Artificial Keeping Methods and Technical Key Points for the Chinese Cobra

The white-banded snake, also known as the many-banded krait or the small-banded krait, has high medicinal and economic value. Its keeping methods are as follows:

1. Build reasonable pools

The snake pool is built of brick and stone, 2 m square and 1.5 m high, and can hold 15-20 snakes; putting in too many snakes makes management difficult. The pool walls are smoothed with cement, and a movable glass cap is added on top of the wall in a T shape to prevent escape. The bottom of the pool is the snakes' activity area, where weeds should be planted, and then snake nests should be built with sand, wooden boards, bricks and tiles, etc. Build a flowing water ditch and a bait basin in the pool, and cover the pool with a straw curtain to block light.

2. Provide sufficient feed

The white-banded snake does not have a big appetite. @#@236@#@ and @#@237@#@ are the main feed. Large snakes eat large food, and small snakes eat small food. Generally, feed live food rather than dead food. Each feeding of 50 g of small loach can satisfy 10 white-banded snakes. If food is occasionally cut off, clear water must still be provided; otherwise, there is a risk of dying of thirst after half a month without water.

3. Artificial incubation

The white-banded snake generally lays eggs in late summer and early autumn or after autumn. After egg laying, artificial incubation is preferable, as this can maintain a constant temperature, avoid interference from natural enemies, and increase the hatching rate. For snake incubation tools, a wooden box or a large-mouth jar can be used as the container, with 0.5 m of moist sand placed at the bottom. The eggs are placed in the sand, kept ventilated, and covered with gauze. Gently turn the eggs once a day so that the upper and lower parts receive even warmth. After about more than a month, before the young snakes break out of the shells, place the eggs evenly on the sand surface with half exposed. When the time comes, the young snakes will naturally break out of the shells. If heated, the incubation period can be shortened, but the high temperature must not exceed 36°C, and water should be sprayed in time to prevent drying out.

4. Pay attention to safety

① Keepers should wear deep rubber boots, long-sleeved leather gloves, and carry snake forks, snake tongs, snake medicine, etc., and operate in pairs. ② Be careful when taking eggs; first drive the large snake away to prevent the mother snake from protecting the eggs and injuring people. ③ The @#@246@#@ environment should be clean, and pesticides and poisons must not be stored nearby. ④ In summer, maintain sufficient fresh drinking water and feed. ⑤ Once bitten by a snake, in addition to on-site self-rescue, take snake medicine immediately. Self-rescue method: promptly tie the limb tightly to slow blood circulation, cut open the wound with a sharp knife, squeeze out the venom, rinse with salt water, and go to the hospital for treatment immediately.