Breeding porcupines for high income

In recent years, in addition to developing livestock and poultry farming, many farmers have experimented with raising some wild animals to supply meat to the market, including porcupines. One of the people who has successfully raised porcupines in an artificial environment is Mr. Le Van Nham, in Phuc Son hamlet, Nghi Van commune - Nghi Loc.

It is known that in 2004, on the occasion of visiting friends in Ninh Binh, Mr. Nham was introduced to the porcupine farming model that his friend had raised successfully for many years.

Through visiting and being instructed on how to raise them in detail, he realized that this was the new way of making money that he was looking for. He boldly chose to buy 2 pairs of porcupines that had reproduced (each weighing about 10-12kg/head) to increase production. After a year of trial raising, the 2 parent porcupine pairs quickly adapted to the environment, developed well and gave birth to 4 pairs of baby porcupines.

We followed Mr. Nham to the porcupine cage, which was carefully fenced with B40 mesh; male porcupines with long beaks, pointed heads, and slender bodies stood wagging their quills next to female porcupines with short beaks, slightly round heads, and diamond-shaped bodies.

According to Mr. Nham, raising porcupines does not require much effort and expense, their food is very rich and diverse; you can take advantage of vegetables, tubers of all kinds and supplement with refined foods such as corn, potatoes, cassava... all eaten raw. Regarding the cages, there is no need to be fussy, just need to be airy and have enough light, porcupines go out to eat depending on the lunar cycle, usually at night. Some places still build caves but he believes that to domesticate them, they must be raised in cages. He raises 2-4 porcupines in each cage to maintain their wild habits.

In terms of efficiency, a female hedgehog can give birth to 2 litters a year, on average 1-3 babies per litter; newborn weight is 0.2-0.3kg/baby, baby hedgehogs can be weaned after 2 months, and after 3 months they reach the adult stage. Hedgehogs grow quickly, weighing 2.5-3kg/baby at only 2 months old. Their breeding season is usually in March, April and October, November; male hedgehogs reach sexual maturity after 1 year, and female hedgehogs after 14-16 months.

Regarding farming techniques, Mr. Nham shared his experience: "Hedgehogs are often active and eat a lot at night, so give them more food at night than during the day. They are omnivorous, easy to raise but very shy, not easy to approach; when caught, they are aggressive, running straight into walls, and if not careful, they can easily get injured, so avoid catching them during the breeding period.

After each mating, it is necessary to add more food rich in protein and fat; always rotate the males to avoid inbreeding. The cage is simply built (each cage is about 1.5-2m2 wide), paved with cement, has a slope and must always be kept clean, airy, and have enough light to limit diarrhea. There are many types of porcupines such as mane porcupines, crocodilian porcupines, porcupine rats, but raising mane porcupines is the most suitable because this type is easy to adapt to the environment, the meat is delicious". From the initial 2 pairs of porcupines, Mr. Nham now has 8 pairs of parent porcupines, providing 16 pairs of breeding animals to customers (mainly in Do Luong, Thanh Chuong, Yen Thanh...) each year.

Currently, breeding porcupines is still scarce, so he only sells breeding porcupines, not commercial porcupines; with a selling price of 12 million VND/pair, he earns over 150 million VND/year in profit.

This year, Mr. Nham plans to invest in expanding the scale of the barn to increase the herd. Besides, he is willing to share his experience with everyone to get rich from raising porcupines.

Ngoc Anh