In a warehouse in the lush, humid farmlands of central Thailand, thousands of pythons lie coiled in containers, rearing and striking at the glass as people pass by. These snakes are raised for their robust, diamond-patterned skins, which are sold to high-end European fashion houses for belts, bags, and handbags. However, some scientists and industry insiders believe the snakes’ true value could lie in their meat.
Demand for meat is growing globally, despite the carbon footprint associated with traditional livestock. While a plant-based diet is often touted as the best alternative, some feel reptiles have been overlooked as an option. Snakes can tolerate high temperatures and drought, reproduce quickly, and grow far faster than traditional sources of animal protein while consuming much less food.
Researchers estimate that China and Vietnam alone have at least 4,000 python farms, producing several million snakes, mostly for the fashion industry. “Python farming may offer a flexible and efficient response to global food insecurity,” concluded a study published earlier this year in the journal Nature. The researchers spent a year studying nearly 5,000 reticulated and Burmese pythons at two commercial farms in Vietnam and Thailand.
“They can survive for months on end with no food at all and no water, and literally they won’t lose condition at all,” said Patrick Aust, director of the African Institute of Applied Herpetology and one of the scientists involved in the study. The pythons were fed waste chicken and wild-caught rodents, offering a more efficient feed-to-meat ratio than poultry, beef, and even crickets. They also reproduce rapidly, with female pythons laying between 50 and 100 eggs annually.
