Jiangxia farmer raises snakes on the upper floor of his own house and gets rich

Photo: snake farmer Huang Maowen

"Snake farming is a very promising way to make money, and basically there is no need to worry about sales. Sometimes someone calls and asks me to deliver to their door, and sometimes dealers come to buy." Huang Maowen speaks quickly, and the excitement he cannot hide shows through in his words.

This man, who once supported his family by selling young chicks, now lives even better by raising snakes.

Selling chicks for 30 years, money was hard to earn

Went to Guangxi to learn snake farming from a master

Huang Maowen, 49 this year, is from Maojiafan Village, Wulijie Street, Jiangxia. Before raising snakes, he had nearly 30 years of experience selling young chicks.

As more and more rural people go out to work, fewer and fewer people raise chickens at home, the market for young chicks became narrower and narrower, and he began to think about finding another way to make a living. His choice to raise snakes came from a chance encounter.

One day in 2012, while selling chicks in town, he saw a snake catcher sell a snake of about two jin to a snake dealer, and the dealer finally gave him two red banknotes.

Huang Maowen was very surprised at the time: "The unit price of a young chick is only a few yuan, and after costs you only make a few jiao, but one snake can sell for 200 yuan." He discussed it with his wife and decided not to sell chickens anymore but to raise snakes instead. At the time, his family all opposed it. After all, snake farming was an unfamiliar trade, and for someone who completely did not understand it, starting from scratch was too risky.

Huang Maowen is a stubborn man. Ignoring his family's objections, he took 10,000 yuan in cash and went to Guangxi. He had heard people say there was a snake farming base in Guangxi.

In June 2012, Huang Maowen came to a village in Guangxi, where every household got rich by raising snakes. He studied snake farming techniques for 3 months with a local master. At the snake farm, he was both an apprentice and a manager, and often did a lot of unpaid work. Through diligent study, he mastered key techniques such as snake farming, disease prevention and control, and breeding snake incubation. "I spent money on tuition and put in labor. Although it delayed many things at home, it was very worthwhile," Huang Maowen said.

In September of that year, the first thing Huang Maowen did after returning home was renovate the second floor of his own house. People lived downstairs, and upstairs was converted into snake housing. The snake rooms were equipped with air conditioners, humidifiers and ventilation equipment. For safety, each snake room had a half-meter-high threshold built with cement and was enclosed with wire mesh.

After obtaining a wildlife domestication and breeding permit and related procedures, he introduced more than 1,000 king rat snake breeding snakes from Guangxi and began his own snake farming path, investing 200,000 yuan in total.

　 No need to worry about sales, first taste of sweetness

One snake yields a net profit of more than 100 yuan

In the snake room on the second floor, the reporter saw that the room was about 150 sq m. The whole house was sealed, and even the window cracks were sealed with foam plastic. "First, to ensure safety and prevent the snakes from escaping; second, to keep warm," Huang Maowen explained.

Layer after layer of wooden boards were placed in the room, along with sleeping beds made from cotton quilts, incubation equipment, and so on. When Huang Maowen lifted one thick cotton quilt after another, snakes big and small were coiled together, sometimes making a "hissing" sound.

Like any breeding industry, it requires not only technique but also experience. "When raising snakes, the first thing is to prevent disease. Once a snake gets sick, it spreads quickly," Huang Maowen said. By observing whether the snakes eat, one can judge whether they are sick. If they eat less or do not eat, there must be a problem. Snakes are very particular about what they eat; they only eat young chicks and eggs. More than 1,000 snakes eat more than 30 jin of de-feathered young chicks and eggs every day.

The costs are not low. How are the benefits? Huang Maowen introduced that most of what he raises are king rat snakes, also called king rat snake, non-venomous, with fast growth speed. From hatching to becoming a commercial snake, the farming cycle is one and a half to two years, and it can grow to more than 1.5 kg. Feed plus labor, water and electricity, and so on, cost about 130 yuan per snake. The current market price is 100 yuan/jin, and one snake can bring a net profit of more than 100 yuan. "The prospects for snake farming are very good, and basically there is no need to worry about sales. Most buyers take the initiative to come to your door." Last year, the first batch of snakes he raised went on the market, mainly sold to Wuhan urban area, Shanghai and other places, earning a profit of more than 100,000 yuan. At present, Huang Maowen plans to continue expanding the breeding scale, provide snake breeding stock and techniques to surrounding farmers capable of raising snakes, and drive more farming households to get rich by raising snakes.