A young Chinese woman who went back to her home village is earning more than 1 million yuan a year by rearing over 60,000 venomous snakes, about Tk 1 crore 79 lakh 8,360 in Bangladeshi money. Her unusual venture has created a stir online.

The woman, surnamed Qin, was born in 1995 and lives in the Guilin area of Guangxi in southern China. Two years after graduating from university, she returned to her village and began helping her father rear snakes.

She now looks after more than 60,000 reptiles, including over 50,000 "five-step" snakes, a highly venomous pit viper species, and about 10,000 cobras.

Qin said her father had at first objected to her entering the trade because he thought it too risky. But as the farm grew and became hard to manage alone, he finally brought his daughter in to help.

"The five-step snakes have to be force-fed prepared food, and being close to them is still very risky," Qin said. "But I am not really very afraid of these snakes. My father has been rearing them since before I was born."

In an interview with Haibao News, she said dried snake, snake gall bladders and snake oil are used in traditional medicine, while snake venom is used in medical research.

Venom can now be collected twice a month from each five-step snake. Depending on quality, it sells for 40 to 200 yuan a gram (about $6 to $30). Snake meat sells for 200 to 300 yuan a piece, and a large snake can fetch more than 1,000 yuan (about $150). (The report used an exchange rate of $1 = Tk 122.66 as of 20 April 2026.)

She said the business can earn more than 1 million yuan a year after labour and other costs.

Qin shares her experience and practical knowledge of snake farming online as "The Girl Who Collects Snake Venom", and has more than 22,000 followers.

In her videos she often answers one question: are snake farmers not afraid of being bitten? She describes the pain of a snakebite in detail.

"If someone says they are not afraid of a snakebite, there is only one reason: they have never been bitten," Qin said. The main symptom of a five-step snake bite is severe pain, she said, and once felt, it is remembered for a year or even a lifetime.

"You may think that if you are bitten on the hand, only the hand will hurt. In reality the pain can spread to your arm, your shoulder and even half your body," she said. One of her followers said the pain of a five-step bite was so unbearable that he would rather lose a limb than go through it again. Her account has astonished many Chinese internet users.

One commented: "Not everyone can earn this money. I thought it was a harmless snake. Then I looked closely and realised it was a five-step snake." Another said: "Respect. I feel uneasy just seeing a snake. Qin is truly brave and deserves this income."

The report cites the South China Morning Post.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.