She breeds 3000 cobras, with an annual output value of 900,000

A row of single-story houses with colored steel sheds in Yunwu Village, Daguan Town, Nanchuan District, Chongqing is Zhang Xinyue's snake farm. “After seeing many cobras and learning about their habits, I felt that snakes are not that scary.” Zhang Jing conceived her entrepreneurial dream. She also learned that the whole snake is a treasure: snakeskin can be used as medicinal material, snake meat is now very popular, and snake venom also has great medicinal value. Zhang Jing began raising venomous snakes in June last year, and currently has more than 3000 highly venomous cobras. The largest cobra weighs 2.5 kg, and the smallest is only two or three liang. Each jin of snake can sell for about 100 yuan. Based on an average of 3 jin per snake, after her snake farm's adult snakes are sold, the annual output value can reach more than 900,000 yuan.

Recently, the author walked into a row of single-story houses with colored steel sheds in Yunwu Village, Daguan Town, Nanchuan District, and arrived at Zhang Xinyue's snake farm.

Every snake room had a dark red security door, sealing the room tightly. If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I would never have imagined that a large number of venomous snakes were hidden behind those security doors.

Zhang Jing, the owner of the snake farm, opened the security door. The room was very dim, with only one lamp, and the air was a bit hot and stuffy.

Approaching the snake room, there was a repeated “hu chi hu chi” sound. Zhang Jing lifted the curtain blocking the view, and one cobra after another suddenly raised its neck, heads facing people and flicking long tongues, making one shudder.

Zhang Jing began raising venomous snakes in June last year, and currently has more than 3000 highly venomous cobras. The largest cobra weighs 2.5 kg, and the smallest is only two or three liang.

Entrepreneurship targets cobras

In the past, Zhang Jing once worked away from home. A few years ago, Zhang Jing returned to Nanchuan and began thinking about starting a business.

Once, she went to a relative's snake farm to see something new, and unexpectedly got a feel for it.

“After seeing many cobras and learning about their habits, I felt that snakes are not that scary.” Zhang Jing conceived her entrepreneurial dream. She also learned that the whole snake is a treasure: snakeskin can be used as medicinal material, snake meat is now very popular, and snake venom also has great medicinal value.

So she went to a snake farm in Taipingchang Town to learn snake-raising techniques for more than half a year.

In February 2014, Zhang Jing invested more than 700,000 yuan and built Zhang Xinyue's snake farm at an abandoned quarry in Yunwu Village.

The cobras Zhang Jing raises are Vietnamese cobras. She introduced snake eggs and hatched them herself. Last June, she began hatching more than 1500 cobras. Now there are 10 snake rooms and more than 100 snake beds. At most, she raised more than 3000 cobras.

In the future, focusing on treating snake diseases

“Cobras are very delicate and picky about food,” Zhang Jing said. Small snakes must be fed milk and eggs every day. After growing for a few months, they need to be fed meat foods such as chicken and quail in turn.

Not only that, they also love cleanliness. Zhang Jing changes the sleeping mats for all the snakes every 7 days. If they are not cleaned and replaced in time, some snakes will get sick and die.

In practice, Zhang Jing figured out a breeding method different from other farmers. Others let snakes grow in large shared rooms, while she gives snakes small rooms.

“More than 20 snakes per snake bed, with isolation between each snake bed,” she believes that if snakes in one snake bed have problems such as disease, it will not affect the snakes in other snake beds.

While raising snakes, Zhang Jing also studies snake-raising techniques, especially preventing snake diseases. Whenever a snake dies, Zhang Jing dissects it and examines organs such as its heart, liver, spleen, and stomach to find out why the snake got sick.

“Snakes are most prone to enteritis and skin diseases,” Zhang Jing said.

Zhang Jing is a thoughtful person. She communicates with experts and professors on WeChat, learns bit by bit, and plans to go elsewhere to study specifically the prevention and treatment of snake diseases.

She told the author that there are now many snake farms in Nanchuan as well. But scientific breeding, especially the prevention and treatment of snake diseases, is still a weak point, so she wants to develop in this direction.

Hoping to lead villagers to prosperity

Hatching small snakes is Zhang Jing's specialty. In the hatching room, white foam boxes were filled with fine sand.

“This sand must be river sand washed very clean with water. If it contains too much mud, the small snakes will not hatch.” Zhang Jing said that hatching small snakes is very particular: the temperature is required to be 28—30℃, and the humidity is required to be 82%.

Now, Zhang Jing's cobra breeding has been on track. The largest cobra already weighs 2.5 kg, and more than 2000 have been sold.

Now, each jin of snake can sell for about 100 yuan. Based on an average of 3 jin per snake, after her snake farm's adult snakes are sold, the annual output value can reach more than 900,000 yuan. At present, Zhang Jing's cobras are sold to some large restaurants and eateries in Chongqing, and business is very good.