A true story of a timid young man who raised snakes

He used to be so timid and afraid of the dark that he did not dare go to the toilet alone at night. There were snakes on the isolated island, yet he insisted on going to the island all by himself. He spent three days and two nights on the isolated island to build up his courage, all for the sake of raising a ferocious animal. See how Zhang Zhuangbang from Danzhou, Hainan overcame one difficulty after another to realize his dream of wealth by raising rat snakes.

This box contains the secret to the protagonist Zhang Zhuangbang's money-making. Some people took one look inside and immediately dodged to the side, and most people did not dare go near it at all. Once the box was opened, some even turned and ran. So what exactly is this money-making secret inside the box? It turns out the box contains the rat snakes Zhang Zhuangbang raises. Zhang Zhuangbang coiled the snakes around his body and began introducing them to everyone.

Zhang Zhuangbang: This snake in my hand is called the rat snake, and its Latin scientific name is Ptyas mucosus. The one I am holding in my left hand right now should be about 8 or 9 jin, and to raise one this big takes about two to three years. It is called the rat snake; "rat" refers to the fact that in the wild it quite likes to eat rats.

Zhang Zhuangbang is a well-known local expert at raising rat snakes, and many villagers pester him to let them learn snake farming from him. Today Zhang Zhuangbang is going to hold a special event with rat snakes. Through close contact with the snakes, he will screen out which people are capable of raising snakes.

Zhang Zhuangbang: Before raising snakes, many people are afraid of snakes, so we hold an event like this to help them overcome the fear of snakes. If you want to raise snakes in the future, you always have to come into contact with snakes.

To raise snakes, you first have to pass one hurdle, and that is overcoming your fear of snakes. The rat snake is non-venomous. On the day of the contest, a cold wave happened to pass through, and the temperature was only 10°C. When the weather is cold, rat snakes will not open their mouths. Zhang Zhuangbang held this event only after ensuring safety. However, taking the first step was not an easy thing.

A girl with a snake draped on her.

Villager: Because I really am terrified of snakes, my legs are trembling right now.

Reporter: So do you plan to raise snakes?

Villager: I will not raise snakes, but they will, probably.

This girl definitely cannot raise snakes. Zhang Zhuangbang noticed an older woman nearby who had been watching for a long time, and he wanted her to give it a try as well. At first she pretended to be calm, but after two snakes were draped on her, she could not take it anymore.

An older woman with a snake draped on her.

Reporter: Do you plan to raise snakes?

Villager: I used to want to, but now I do not. I am afraid.

Reporter: Still afraid.

It seemed this older woman could not raise snakes either. But there were still some people at the scene who wanted to get rich raising snakes like Zhang Zhuangbang. So they summoned their courage and tried coming into contact with the snakes. Zhang Zhuangbang's employees draped the snakes one by one onto this villager, and the more they draped on him, the more his courage grew little by little.

Villager from Qitan Village, Miao Ethnic Village Committee, Nanfeng Town: Before I came, I had never seen a snake, and I did not even dare go inside.

Reporter: And now? How are things now? Still afraid?

Villager: Now it is okay, I can even walk, I could just wear them home.

This villager not only eliminated his fear of snakes, but could even walk a couple of steps with snakes draped all over him. Zhang Zhuangbang felt this villager could raise snakes. After more than a dozen trials like this, Zhang Zhuangbang selected more than 20 farming households to follow him in raising snakes and getting rich. His rat snake inventory also reached more than 90,000. He turned rat snake farming into a local industry.

Zhang Zhuangbang: Again, again.

Employee: These are all your treasures.

Reporter: Yes, these are all your treasures. You are not afraid at all now, are you?

Zhang Zhuangbang: Of course not. In the past, I was especially afraid.

Do not be fooled by the fact that Zhang Zhuangbang now has a dozen or so snakes draped on his body, and even dares to let snakes crawl inside his clothes. Before he raised snakes, he was extremely timid, so timid that he did not dare go to the toilet alone at night. How did such a timid person dare to raise snakes? It is related to his adventure on an isolated island.

In 2010, Zhang Zhuangbang and his wife Xie Huanna got married. They planned to have a child, and when the young couple did the math, going to the hospital plus the necessities for having a child was a considerable expense.

Wife Xie Huanna: I am rather practical, so I told him many practical problems. If you want a child, you have to prepare money for me. At the time I said it would take about 10,000 yuan.

Zhang Zhuangbang: The pressure was quite great, because 10,000 yuan really was hard for me to come up with at that time.

Zhang Zhuangbang had previously done interior decoration and run a wood processing factory, but both ended in losses. At that time he simply could not come up with that 10,000 yuan. Having a child required money, so Zhang Zhuangbang had to find a way to make money.

Just when Zhang Zhuangbang was struggling to find a project, he went to visit a friend's farm and discovered that his friend had gotten rich by raising rat snakes. This made Zhang Zhuangbang very envious.

Zhang Zhuangbang: A snake of about 5 jin could sell for 1,000 yuan. I really was surprised, and I had no idea this thing could be so profitable.

This is the rat snake, also called the oriental rat snake, mainly distributed in southern China. Although the name rat snake contains the word "rat," it is not a water snake; it grows in hilly and plain areas. Rat snakes grow quickly, generally reaching 3 jin in a year, meeting the standard for commercial snakes.

Although the rat snake is non-venomous, it is highly aggressive. Before attacking, it first gets angry.

Employee: This is it being angry; this is what an angry expression looks like.

Zhang Zhuangbang: It means it is angry and about to attack.

An angry rat snake will launch an attack without warning. It can raise a third of its body and strike quickly. Rat snakes are ferocious, so raising them is certainly dangerous. But to make money, Zhang Zhuangbang got the idea to raise snakes. Locally in Hainan, there were also more than 30 large and small farming households that got rich by raising rat snakes. But when he mentioned his idea of starting a business by raising rat snakes, everyone around him found it quite unexpected.

Friend Zheng Zixu: There are many things you can raise, sheep, chickens, anything, but snakes, for someone as timid as him, we were also surprised.

Wife Xie Huanna: He is even more afraid than I am. I have killed snakes before, water snakes, and he did not even dare grab one.

It turns out Zhang Zhuangbang was very timid. When he used to work at a mining site, the toilet and the dormitory were separated by a stretch of woods, and at night he never dared go alone.

Zhang Zhuangbang: The two sides of the trees were painted white, with a layer of anti-insect coating, and it felt as if a shadow was passing by, which felt especially terrifying, as if someone was standing there.

Zhang Zhuangbang was timid, and to raise snakes, the first hurdle he faced was overcoming his fear of snakes. To raise snakes, he first had to build up his courage. In order to train his courage, Zhang Zhuangbang decided to live alone for a few days on an isolated island in a reservoir.