Zhao Deyuan, the Cobra King of Nanchong, Leads Villagers to Prosperity by Raising Snakes
Zhao Deyuan casually picks up two cobras, calm and composed.
Cobras make people shudder, yet in the eyes of Zhao Deyuan, a villager from Longtaisi Village, Datong Town, Jialing District, Nanchong City, they are partners on his road to realizing his dream of prosperity. On the morning of the 17th, at Zhao Deyuan's cobra breeding farm, cobras twisted their bodies on the snake beds, and their suddenly protruding "heads" flicked out their tongues menacingly. But 45-year-old Zhao Deyuan remained completely unfazed, holding one snake in each hand as he checked on the cobras' growth.
Zhao Deyuan was once a migrant worker and also ran a small grain and oil business. In 2013, he built a breeding farm in his hometown to raise cobras. Today, his farm has become the largest cobra breeding base in Nanchong, and Zhao Deyuan has become Nanchong's veritable "Cobra King."
His cobras devour 120,000 chicks a month
Zhao Deyuan casually opened a door, and a rush of smell hit him, making him uncomfortable. Behind this door, there was another security door. Zhao Deyuan continued to open the security door, and saw 8 tents arranged on both sides of the room, with brick bases and wooden board tops. "If a cobra escapes, the consequences would be serious, so we set up layer upon layer of defenses, making it impossible for the cobras to escape," Zhao Deyuan said.
Zhao Deyuan lifted the curtain, and only the sound of "squeak, squeak, squeak" could be heard, with densely packed cobras writhing on the wooden boards. He casually picked one up and played with it in his hand.
"We use a non-hibernation breeding technique, so the snakes have no hibernation period and eat and gain weight all year round. Therefore, we need to maintain the indoor temperature and have heating installed," Zhao Deyuan explained. The snake nests look like beds; lifting the first layer of wooden board reveals where the snakes sleep, and the layer below is the snakes' toilet. If they want to eat, they need to crawl out to the basin or bowl outside.
"The cobras' food is about one-week-old cockerel chicks purchased from poultry hatcheries. More than 8,000 snakes eat 120,000 chicks a month, weighing over 3 tons," Zhao Deyuan said. Poultry hatcheries only want hen chicks, and cockerel chicks are sold as feed and so on, so there is no problem with the supply of cockerel chicks.
His entrepreneurial journey: 5,300 cobras sold in two years
At the age of 17, Zhao Deyuan went to Jiangsu to help others brew soy sauce, and later ran a small grain and oil business himself. In 2010, Zhao Deyuan and his wife, approaching their forties, returned to their hometown to investigateentrepreneurial projects, and were ultimately attracted to the cobra breeding project, "because raising cobras fetches a high price and they sell well."
In 2013, Zhao Deyuan went to Chongqing to learn breeding techniques. In July, Zhao Deyuan and his wife built a breeding farm in Longtaisi Village. Afterward, Zhao Deyuan went to Guangxi and purchased more than 2,000 snake eggs. After a hatching period of nearly two months, more than 1,600 baby snakes were successfully hatched.
During the breeding process, both Zhao Deyuan and his wife were bitten by cobras. Regarding this, Zhao Deyuan said it was caused by his own operational errors. As long as proper protection is taken, cobras cannot bite people, and even if someone is bitten, as long as measures are taken immediately, there is no major problem.
Through trial and error, he gradually accumulated experience, and Zhao Deyuan's cobras rarely got sick and grew up strong. In October 2014, the first batch of more than 1,300 cobras was ready for market, and all of these snakes were sold to Guangdong, bringing in more than 400,000 yuan. In December 2015, the second batch of more than 4,000 adult snakes (over 10,000 jin) was ready for market, also all sold to Guangdong. This batch of snakes earned Zhao Deyuan another more than 1 million yuan.
His big dream: driving villagers to prosperity by raising cobras
Currently, Zhao Deyuan has more than 8,000 cobras in stock, and the farm has also become the largest cobra breeding base in Nanchong. Zhao Deyuan has not forgotten his fellow villagers; the farm has hired many villagers to help manage it, and Zhao Deyuan teaches them techniques hand by hand.
"In raising cobras, besides selling snake meat, snake venom and snake skin also have very high economic value, and the market prospects are enormous," Zhao Deyuan said. As for future development plans, Zhao Deyuan has long had ideas: expand the breeding scale; open a specialty farmhouse restaurant featuring cobra meat; and drive villagers to prosperity by raising cobras.
But at the mere mention of cobras, everyone is afraid. "Actually, as long as the methods are right, raising cobras is safe," Zhao Deyuan said.
Peng Hong, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Datong Town, introduced that the government plans to first organize villagers to visit and learn at the breeding farm, overcome everyone's fear of cobras, and then try offering classes, turning Longtaisi Village into a "Cobra Breeding Village." Zhao Deyuan stated: after the cobra breeding training class opens, he will teach breeding techniques to villagers free of charge.