Raising non-venomous snakes earns hundreds of millions of dong each year
Thanks to raising non-venomous snakes, each year, Mr. Nguyen Huu Dien's family in Bich Trung Nam village, Trieu Thanh commune, Trieu Phong district, Quang Tri province earns a net profit of hundreds of millions of dong.
Mr. Dien said that his family used to raise a variety of livestock and poultry. However, these animals require large areas, easily pollute the environment, have many risks of disease and have unstable prices.
After researching and learning, equipping myself with knowledge about raising and caring for animals.snakesNon-venomous, in 2011, Mr. Dien started registering with local authorities to test the release of a small number of rat snakes.
After nearly a year, realizing that raising snakes was suitable for his family's ability, and the snakes grew and developed well, Mr. Dien invested in building a 250 m2 barn.2to raise and breed the species of rattlesnakes, common rattlesnakes, and striped snakes for commercial purposes and reproduction. These are all non-venomous snake species, not potentially dangerous to breeders, and have stable output and high economic value.
Mr. Dien said that the species of snakes such as the buffalo snake, common snake, and striped snake are quite easy to raise, low cost, gain weight quickly, and reproduce well. However, the snake breeding area must be built separately and divided into separate areas for breeding snakes, baby snakes, and commercial snakes.
The cage is built with solid bricks to prevent snakes from escaping and must be cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Wood must be arranged in the cage to create artificial caves for the snakes to live in. Taking care of snakes is quite simple, the breeder just needs to feed them at the right time and with the right size of food for the snake's weight.
On average, the breeder feeds baby snakes under 1 month old once a day, and commercial snakes and parent snakes once every 2 days. In addition, every 5-7 days he mixes digestive enzymes into the snake's food to prevent diarrhea, and every 25-30 days he cleans the soil under the cage floor and replaces it with new soil to prevent skin diseases for the snake.
According to Mr. Dien, with the special structure of their eyes, most snakes only bite when their prey moves. But at many times of the year, food sources such as live toads, frogs, and frogs are very scarce, if raised in the traditional way, it is very difficult for breeders to expand their scale.
So, instead of using live toads, frogs, and frogs for food, Mr. Dien trained the snakes to use frozen discarded chickens and ducks for food. To form this habit, the snakes must be “trained” from a young age.
After 5-7 days of hatching, Mr. Dien feeds the baby snakes with chopped frogs and toads. One-week-old snakes will be mixed with chopped chicken and ducklings in increasing proportions to help the snakes adapt to the new food.
“After about a month, the snakes will get used to the food of discarded chickens and ducklings that I buy, clean, and freeze. Before feeding them, just defrost them, cut them into small pieces according to their size, and the snakes will come to eat them out of habit. If they are fed adequately, prevent diseases properly, and have a suitable environment, after 8 months of raising, commercial snakes will reach a weight of 1.8 - 2 kg/head.
For the average parent snake, they produce two litters a year, each litter of 15-18 eggs. The eggs are numbered, marked with a specific date and placed in an incubator to hatch after 70-75 days. The hatching and breeding success rate is 80-90%,” said Mr. Dien.
According to Mr. Dien, previously,marketSnake consumption is quite large, mainly in the northern provinces and exported to China. However, due to the impact of COVID-19, from 2020 to 2022 the market almost stagnated, the price of commercial snakes dropped to less than 350,000 VND/kg, while many people abandoned their cages and he still tried to hold on.
Since the beginning of 2023, snake prices have started to increase again, demand has increased, so Mr. Dien plans to borrow from the bank to invest in expanding the barn by another 200 - 300 m2and double the number of animals raised to take advantage of time, labor, and increase income.
Currently, Mr. Dien's family has 1,000 snakes of various types, including 300 parent snakes. Commercial snakes on the market cost from 700,000 - 800,000 VND/kg. Breeding snakes cost from 270,000 - 300,000 VND/snake (depending on size). Snake eggs cost from 120,000 - 125,000 VND/egg. On average, each year, Mr. Dien sells 0.5 - 1 ton of commercial snakes to the market, deducting expenses, making a profit of 200 - 300 million VND.
