Visiting Mr. Phan Thanh Binh's cobra farm in My Tu commune, My Tu district (Soc Trang province), the reporter could not help but be surprised at the scale and number of snakes up to 5,000 and raised in 4 places. Separate farming area for easy management and care.
Sharing about his fate with legless reptiles , Mr. Binh said that in 2015, he accidentally learned that raising cobras brought high income, he researched and decided to implement the model. After being granted a license by the Forest Protection Department of Soc Trang province, Mr. Binh bought 70 snake breeds in Vinh Long province to raise.
Initially, due to lack of experience in raising snakes, many snakes died. After finding out the reason, Mr. Binh was able to tame the dangerous pet .
After nearly 10 years of raising, Mr. Binh now owns a herd of up to 5,000 snakes. Of which, there are more than 1,000 parent snakes and maintain 2,000 - 3,000 commercial snakes to supply to the market.
According to Mr. Binh, if you want to raise cobras, you must register and be licensed by the authorities. In particular, to ensure the safety of farmers and people around, snake cages must be built to meet prescribed standards.
“Cobras are very dangerous. Therefore, snake farms are built separately from neighboring households. Each area is solidly built of concrete and has a securely locked door. Breeding snakes raised in cages, parent snakes, commercial snakes raised in drawers. Each box is 40cm wide, 1m deep and covered with a layer of soil about 5cm thick. The drawers are carefully covered with small iron mesh," Mr. Binh shared.
According to Mr. Binh, although it is a dangerous animal, cobras are easy to raise and require little care. Feed the snake once every 5 days with duck meat. Snakes raised for about 15 - 17 months, weighing 2 - 3 kg/head, can be sold. As for breeding snakes, they only lay once a year in October, each laying 20-30 eggs/time and the eggs are hatched at a rate of over 97%. After the eggs hatch, the baby snakes are raised for about 2 months and then sold as breeders.
Currently, commercial snakes cost 700,000 - 750,000 VND/kg, and seed snakes range from 100,000 - 300,000 VND/head. On average, Mr. Binh sells 300 - 500kg each month. After deducting expenses, he earns a profit of several hundred million dong each year.
Mr. Binh added that although it is an ideal model for high economic profits. However, the cost to raise this reptile is relatively high. In addition, cobras are dangerous pets. When raising them, you need to have a thorough understanding of the care process as well as approval from the agency. function when there is a need to develop the model.
