn't.

"There are a lot of safety procedures we have to follow when encountering those types of snakes," Shinta said.

So, can someone develop an immunity to King cobra venom?

"It's beyond belief," Shinta said. "But, knowing Indonesia, it's not odd to see someone having 'those' kind of powers."

It's not an unheard of claim. An amateur scientist in the US said he built-up an immunity to snake venom after years of working with deadly snakes. Tim Friede routinely lets venomous snakes, like the black mamba or the cobra, bite him on the arms and chest. The bites swell, and one time a cobra bite left him nearly dead, but he continues to let the snakes bite him for… science, I guess?

So maybe Ice is telling the truth. Or maybe his snakes had their fangs cut out—something one of his relatives mentioned to a local newspaper. All I know is that there are crazier ways to get famous in Indonesia.