Kien Giang farmer raises wild cobras, extremely poisonous, lays eggs, sells for 1 million/kg

“If you don’t know how to give first aid to a cobra bite, no doctor can save you because the venom spreads very quickly. But if you know how to give first aid and use the right medicine, you can still be cured,” said Mr. Ba Hieu, a farmer raising a highly venomous wild cobra (also known as a monocled cobra) in Van Khanh Dong commune (An Minh district, Kien Giang province).

Answering the question of why he chose to raise cobras, a highly poisonous wild species, Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu (Ba Hieu), residing in Ngoc Thanh hamlet, Van Khanh Dong commune (An Minh district, Kien Giang province) said: "Everyone else has done what is easy, we are poor so we choose the difficult things to avoid competition, and it is also due to fate."

In 2014, a large cobra (also known as a monocled cobra, a puffer snake, or a wax cobra) suddenly appeared in front of his house. Knowing how to catch snakes, Mr. Ba Hieu used a mop to catch the snake.

Seeing that this poisonous snake was healthy, he caught frogs to feed it and decided to raise it. The more he raised this poisonous snake, the more fascinated he became.

Mr. Hieu searched the internet for places that specialize in raising king cobras. He packed his bags and went to Binh Duong with 3 million VND in savings to buy 10 more king cobras to start a herd.

A year later, the first monocled cobra that came to his house laid its first litter of 43 eggs, which hatched into 40 baby snakes, earning him 8 million VND. And so on, one litter after another.

Taking us on a tour of the snake farm, Mr. Ba Hieu opened the cage lid, a 5kg cobra with jet black skin raised its head and spread its scales, scaring everyone.

The snake cage is built around with cement, has shelves for the snake to lie on, has water for the snake to bathe and cool off, and a layer of dry soil is spread on the floor to create the best environment for the snake to grow.

The main food for raising snakes is rats, in addition to toads, frogs, and tilapia. With the current herd of highly venomous snakes, the amount of food needed each day is 20kg.

From the early days of having no experience in raising king cobras, Mr. Ba Hieu now has a good grasp of the techniques of raising king cobras, how to breed snakes as well as the technique of incubating snake eggs in moist sand with a success rate of over 90%.

According to him, a week after hatching, a cobra will shed its skin and eat its prey. A one-year-old cobra weighs about 1.2kg and begins to reproduce.

Photo: Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu (right cover) leads a delegation of the An Minh District Farmers' Association to visit his cobra farm in Ngoc Thanh Hamlet, Van Khanh Dong Commune (An Minh District, Kien Giang Province). The cobra, also known as the monocled cobra, the bloated cobra...

In addition to king cobras, Mr. Ba Hieu also raises king cobras, kraits, and horse cobras. In 2018, he sold more than 200 king cobras for breeding, earning 40 million VND.

After more than 5 years of raising snakes, he has many scars left on his body from snake bites. “If you don’t know how to give first aid, no doctor can save you from a snake bite because the venom spreads very quickly. But if you know how to give first aid and use the right medicine, you can cure it,” said Mr. Ba Hieu.

Three years ago, while visiting a cobra cage, Mr. Ba Hieu was bitten on the arm by a cobra. He performed first aid himself, squeezed the blood, tied a tourniquet around his arm, then ran to his neighbor's house to ask for green papaya to use the latex to cover the wound, and pureed the papaya flesh to drink to detoxify the snake.

In the end, Mr. Ba Hieu saved his own life with that folk remedy. After that time, in Mr. Ba Hieu's snake farm, there was always a medicine cabinet with full first aid tools for snake bites. In his backyard, he always planted a papaya tree, a plant used to treat snake bites.

Owning a herd of 250 venomous snakes weighing from 1.2 to 5kg each and 230 snakes weighing less than 1kg each, of which 60 are in the breeding period, Mr. Ba Hieu said he does not raise them for meat, his passion is to raise them to serve the preparation of medicine from snake venom.

The order for 800 king cobras has been received, his task now is to find a way to multiply the herd to reach the required number.

Because few people raise king cobras, the market price for this snake species is quite high, ranging from 1 million VND/kg for 5kg/snake and 800 thousand VND/kg for 1-2kg/snake.

Source: https://danviet.vn/ong-nong-dan-kien-giang-nuoi-ran-ho-dat-con-hoang-da-kich-doc-de-son-son-ban-cao-1-trieu-kg-2024110315394994.htm