black-headed snakea  Snake (Zoacys dhumnades), mainly distributed in various provinces and cities in China and Taiwan. Due to the great medicinal value of the black-headed snake, in recent years, if the number of wild snakes does not increase, the price ratio is obvious, mainly due to the destruction of the habitat and a large number of hunting.

The breeding of snakes in southern China is in a semi-farmed and semi-wild state. Breeding a black-headed snake, from a young snake to a finished snake of more than 500 grams, is much cheaper than buying a snake at the farmers market. A single black-headed snake plus food feeding and labor costs, the annual expenditure will reach 70--80 yuan, and breeding is unprofitable, so many snake farms have changed their careers.

Chinese name: Wushao snake

Chinese alias: Guoshan Dao, Wu Snake, Wu Hua Snake, Wu Feng Snake, Duancaowu, Sword-ridged Snake

English name: Zoacys dhumnades

Kingdom: Animalia

Department: Chordata

Subphylum: Vertebrata

Class: Sauropsida

Subclass: Diapsida

Order: Squamata 

Family: Colubridae

Genus: Zaocys

species : Z. dhumnades

Distribution: Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, Guizhou, Jiangsu, Hubei, Hunan , Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Taiwan and other provinces (regions).

The total length of the body can reach more than 2.5m. The back of the body is greenish-brown or brown-black and tan; there is a yellow longitudinal stripe in the middle of the back; there are two black longitudinal stripes on each side of the body, which are obvious at least in the anterior segment (adult individuals), and disappear at the back of the body (some individuals are common The body is dark green, and some look yellow in the front and black in the back). The sub-adult has obvious vertical lines throughout the body.

The difference between the head and neck is remarkable; the snout scales are visible from the back of the head, wider than the height; the nasal scales are 2/3 of the length of the forehead scales; there are two slightly larger scales behind the top scales; the upper lip scales are 8, the first Seven largest; lower lip scales 8-10; dorsal scales in an even number of 16-16-14, central 2-4 rows with strong ribs, ventral scales 192-204 males, females 191-205; anal scales are divided into two parts; under the tail There are 95-137 pairs of scale males and 98-131 pairs of females.

Wu ShaoSnake: People call Wu Shao Snake, black tip whip, Yiliu Hei, black medicine snake, etc. The body length of the adult snake reaches 2 meters, and the color of the back varies from green-brown, tan to black-brown. It can also be divided into yellow black shoots, green black shoots and black black shoots. There are two black lines running through the whole body. This black line is in adulthood. The snake's body gradually faded. Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica" has made a detailed description of its edible and medicinal value.

In the society at that time, the black snake was once again known for its unique food, medicine and health care efficacy. The black snake in traditional Chinese medicine is the dried product of this snake, and its skin can be independently processed into "Wu Snake Wine" or "Wu Snake Gallbladder Wine". Breeding, the female snake lays 7-30 eggs each time, and the incubation period is 45-50 days.

It lives in the middle and low mountains, plains and hills below 1600m above sea level in the east, central, southeast and southwest of China. Zones or low mountain areas. Vertical distribution range: 50 ~ 1570 m above sea level. Often crawling on farmland (holding up your head to look around) or along the ridges inside paddy fields, vegetable fields, near river ditches, sometimes basking in the sun beside the grass on the edge of mountain roads, and found in villages (bamboo forest next to houses in mountains) .

Fast action, quick reaction, good at running away. Gentle, non-biting (like many snake species, Only bite if you are in a hurry or are overly frightened when you catch them).

Frogs (staple food), lizards , fish, rodents, etc. for food (narrow-eating snakes) kind). Eggs are laid between July and August, with 7-14 eggs per spawn. It is widely distributed in Fujian, etc. in China; in Yunnan, it is only distributed in northeastern and eastern Yunnan. The number of people living in the wild has been greatly reduced (habitat destruction, mass hunting) and should be protected.

According to the statistics, the female snake snake accounts for 51% of the male-to-female ratio, the fertilized eggs account for 91.4% of the eggs laid, the natural hatching rate is 64.6%, and the natural survival rate is 30%.

Black SnakeSnakeKnowledge of Feeding

The black snake in traditional Chinese medicine is the dried product of the black snake. Because of its unique food, medicine, and health care effects, the black-headed snake is once again known by people. With the accelerated pace of aging, the number of cerebrovascular, cardiovascular, stroke and hemiplegia patients in my country is increasing substantially. The drug of choice for the treatment of these diseases is the black-headed snake. Therefore, the breeding and breeding of this snake has become a very important issue in our country.

During the active period of the snake, that is, from mid-late April to mid-late October each year, the snake farm (household) should be based on the specific local conditions and the actual situation of feed sources in different seasons. That is, in accordance with local conditions, the nearby materials should be taken to meet the nutritional needs of the snake to the greatest extent possible; and the principle of reducing the cost of feed should be considered, and the snake's appetite should be combined as much as possible, and reasonable selection and matching of feed should be made. The amount of feeding each time should be flexibly controlled according to the age of the snake, gender, individual system status, climate conditions, and the length of the interval between two feedings. If the adult snake has a strong appetite 10 to 15 days before or after spawning, the feeding frequency and amount should be appropriately increased; within 10 to 15 days after hibernation or sting, the snake basically eats Desire, you can reduce the number of feedings and the amount of feeding. The feeding location should be fixed. The best feeding time should be selected from 8:00 am to 10:00 am, and it can also be adjusted in time according to the specific season and the climate of the feeding day. In short, when the group of snakes are dispatched, they should be fed in time. Only on the premise of ensuring that the snakes are full and well fed, can a satisfactory feeding effect be achieved.

Among the large, medium and small pharmaceutical enterprises in the country, Chinese patent medicines with Wushao Snake as the feedstock are constantly coming out. Products such as Huatuo Zaozuo Pills, Papaya Wushe Wine, Jingutong Capsules and other products came into being, and their dosages increased with each passing day. With the growing call for returning to nature, the wind of eating snakes has resurfaced. The emergence of snake powder machines in farmers' markets across the south has led to a sharp increase in the use of black-headed snakes. The amount of wine made with black snakes cannot be underestimated.

Feeding points for black-headed snakes

Black-headed snakes like to eat meat, they are very sensitive to dead animals, and generally do not Eat dead animals, unless they are very hungry, but only eat part of the food, such as those that have just died.

Under the condition of artificial breeding, the black-headed snake is mainly frogs, and the small hybrid Fish, loach, and eel are supplemented. Because the market price of eel is sometimes slightly higher, it is rarely fed during large-scale farming. After not feeding for a long time, it will be found that the black snake has the habit of chasing and preying, mainly to prey on live food, and the black snake is not interested in corrupted things at all. It can swallow small animals several times larger than the head, such as big toads, but the swallowing speed is significantly slowed down, sometimes as long as 15 to 25 minutes. The black-headed snake's food intake is not very large, and it is rare to swallow several frogs at a time. It has a strong digestive ability and needs to be fed once every 4 to 6 days.