New Techniques for Pangolin Farming

I think many people have heard of the pangolin. In our country, the pangolin is a nationally protected animal. The pangolin's medicinal value is very high, so the demand for pangolins on the market is still relatively large. Wild pangolins may not be hunted, so many people have begun farming pangolins.

What Is a Pangolin

The pangolin is a ground-dwelling mammal, with a long, narrow body, scales covering its whole body, short thick limbs, and a flat, long tail with a slightly raised back. It mostly lives in subtropical deciduous forests. By day it often hides in burrows, which it plugs with earth. At night it mostly comes out to forage, resting by day and emerging by night, and when it meets an enemy it curls up into a ball. The third Saturday of February each year is World Pangolin Day. At present, the pangolin is a national first-class protected wild animal in our country.

Choose a place with moist warmth, shade, shelter from wind and sun, and no sandy or gravelly soil layer for farming. The size of the site depends on the number to be raised; every 10 sq m should not hold more than 2 pairs. Build a wall more than 2.5 m high around the site, and pave the ground with cement 12-15 cm thick to prevent the pangolins from digging burrows and escaping. Inside the farm, pile up 4-5 small mounds, plant them with grass, and plant pines and some evergreen trees on them. Set a small pool in the floor surface for drinking water and washing the body, and keep the water in the pool flowing. Place cow dung and fishy-smelling bait in the site, or bury some easily rotted fishy-smelling things, to attract ants and other insects. You can also install night lights in the site so that insects such as moths are drawn in at night for the pangolins to eat.

Methods for Raising Insects Artificially to Feed Pangolins

1. Set 6-8 small pits 1 m long, 40 cm wide and 50 cm deep in the farm in advance, put in 2/3 pine bark and 1/3 fresh Leting, cover with soil, and pour rice-washing water on them every day for 3 days in a row; within 7-10 days white ants will appear;

2. Mix chicken feathers, distillers' grains, garbage and so on with water into a semi-paste and pile it up to ferment, cover it well with mud, and after 10 days small insects will grow. Ordinarily buy some small fish, deep-fry and dry them and then crush them, put them on the ground, 100-150 g at each point, set 3-4 points, and let them feed freely. Properly add vitamin C, vitamin E and trace elements (such as zinc and iron) and hormones to the bait, and pay attention to replacing the bait in good time. Ordinarily, take how much of the placed bait is eaten up as the standard, and it can be increased day by day. Newly caught pangolins generally refuse food; at this time the method of forced feeding should be used, and generally 2-3 days of forced feeding is enough. Pangolins can breed in all four seasons, 1 male to 4 females, producing at least 2 litters a year, with 1-2 young per litter. Newborn young have no scales and are white, and rely on mother's milk for nutrition. Once body weight reaches 250 g they can live independently. Generally, a small pangolin of 200 g body weight raised until winter should reach about 500 g in weight.

Pangolins Generally Suffer from Three Diseases after Being Raised for a Period

1. Lice disease on the body surface: use 10 mL of lice-removing essence mixed with 3-4 kg of water for a medicinal bath on the body surface;

2. Gastrointestinal disease, diarrhea, reduced food intake: at this time add furazolidone, oxytetracycline and chloramphenicol to the bait and feed continuously for 4-6 days;

3. Coccidiosis: add sulfur powder to the bait (add 2-3 g to 0.5 kg of bait) and feed continuously for 3-4 days.

Farming Conditions for Pangolins  

The farm requires warmth in winter and coolness in summer, with a suitable temperature of 16°C-32°C. In the high-temperature season of summer, pay attention to shading and cooling, and in winter prevent cold and keep warm in good time. According to the situation, farming methods such as pond type, closed type, burrow type and wooden box type can be chosen.  

1. Pond-type farming: build several brick or stone ponds of 20-40 sq m and 50 cm high in a quiet part of the courtyard, rectangular or square in shape, with the bottom and walls of the pond plastered with cement to make them firm and smooth, so as to prevent the pangolins from escaping. Inside the pond, build several pangolin burrows with stone blocks, pile a large amount of soil on them, and separate each burrow individually so they do not connect with one another. Leave an activity area of 5-10 sq m in the center of the pond, pile a large amount of soil on it and plant weeds and small trees, to create a good activity area. Plant a large number of trees around the site for shade. In the summer rainy season there should be something to shelter from rain, and a special drainage channel should be left to prevent rain from soaking the burrows.  

2. Closed-type farming: composed of an indoor small house of 2-4 sq m and an outdoor activity area of 4-6 sq m. Both indoors and outdoors have cement floors. Indoors there are burrows for the pangolins to hide and rest in. The activity area has a wall or wire mesh around it, and the top of the cage is closed with wire mesh. Each cage can hold 2-4 pangolins.  

3. Burrow-type farming: the area can be 20-50 sq m, with a wall around it, the wall firm and smooth, about 2 m high, with a sandy mud ground, artificial burrows, and a natural living environment with rockeries and grass clusters. More than 10 pangolins can be raised.  

4. Wooden box cage: make 1 rectangular wooden box; the size of the wooden box should preferably exceed 2 times the body length of the pangolin being raised, divided into inner and outer rooms, connected by a round hole, for the animals to move in and out and rest freely.

With the continuous development of farming technology in our country, many new types of farming technology are constantly emerging. Therefore, as farmers, we must keep pace with the times and constantly learn new farming techniques, so as to develop our own farming techniques better.