The person who brought cobra breeding to Dong Van
(Baonghean.vn) - Having been attacked by a cobra, Nguyen Huu Phuc thought he would give up this dangerous job, but with his determination, he succeeded and became a pioneer in raising cobras in Dong Lau, Dong Van commune (Tan Ky).
Led us to the family's solidly built snake farm with an area of about 200 m2Pointing to small concrete compartments with securely locked iron doors, Mr. Nguyen Huu Phuc said that there are currently more than 250 adult cobras being raised here.
Talking about his chance to join this dangerous profession, Mr. Phuc said that during a trip with his friends to Ninh Binh and seeing the snake farming model there, he got the idea of raising snakes from that moment. From the initial idea, in 2014, he borrowed money to build a system of cages and applied for a license from the Forest Protection Department. At first, he raised dozens of snakes on a trial basis, then hundreds.
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| Adult snakes are raised independently in separate cages. Photo: Thanh Quynh |
When the snake cage door opened, following the beam of light from the flashlight into the cage, suddenly a snake's head suddenly stood up, its neck bulged, stretched high and began to make continuous hissing sounds.
Seeing our worried faces, Mr. Phuc reassured us: “Many people think that snakes are ferocious animals because they often attack people. However, if you spend a lot of time in contact with snakes and keep a safe distance, they will be very gentle. With more contact, snakes will get used to our body temperature and from there, their wild nature will be reduced.”
Continuing the unfinished story, he revealed another interesting secret about this dangerous animal. Snakes look like that but they also have a "fatal" weak point in the middle of their back. When hitting this point, the snake is considered ineffective. But you have to know how to estimate the pressure so that the pressure is just right, because too strong will break the snake's back and too weak will have no effect.
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| A cobra over 1m long and weighing nearly 6kg was tamed in the hands of Nguyen Huu Phuc. Photo: Thanh Quynh |
However, Mr. Phuc still reminded us that no matter how familiar we are, snake keepers need to be careful when dealing with them. Because cobra venom is extremely poisonous, a person bitten can lose their life if they are directly attacked by them. In addition to biting, snakes can also spray venom into people's eyes to defend themselves. An adult snake can spray venom up to 2 meters away, and even baby snakes can spray venom.
During the egg-laying and mating season (March to August), snakes are very aggressive. This period is considered the most difficult and dangerous time of the year.
It was at this time 2 years ago that he was bitten by a snake that sprayed venom into his eye. It took nearly 6 months of treatment for his vision to return to normal. After those dangerous situations, he was even more determined to explore and learn more about this animal as well as grasp its biological characteristics.
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| A sleeping cobra. Photo: Thanh Quynh |
In addition to mastering the characteristics of snakes, snake farming is also quite elaborate and time-consuming. He said that snake food is not difficult to find, mainly frogs, toads, mice or small chickens and ducks. But the source of food must be healthy and plucked clean, and toads must have their feces removed.
For adult snakes, he feeds them once every 2 to 3 days, about 3 portions of bait each time. For small snakes, he has to feed them every day, to prevent them from eating each other when they are hungry.
To ensure a regular food source, he had to build his own toad and frog breeding area in case of food shortage, because a special feature of snake farming is that it is impossible to use industrial feed as a substitute. That is why snake meat has a very high nutritional value and is popular in the market.
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| Baby snakes will hatch after 45 days of incubation. Photo: Thanh Quynh |
Regarding snake breeding, he learned and practiced it himself at home. Holding oval eggs, about 5 cm long with a soft shell, Mr. Phuc shared: After 45 days of incubation, the baby snakes will hatch and immediately be separated from their mother to begin living independently. When separating the baby snakes, the mother snake is extremely aggressive, so he has to wear gloves and use careful protective gear. At first, when the mother snake bit his protective gloves many times, he had to give up halfway because of fear. He had to go through many failures to reach the level of proficiency he has now.
Unlike adult snakes, baby snakes are raised in groups, their shelter is made up of blankets that he has folded into many folds. When the weather starts to get cold, Mr. Phuc has to prepare 2 more heaters to increase the temperature of the room. Just counting the incubation time, the time for the eggs to hatch into baby snakes, then raise them to adulthood until they are ready to be sold, the fastest time is 2 years, the longest time is 3 years.
Although dangerous, snake farming is not "unfair" for the breeders. Cobras have high economic value, in addition to being used as medicine, cobras are also nutritious food. Thanks to the high selling price, averaging from 500,000 - 1,000,000 VND/kg, the snake farm brings in an income of about 200 million VND each year. From here, Mr. Phuc's family has stabilized their life and become one of the richest households in Dong Lau./.