Jiangxia farmers get rich by raising snakes upstairs.

The picture shows Huang Maowen, a snake farmer.

"raising snakes is a promising way to make money, and there is basically no worry about the market. Sometimes someone calls me and asks me to deliver it to my door, and sometimes the dealer comes to buy it. " Huang Maowen spoke quickly, and his words showed unconcealed excitement.

This man, who used to support his family by selling chicks, is now better off by raising snakes.

It is hard to make money by selling chicken seedlings for 30 years.

Worship teachers in Guangxi to learn to raise snakes

Huang Maowen, 49, a native of Maojiazhuang Village, Wulijie Street, Jiangxia, had nearly 30 years of experience in selling chicks before raising snakes.

As more and more people go out to work in the countryside, fewer and fewer people raise chickens at home, and the market for chicks is getting narrower and narrower, he began to find another way to live. The choice of raising snakes is due to a chance encounter.

One day in 2012, when he was selling chicken seedlings in the town, he saw a snake catcher selling a snake of about two jin to a snake vendor, who finally gave him two red tickets.

Huang Maowen was surprised at that time: "the unit price of a chicken is only a few yuan, in addition to the cost of earning only a few cents, a snake can sell for 200 yuan." He discussed with his lover that he would not sell chickens and raise snakes instead! At that time, the family opposed it. After all, raising snakes was a strange business, and people who didn't know anything about it were too risky to start from scratch.

Huang Maowen is a stubborn man. Despite the opposition of his family, he went to Guangxi with 10,000 yuan in cash. He heard that there was a snake base in Guangxi.

In June 2012, Huang Maowen came to a village in Guangxi, where every family became rich by raising snakes. He learned snake farming skills from a local master for three months. In the snake farm, he worked as both an apprentice and an administrator, and often did a lot of voluntary work. Through studying hard, I have mastered the key techniques such as raising snakes, preventing and controlling diseases, planting snakes and hatching. "I spent the tuition and labor, although it delayed a lot of things at home, but it was worth it." Huang Maowen said.

In September of that year, the first thing Huang Maowen did when he got home was to renovate the second floor of his house. People live downstairs, and the upstairs is transformed into a snake house. The room in the snake house is equipped with air conditioning, humidifier and ventilation. For safety, each snake house is built with a half-meter-high threshold of cement and surrounded by barbed wire.

After dealing with the license for domestication and breeding of wild animals and related procedures, he introduced more than 1000 king snake species from Guangxi and started his own way of raising snakes, with an investment of 200000 yuan.

Don't worry about the first taste of sales

A snake makes a net profit of more than 100 yuan

In the snake house on the second floor, the reporter saw that the room was about 150 square meters. The whole house was sealed and even the windows were sealed with foam. "on the one hand, it is necessary to ensure safety and prevent snakes from escaping, and on the other hand, it is to keep warm." Huang Maowen explained.

There are only layers of boards in the room, as well as beds made of quilts, hatching equipment and so on. When Huang Maowen opened the thick quilts, snakes, large and small, coiled together, sometimes making a "hiss" sound.

Just like any aquaculture industry, you need not only technology but also experience. "the first thing to prevent from disease is to keep snakes. Once snakes get sick, they will spread quickly." Huang Maowen said that by observing snakes eating, you can judge whether you are sick or not. There must be problems with eating less or not. Snakes eat very fastidiously, eating only chickens and eggs. More than 1000 snakes eat more than 30 jin of depilated chicken seedlings and eggs every day.

The cost is not low, what is the benefit? Huang Maowen said that most of the snakes he raised are king snakes, also known as Wang Jinhe, which are non-toxic and grow fast. From hatching to becoming a commercial snake, the breeding cycle of a snake ranges from one and a half to two years, and can grow to more than 1.5 kilograms. Feed plus labor, water and electricity, etc., cost about 130 yuan each. The current market price is 100 yuan per jin, and a snake can earn a net profit of more than 100 yuan. "the prospect of raising snakes is very good, basically do not worry about the market, buyers will take the initiative to come to the door." Last year, the first batch of snakes he raised went on the market, mainly sold to downtown Wuhan, Shanghai and other places, making a profit of more than 100,000 yuan. At present, Huang Maowen plans to continue to expand the scale of breeding and provide snake species and technology to nearby farmers who have the ability to raise snakes, so as to drive more farmers to raise snakes to become rich.