Attention should be paid to problems in artificial raising of snakes

1. Feeding with bait

Due to the different species of snakes, the palatability of food is different, each species of snakes have a certain choice of food. For example, silver ring snakes like to eat rice field eel and Loach; cobras like to eat frogs and other small snakes; Agkistrodon acutus likes to eat frogs, toads, lizards, rats and birds; king cobra likes to eat non-venomous snakes; mouse snakes like to eat frogs and toads; hundred flower brocade snakes like to eat mice. Food should be selected according to different snake species and combined with local feed resources. at the same time, food sources can be enriched through capture, breeding and breeding. According to foreign experience, crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, calcium, scales, minerals, etc., supplemented with vitamin A, B2, mixed with appropriate amount of water, were poured into casings to make sausages and induce snakes to eat, which provided a reference for the food sources of snakes.

How much does the snake eat? At present, there is no complete data, it is generally believed that during the activity, the monthly food intake is close to 1 / 2 of your body weight. An Agkistrodon acutus weighing more than 500 grams is fed 250 grams of food every month. In addition, bait must be rich and varied, which is the key to raising snakes.

During the activity period from May to November, it is generally fed once a week, or "live food" is always prepared in the feed pool, eating at any time and catching at will. Most snakes have the greatest demand for food in May, July and October. May is the egg-bearing period, which requires high nutrition. July is the spawning period, after spawning the body is weak, need to eat a lot to nourish the body. October is on the eve of hibernation and needs to accumulate nutrients to keep out the cold and overwintering. Meeting the nutritional needs of these three stages is a big issue related to raising snakes well, which must be paid great attention to. Usually large and small snakes should be managed separately to avoid the phenomenon of big snakes devouring small snakes. The feeding time depends on the activity pattern of the snake species. If the golden ring snake likes to be active at night, the bait should be thrown near the snake's nest before the snake comes out of the hole at night, so that the snake can be easily found. It is better to feed fresh live food, it is strictly forbidden to feed spoiled eggs, and the rotten residual bait is eliminated in time.

Overwintering and summer

The snake is a temperature-changing animal, and when the ambient temperature is below 13 ℃, it enters a dormant state. Wild snakes often die in winter due to poor heat preservation conditions. Therefore, overwintering management is very important, which is related to the success or failure of raising snakes, overwintering should pay attention to the following aspects of work.

(1) grasp the snake to fatten up before winter, so that the snake can eat more, be full, eat well, and deposit more fat in the body. No or less bile and snake venom.

(2) add soil and grass to the snake nest and snake room, close the door and hole of the nest, and strictly guard against the attack of cold wind.

(3) live in groups for the winter. More than ten or dozens of snakes of the same species are gathered together for the winter, and the nest is covered with a thicker soil layer and insulation materials such as rice straw and wheat straw, so that the snake nest is below the permafrost. Overwintering in groups can increase the body temperature by 1 / 2 degrees. Usually do not alarm the snakes, let the snakes into the best state of hibernation.

(4) put a basin of water in the nest room, which can not only adjust the humidity, but also can be drunk when the snake wakes up. The relative temperature of the overwintering environment should be maintained at 8 ℃.

The above comprehensive measures can generally survive the winter safely. If the temperature is lower, further measures should be taken to prevent cold and heat preservation, covering the top and surroundings of the whole snake nest room with 1Mel 5 meters thick soil, or artificially heating on the passageway, installing electric heaters or electric heaters, etc., but it is not appropriate to make the temperature of the nest room exceed 8 ℃, let alone make the temperature of the nest room rise or drop suddenly, otherwise it will make the snake in the whole nest sting (wake up), sometimes into the sting (hibernation) and cause a large number of deaths.

In addition, when spring returns to the earth, it is the time when snakes come out of the cave, and it is also the stage when snakes are easy to die. Pay special attention to windproof, cold protection, heat preservation, and timely supply of bait and drinking water.

In the hot summer season, when the external temperature exceeds 35 ℃, a shade shed must be set up in the snake farm and sprinkled with water to cool down.

III. Raising young snakes

Two months after hatching, the baby snakes can be raised in snake boxes, large cement pipes or large cylinders, the lid can be made of fine-hole barbed wire, and the front box plate should be made of thick glass for easy observation. The bottom is covered with mud, sand and turf, and some bricks are placed on top for the young snakes to hide. Put a thermometer in the snake box to control the temperature and humidity.

The baby snakes begin to molt for the first time about 10 days after hatching. For the newly hatched snakes, feeding raw eggs, adding a certain amount of calcium tablets and vitamin A, D and other mixed bait has a good effect, and the feeding tools can use eyedroppers or syringes. After two months of age, you can continue to raise it in a snake box, or you can move it to a snake garden. Can be fed with small earthworms, insects, suckling mice, Loach and other feed.

The death of young snakes is mainly due to the failure of active feeding and drinking water after hatching and the high temperature in the early stage of overwintering. Therefore, measures such as irrigation and feeding should be taken before overwintering to make them get adequate nutrition. The overwintering temperature should not exceed 8 ℃, and it should be relatively constant.

IV. Other key points of management

(1) do a good job in the cleaning of snake gardens and snake boxes and often remove food wreckage, animal carcasses and feces. Do a good job in feed and drinking water sanitation. When diseased snakes are found, they should be isolated and treated in time.

Do a good job in safety precautions, wear protective clothes, carry snake-catching tools, and should not be caught with bare hands. It is best for two people to enter the snake garden at the same time, which will prepare emergency medicine and equipment. Yard maintenance or box maintenance must be covered with locks, regular maintenance of walls, doors and windows, and timely repair.

(2) once bitten by a poisonous snake, first aid, first reduce activity, keep calm, and then ligate immediately. The ligation site should be near the joint above the wound. If the calf is bitten, it should be tied at the upper end of the knee, relax for 2 minutes every 20 minutes, then wash the wound and expand the detoxification. It is best to wash repeatedly with hydrogen peroxide or 0.1% potassium permanganate solution, use a sterilized knife, etc., cut into a "-" shape between the marks of the two fangs, and then gently squeeze around the wound, preferably with cupping to suck out the venom, and then apply and take medicine. There are Nantong snake medicine, Shanghai group snake medicine, Guangdong Zhanjiang snake medicine, Fujian snake medicine and so on. Use it according to the instructions. If you have no treatment experience or serious symptoms, you must be sent to the hospital for treatment as soon as possible without delay.