Interesting facts about reptiles: how snakes reproduce. Poisonous business Breeding poisonous snakes as a business for venom

Breeding snakes

In the countries of the former USSR there are isolated deaths among people bitten by snakes, mainly in Central Asia. In this case, a tragic outcome usually occurs due to untimely or incorrect assistance to those bitten. In the United States, snakes kill up to 160 people annually, although bites poisonous snakes About 8 thousand people are exposed, mainly when trying to catch or kill a snake.

The most effective and effective means treatment snake bites is the introduction of anti-snake serum. This remedy was discovered at the end of the last century, and to produce such serums, the Butantan Institute was founded in Sao Paulo (Brazil) in 1899. Now it is largest center on the study of poisonous snakes, on the use of snake venoms. From all over Brazil, many residents voluntarily send here annually about 12.5 thousand snakes (mainly cascavela and jararaka), from which they receive up to 5-6 liters of poison per year (1-1.5 kg in dry weight).

Venom is taken from snakes once every 2-3 weeks. From small snakes, 20-40 mg of venom is obtained (in dry weight), and from large snakes, 500-900 mg per dose. Traditional way"Milking" of snakes is mechanical, by massaging the poisonous glands. However, taking the poison using electric current ("electromilking") is considered the most effective. To do this, the mucous membrane of the mouth is touched with electrodes with a voltage of 5-8 V, which causes a rapid and complete release of the poison.

Serums are prepared from the blood of horses immunized with increasing doses of snake venom. These serums come in two varieties: monovalent - against the bite of a certain type of snake - and polyvalent - against bites various types. Timely and correct administration of the serum quickly relieves the symptoms of poisoning. In addition, blood transfusions have an excellent effect when bitten by viper and pit snakes.

Snake venom is a complex mixture of proteins that have the properties of enzymes and enzymatic poisons. When dried, it retains its poisonous properties for decades. Snake venoms have long attracted scientists as a source medicines However, only in recent decades have important advances been achieved in this direction. Hemostatic drugs - lebetox (in former USSR) and Stephen (in the UK). The main active component, cobra toxin, has been isolated from cobra venom, which has an analgesic and sedative effect in cases of cardiac spasms, bronchial asthma, malignant tumors. In addition, snake venoms are used in the diagnosis of diseases and in various laboratory studies.

As poisons began to be used very widely, the need for them increased sharply. To obtain poison, serpentariums have been created in many countries around the world, where snakes caught in the wild are kept in enclosures or cages and poison is periodically taken from them. The lifespan of snakes in such serpentariums is usually short, and the population of snakes has to be constantly replenished with new specimens caught in the wild. In many tropical countries this is not a particular problem, and serpentariums exist due to the constant exploitation of the resources of venomous snakes in nature.

The main types of snakes used in our serpentariums are viper, cobra, common and steppe viper, to a lesser extent - sand faff. Due to the fact that natural resources poisonous snakes are limited, and some poisonous snakes are included in the Red Book, scientists and serpentarium workers are faced with the acute problem of preserving and carefully using populations of poisonous snakes. Much has already been done in this direction. By optimizing housing conditions, it was possible to significantly extend the lifespan of snakes in captivity. All this makes it possible now to preserve the main population of snakes in serpentariums for a long time and gradually reduce the volume of catching snakes from the wild.

However, the most promising way to preserve natural populations of venomous snakes is to transform serpentariums into snake nurseries. Snake nurseries are serpentariums of the future, where snakes will not only be kept in optimal conditions, but also to reproduce, and their offspring will grow to adulthood. Then the need to remove snakes from nature will completely disappear, and economic exploitation will move to the level of “snake farming.” Such prospects are quite real, since on an experimental scale, herpetologists have already succeeded in successfully breeding some species of venomous snakes and raising their young in captivity.

Successful breeding snakes in captivity have great value both for species used by humans and for those species that are on the verge of extinction in nature and are listed in the IUCN Red List or national Red Lists. In such cases, if a species becomes extinct in the wild, captive-breeding populations of that species can serve as a life-saving reserve fund for the subsequent restoration of that species in the wild. Captive breeding of endangered species remains the only reliable guarantee of their conservation.

Snakes are cold-blooded animals, common on all continents, with the possible exception of Antarctica. In total, there are more than 3,000 species of them on Earth. They can be harmless and very poisonous, small (only a few centimeters long) and gigantic (more than 10 meters). Their habitat is also very diverse. They live in salt or fresh water bodies, in swamps and forests, in steppes and deserts. And sometimes they are found in home terrariums. The reproduction of snakes largely depends on the species they belong to and their habitat. Most reptiles are oviparous, but viviparous specimens are also found among them.

About the mating season

Although there are hermaphrodites among snakes, in most cases they are still of different sexes. Consequently, 2 individuals participate in the reproduction process: a male and a female. Often they do not differ much in appearance, except perhaps in size, and less often - in color. Sometimes males have a flatter tail shape.

The mating season for snakes usually begins after hibernation when the air temperature becomes comfortable enough for raising offspring. Reptiles inhabiting desert and semi-desert areas reproduce with the onset of a favorable period, which does not always depend on the time of year.

The male is not very active in courting his chosen one. Having discovered her by smell, he begins to pursue, and when meeting, he expresses his intentions by stroking or shaking his head. During this period, animals show particular aggression. Therefore, you should not try to see how snakes reproduce in natural conditions, especially if we're talking about about poisonous representatives of scaly reptiles.

There are species that mate in large groups, curling up into a huge ball. The process may take several days. It is also surprising that a fertilized female is able to carry sperm within herself for a long time, maintaining her ability to fertilize. Conception itself occurs when the environment becomes as favorable as possible for this.

Hermaphrodites

Among snakes they are not common, but such cases still occur. As a rule, we are talking about the island bothrops, which inhabits mainly South America. It is surprising that among individuals of the same species there can be both heterosexual and hermaphrodites. The latter have the sexual characteristics of both male and female. Therefore, one snake is enough to reproduce.

But it's not the only one interesting fact from the life of reptiles. Some females manage to lay unfertilized eggs, from which offspring successfully hatch. This method Reproduction is quite rare and is called "parthenogenesis".

Place of masonry

For any female, eggs are the most valuable thing she has. And snakes are no exception. Therefore, the place for laying is chosen to be quiet, safe and as comfortable as possible. Steppe snakes often live in burrows and hide their clutches there. Forest ones do this under snags, and desert ones often bury them in the sand. It all depends on the environment and living conditions.

Females usually protect their offspring, warming them through active contraction of the body muscles until they are born. Caring parents It’s hard to name snakes; the cubs show independence literally from the first minutes of life, getting their own food and not relying on adults. In some species, the male is responsible for the safety of the nest, and sometimes the parents take turns guarding it.

Viviparous species

Regardless of how snakes reproduce, their embryos almost always develop inside the egg, feeding on its environment. In most cases this occurs in a nest or other hiding place. But sometimes the cubs develop directly inside the female and are born while simultaneously hatching from the eggs. Moreover, they are completely independent from the first days of life.

Viviparous snakes in the classical sense are also found in nature. These mainly include inhabitants of reservoirs, as well as some boas and vipers. In this case, the embryo breathes and feeds through a single circulatory system with mother.

Breeding snakes in captivity

Reptiles are increasingly found as pets. This is mainly due to ease of maintenance. You don’t need to walk with a snake; they rarely feed and behave mostly passively. The main thing is to choose the right terrarium and follow the recommendations of a specialist in terms of climate.

It is rare to observe how snakes reproduce in captivity, since this happens only under a favorable combination of several circumstances. Firstly, there should be 2 of them, and of different sexes. Hermaphrodite species are not kept at home. People mainly buy boas or snakes. Some of them in wildlife live in trees. Therefore, for a comfortable stay in captivity, in addition to suitable temperature and humidity, it is necessary to create an imitation of the trunk, roots, and spread pieces of bark. You can see how snakes reproduce in a terrarium only if they are absolutely comfortable. Before the planned mating season, it is better to resettle the couple and keep them separate for several days, lowering the temperature slightly. In this way, hibernation in natural conditions is simulated. Then they are placed in a common terrarium, the temperature is increased and they wait for the result.

Snakes are amazing and mysterious creatures inhabiting our planet. Many myths and legends are associated with these animals. Many are afraid of them, and some keep them in their apartments as pets. Sometimes it is even possible to get offspring in terrariums. But for snakes to begin breeding in captivity, they must be truly comfortable.

Snake eggs laid after mating usually have a parchment shell. There are oviparous and viviparous species snake.
In oviparity, the embryo develops in an egg laid in the external environment.

In ovoviviparity, the embryo develops inside the mother's body, but at the expense of the food reserves contained in the egg.

With this type of reproduction, the young appear enclosed in a shell, from which they are subsequently released. Viviparity is the appearance of fully formed young animals in a transparent leathery shell, which immediately ruptures.
IN natural conditions The mating season for snakes is preceded by a long winter, which takes place in rodent burrows and other shelters. Some species of snakes, such as Amur snakes, adhere to individual territories, which they retain for several years.

Formed mating pairs return from wintering to their usual place where the females lay eggs. Under natural conditions, snake reproduction is usually seasonal. Thus, the period of activity of snakes is March-April, October-November. Mating time lasts from March to May. IN mating season several dozen snakes accumulate in certain place, forming a ball. After mating, the males disperse, and the females remain in place, bearing eggs. Female common snake can lay up to 50 eggs. There are cases when up to 1,200 snake eggs were found in one nest. In such places, eggs are often glued together and look like one large clutch. Unlike other species of snakes, snake eggs can tolerate significant temperature fluctuations environment without harming the development of the embryo.

Garter snakes are viviparous. After several months of pregnancy of the female, from 40 to 70 cubs are born.
The duration of pregnancy of snakes is different: for the Amur and Aesculapian snakes - 33-45 days, for the patterned snake - 60-70, for other representatives of the snake family - 48, for various types of pythons - 60-110.

When pregnancy comes to an end, snakes build a nest from leaves and branches, arrange it in the hollows of low trees and under fallen trunks, in rodent burrows and anthills. A clutch of reptiles can contain from 3 to 40 oval or elongated eggs, differing in size depending on the type of animal. Coiling around the clutch, the snake warms the eggs using muscle contractions. Some snakes simply bury their eggs in the ground, a pile of plant debris. Most snakes do not show further concern for their offspring. But some species, such as the four-striped snake, king cobra and silt snake, guard the clutch until the young emerge.

Captive-bred snakes for starters mating games deep hibernation is not necessary. Separate housing, a slight decrease in temperature for a month and stopping feeding during this period are sufficient. A month after wintering, females are placed with males for mating. The union of a pair of snakes can be carried out at any time of the year, but usually the timing remains the same as for breeding in the wild - February-March.

To reproduce reptiles in captivity, it is necessary to select a pair. The sex of a reptile is determined by its coloring characteristics: females are less brightly colored. In addition, males have more long tail and in the lower row of scales in the anal area there is a thickening. Puberty The size of snakes depends on their age and body length. The length of the female must be at least 60 cm, the male - 50 cm.

During the breeding season and for the first time after it, keeping snakes requires increased attention. Eliminating noise and creating comfortable conditions in the terrarium are necessary to increase the sexual activity of snakes. Animals' diets include feed containing a high content of vitamins, phosphorus, and calcium. However, many females refuse food during the period of gestation and laying eggs.

If the female takes care of the offspring and incubates the clutch, then incubation can be carried out under natural conditions. At this time, the snake should not be disturbed; its behavior should be carefully observed to ensure normal conditions for the birth of offspring. It is important to systematically monitor how the snake is positioned on the clutch in order to avoid its partial opening and temporary removal from it. This promotes rapid cooling of the eggs and can lead to disruption of embryo development.

It is interesting to observe the behavior of snakes during natural incubation. Thus, a female green python lays up to 40 eggs and guards the clutch for about 50 days. By curling up around it, the reptile is able to regulate temperature and humidity, either completely covering the clutch with the rings of its body, or partially opening it for ventilation. The maturation of green python eggs can also take place successfully in an incubator. A necessary condition in this case is the maintenance high level humidity. Duration incubation period depends on the type of snake. In a terrarium, it usually takes place at a temperature of 27–30 °C and air humidity of 90%. This regime is especially important for the redback snake, whose young are born in translucent egg cases.
In order to ensure the safety of the young during natural incubation, it is advisable to place shelters for newborns in the terrarium, into which adult snakes could not penetrate. Such precautions reduce the possibility of parents eating their offspring.

In cases where natural incubation is impossible for a number of reasons, the eggs should be promptly removed from the terrarium. This is especially important for masonry consisting of large quantity large eggs that tend to stick together. Subsequently, because of this, difficulties may arise when transferring them to the incubator.

To avoid damaging snake eggs, you should handle them very carefully. When moving eggs, you must not change their position or turn them over, as this may have a negative impact on further development embryos. This factor is most important for large snakes. For species that lay small eggs, such as the common grass snake, it is not of decisive importance.

Artificial incubation is carried out in special incubators consisting of a container, heating systems and maintaining humidity in sawdust, peat, moistened moss. The container can be a box made of glass, plexiglass, or plywood.

The thermostat and the incandescent lamp are elements of the temperature control and maintenance system. A source of humidity, which can be used as a wide pan of water, and a device that regulates its level, a psychrometer, are components of a device for maintaining and controlling air humidity, which is increased for eggs with a shell shell and decreased for eggs with a parchment shell.
The clutch is monitored more carefully from the moment the first cut appears on the egg. Often young snakes do not immediately leave the egg, but remain in it for 24 hours. It is important to remember that artificial extraction of snakes is unacceptable, as it leads to injury and death of the newborn animal.

Young snakes, about 12–20 cm long, emerge within a month. A week after birth, snakes begin to catch small insects, frogs, during the same period the first molt takes place. When feeding young animals, you should consider what they need more food than for adults, and it should be given 2 times more often. Then, as they grow, the volume of food and the frequency of its intake are gradually reduced, bringing it to a level sufficient for an adult snake of a particular species.
The offspring grow quickly: by 6 months the weight of snakes reaches 70 g, by a year - 100 g, length exceeds 50 cm. Signs of sexual activity appear after a year, at 18 months the reptiles reach sexual maturity and are ready to reproduce.

In 1985, in the Chinese village of Zhishikao, a local disabled person, Yang Hongchang, began breeding snakes, first for self-medication, and then for sale - for pharmaceutical companies and restaurants. Gradually, the whole village became interested in this business, and today a third of its residents are millionaires, and Zhishikao has become the world center for raising snakes with a population of 4 million reptiles.

Yang Hongchang was a typical peasant in China in the early 1980s: a small plot of land, an average monthly income of 100 yuan, $16. Then he fell ill with ankylosing spondylitis, chronic disease joints with a predominant localization of the process in the sacrum and spine. China is not the First World - even today there is almost no free healthcare and pensions, and 30 years ago - even more so.

62-year-old Honchang realized that he would either die of hunger, since he would not be able to cultivate the land, or of illness. From a local doctor he learned that an extract from a certain type of snake could save him, in fact it was special kind legless lizard. But it cost 3 months of Hongchang's salary. Then the old man went to the mountains, caught several reptiles and made an extract from them himself, an alcohol tincture.

A two-month course of taking snake extract made Honchang functional. Then he thought, why not start breeding snakes, since they are so expensive and there is a steady demand for them. In 1985, on the security of his land plot took a loan from a bank, 10 thousand yuan.

With this money, he purchased equipment - incubators in which the process of maturation of snake eggs could take place. Serpent different types(from vipers to those very legless lizards) for breeding he caught himself. The first incubation experiments were unsuccessful. Only in 1987 did he manage to debug the process, and the first 30 thousand snakes were born. After a little growing, he sold them in bulk for 80 thousand yuan.

News of this success spread throughout the village of Khonchang, and within 5 years, of its 162 households, 108 contained snakes.

Small factories for their processing also appeared here: snakes are dried, vodka and ointments are made from them. snake venom etc., a significant proportion are “food” reptiles going to Chinese catering. 80% of products are consumed within China, the rest in the USA, Japan and Germany. Feed factories have also appeared where mice and frogs, which constitute the main diet of snakes, are bred.

In the village of Zhishikao, 4 million snakes are raised (up to 30 species: cobras, vipers, pythons, etc.), at least 20 families earn from 1 million yuan a year or more (150 thousand dollars), the rest - in on average 50-60 thousand yuan.

In general, the village from raising snakes has annual income 60 million yuan (about 9 million dollars).

Over the past 5 years, both the reptile population and the village's income have grown by 50% annually.

Honchang himself earned his first million in 1990, and he turned his business into the Moganshan Snake Co. brand.

In 2008, his company expanded beyond China, establishing a snake farm with an area of ​​10 thousand square meters. m in South Korea.

But in France, snake farms are going through hard times.

For example, in the town of Velance, a company that keeps snakes for their poison saw sales decline by 20% in 2011, to 1.6 million euros per year.

Snake farms

IN lately amazing at a fast pace keeping and breeding of snakes on farms is developing. More recently, the development of methods industrial cultivation reptiles seemed to be an extravagant hobby for solitary enthusiasts. But now this is far from the case: in Vietnam, about 200 thousand snakes are kept on farms; In Laos, the first snake farm appeared in 2001, and now it produces 70 thousand pythons per year. Here at first they only raised animals taken from nature, but now all of them life cycle takes place in captivity. Modern snake farms are practically no different from poultry farms.

The farm of the Dadongzhuang Snake Research Center (Chinese province of Guangzhou), where we, the participants of the Meeting, visited, surprised us with its unpretentiousness. No cutting-edge equipment or anything exotic - nothing from the 21st century. Everything is very simple, no frills, cheap. From the outside it is a dull warehouse complex: rows of long, low, whitewashed buildings with tiny windows. These structures are smaller than regular snake enclosures and can be connected to each other in different ways. This saves a lot of space: in one cubic meter of room, thanks to the cellular principle of arrangement, you can place up to 50 snakes! The doors of cages with deadly poisonous pets are “locked” with simple wooden pinwheels. Concrete floor and whitewashed walls. Nothing beautiful, everything is extremely rational and economical. Apparently, they do not save money here only on modern equipment that maintains a microclimate that is optimal for the reproduction and development of snakes.

It is generally accepted that captive reptiles require special lighting similar to natural lighting. So, on the farm, pets are not allowed any such light - only very dim light bulbs so that workers can see the snakes in containers. The farm complex also includes administrative buildings, a feed production workshop, a boiler room, and an incubator room. Holy of holies artificial breeding reptiles - the incubator - amazes with its extreme simplicity. In this cell-like room, a huge oven maintains a strictly set temperature. There are large foam plastic boxes on the floor (these are used to pack household appliances), covered with rags and fresh leaves. And inside, in the loose substrate, there are rows of eggs with a white leathery shell. The farm specifically selects sires to obtain the most complete offspring. The parents of future artificially raised snakes do not live in these tiny boxes, but in spacious enclosures with the best conditions. Cobras (Najanaja) are mainly raised on the farm, and exclusively for food use. Neither poison for medical purposes nor skins are harvested here.

The friendly owners assure that there are no cases of staff being bitten here and no snakes crawl out into the wild. But not everything should be taken on faith. Especially in Asia. The Dadongzhuang Snake Research Center was established in 1997, and they have been bred here on an industrial scale only since 2004. For this, various proprietary developments and methods (some of which are patented) are used, making commercial breeding of reptiles highly profitable. Snakes raised for slaughter are fed specially developed feed. In addition to the necessary nutrients they contain traditional Chinese medicine and food attractants. According to the Center's specialists, traditional pharmaceuticals prevent diseases in snakes.

But it is possible that this is only an element of ideological support for the “snake” project. But attractants that “deceive” such specialized predators as snakes are truly a technological breakthrough and the most important prerequisite for the profitability of the economy. The fact is that some types of reptiles consume only lizards, others - mainly small rodents, others prefer large insects, etc. Moreover, in nature, snakes are only interested in live prey. It was this specialization that Chinese snake breeders managed to overcome. They selected specific ones (special for each species and even for individuals) of different ages) smells of food and thus completely changed the natural preferences of snakes for food and “deceived” them into eating completely unusual food. As a result of this know-how, the cost of raising snakes has decreased by 60-65%. Another very significant local know-how is a carefully selected temperature regime for keeping it. It not only minimizes the energy expenditure of animals, but also - most importantly - allows snakes to be raised without the usual period of winter rest for local species. As a result, the entire cycle from hatching to market size is shortened by about 10 months to just over a year.