Detailed Explanation of Key Points on Artificial Breeding Techniques for the Many-banded Krait

The many-banded krait, also known as the white-flowered snake, is a precious animal medicine. Its artificial breeding techniques are introduced below:

1. Morphology and living habits of the many-banded krait The many-banded krait is about 0.6 m long, with an oval head, black and white alternating ring markings on its back, a milky white belly, and a slightly slender tail. The many-banded krait lives on plains or at the foot of hills in semi-mountainous areas near water, and often appears near residential houses. It likes to hide by day and come out at night, lying across moist places or in stone crevices by the water to hunt, and sometimes it even sneaks into residential houses. The many-banded krait is a neurotoxic venomous snake; its venom glands are small but its toxicity is strong.

2. Artificial breeding methods 1. Establish snake pools and snake houses. The enclosing wall should be built with bricks and stones and must be sturdy. The foundation of the wall should go deep into the ground, the wall surface should be smooth, and the height should be above 2 m, and must not be lower than 1.5 m, to prevent the snakes from escaping. The snake pool is the place where the snakes are active, and its area should be determined according to the scale of breeding; generally 10-14 snakes can be kept per sq m. Flowers and plants should be planted in the snake pool, and a water pool should be provided for the snakes to rest and drink. Since snakes themselves do not dig holes, it is also necessary to build snake nests with mud, bricks, stones, tiles, and so on, to simulate the snakes' natural growing environment.

2. For breeding snakes, young snakes weighing 350-400 grams are best, and they should be kept mixed at a male-to-female ratio of 10:1. Snakes do not eat much; one snake needs about 1-2 kg of food a year, mainly feeding on frogs, fish, eels, loaches, and so on. A 50-gram small loach can provide 10 snakes with a fine meal. Snakes only eat live food, not dead food. Water must not be cut off in the pool; snakes will not starve to death if they do not eat for about 20 days, but they will die of thirst if water is cut off.

3. Artificial incubation. The many-banded krait generally begins laying eggs in late June, with the peak in July, and stops laying in early August. Generally each snake lays 6-8 eggs a year. To avoid the young snakes being eaten by the large snakes after hatching, the eggs can be picked out after the snakes stop laying and artificially incubated. Methods: (1) Collect the snake eggs and bury them in moist sandy soil to let them hatch on their own. (2) Use a large vat or water tank to hold sandy soil about 0.5 m high, spread the snake eggs on top of the sandy soil, then soak cloth or rice straw in water, wring it dry, and cover it over the eggs. Turn the eggs once a day so that they are evenly exposed to moisture. During the incubation period, the temperature should preferably be 17-25°C and the humidity 50%-70%. The snakes can emerge in about 30 days. 4. Processing. One week after the snakes hatch, they can be killed, gutted, sun-dried until half dry, and then coiled into a circular shape (head inside, tail outside), and finally sun-dried or oven-dried before being sold.