In his early years, he accompanied Eric Worrell a few times, searching for live snakes in the Australian wild.
[2] He also worked some time for Worrell's Australian Reptile Park, caring for, and milking, snakes for just under a year (1959-1960).
In his Papua New Guinea years, he supplied the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) with their first samples of Papuan taipan venom.
[2] He also provided all the Papuan black snake venom CSL used to develop and produce an antivenom for the species.
In 1955, CSL provided Slater, Worrell, and Ram Chandra with some of the first doses of Taipan antivenom, in recognition of the dangers involved in their work.