How to Raise Cobras? Artificial Breeding Methods and Key Technical Points
Along with the development and utilization of snake venom, the market demand for snake venom is also growing larger and larger. And the cobra, as one of the more venomous snake species, has become an emerging breeding project. Below is an introduction to how to raise cobras.
How to Raise Cobras?
1. Breeding Site
Cement-structured rooms can be used as breeding rooms, or small wooden boxes made of dry pine boards can be used for breeding. The density must be well controlled during rearing; generally, a snake enclosure of 30-50 m can house 250-300 adult snakes.
2. Feeding
When raising cobras at high density in small wooden boxes, do not feed live animals, only dead animal feed such as Fejervarya frogs and fish. When raising cobras in wooden boxes, there must be sufficient feed, fed at fixed times and in fixed amounts, so that the snakes can eat their fill and eat well; only with strong disease resistance can there be high output value. Under artificial rearing, adult snakes can be fed white mice, toads, and frogs, while juvenile snakes eat loaches, pinky mice, and small lizards. The type and size of food depend on the individual size of the snake; cobras that have not long emerged from hibernation have not fully recovered their active predatory state, so they should be fed some highly nutritious, easily digestible food. Therefore, in late spring and early summer it is suitable to feed toads, lizards, and pinky mice; in summer and autumn they are frequently active and must absorb a large amount of nutrition to prepare for overwintering, so during this period more nutrient-rich mice should be fed.
3. Environment
The temperature of the rearing box should be kept between 25-30°C; in muggy weather, it must be lowered by about 3-5 degrees at night. The overwintering temperature for cobras is 10-14°C, and the relative humidity is about 90%.
4. Hygiene
Cobras have a relatively large food intake and strong digestive power, and defecate a lot after eating, so the sanitation of the snake enclosure and snake dens should be cleaned up promptly every day. The ditches or pools should preferably be disinfected once a week with potassium permanganate at a ratio of one part per ten thousand, and a certain amount of potassium permanganate should be kept in the water body to ensure that the snakes clean their skin when entering the water to swim, preventing bacterial infection.
In addition, cobras are highly venomous and aggressive, so keepers must pay attention to safety during routine management and take protective measures.