Young people invest in raising bamboo rats and earn hundreds of millions each year.

Having a job with a stable salary in Da Nang City, but with his love for animal husbandry, Mr. Bui Thanh Luong quit and returned to his hometown to find a new direction. In 2016, he happened to see onsocial networksee bamboo rat farming model,The main food is wild, so he decided to choose bamboo rats to start his business. “At first, I went to the mountainous district of Nam Tra My (Quang Nam) to buy 10 pairs of bamboo rats for 15 million VND to try raising them. Because I had no experience, the bamboo rats gradually died during the process of raising them,” said Mr. Luong.

Mr. Luong next to his bamboo rat farm. Photo: MANH CUONG

The initial failure did not discourage Mr. Luong. He borrowed nearly 50 million VND to invest in building the farm.bamboo rat farmingon an area of ​​about 100 m2. After completing the cage, Mr. Luong sought out a large-scale bamboo rat breeder in Dak Lak to learn from his practical experience and then bought 20 pairs of bamboo rats for breeding. Up to now, he has a bamboo rat farm in his hands.with a scale of more than 500 animals, of which about 300 are of reproductive age.

According to Mr. Luong, raising bamboo rats does not take much time to care for, and the profit is also high. Bamboo rats are rodents, their main food is corn, sugarcane, bamboo leaves, grass stems..., they can be grown by themselves so they are proactive and less expensive. "The most special thing about bamboo rats is that their droppings are like sawdust, so they do not have a fishy smell. Therefore, bamboo rats can be raised in many places. This animal also has high resistance so it rarely gets sick. To avoid inbreeding, breeders need to number bamboo rat cages, record mating times for monitoring, and separate male bamboo rats and their offspring," Mr. Luong shared.

According to Mr. Luong, after 8 months of raising, the bamboo rats will mature and reach the breeding season. At that time, the male bamboo rats will be released to mate for about 20 - 25 days. When checking to see if the mother bamboo rat is pregnant, they will be separated to avoid the case of the male bamboo rat pressing or biting the baby bamboo rat. The baby bamboo rat stays with the mother for 45 days and needs to be separated, taking care of the mother bamboo rat to be healthy to prepare for the next mating season. A bamboo rat can give birth to 3 litters a year, each litter has 2 - 4 bamboo rats. After raising for about 10 months, the bamboo rats can be sold commercially with a weight of 1.5 - 2 kg, selling price of 500,000 VND/kg. In addition, Mr. Luong also sells breeding bamboo rats for 1.5 - 2.5 million VND/pair, depending on their age. Every year, after deducting expenses, Mr. Luong earns more than 100 million VND. "Meat of bamboo rats is one of the dishesspecialty, delicious and rich in nutrients, so it is favored by many people. Currently, the number of meat rats on the farm supplied to the market is not enough. Toeconomic development, I am willing to share my experience raising bamboo rats with anyone who wants to raise bamboo rats," said Mr. Luong.