"A Snake is a Steak" - Raising Pythons for Protein

Old survival manuals used to say "a snake is a steak" -- a food source that shouldn't be ignored just because it's unusual. "Tastes like chicken!" etc.

It 's been suggested that big snakes have incredibly efficient metabolisms and are many times more efficient at turning inputs into protein compared to pigs/cattle. None of them are vegetarian though, as far as I know, so I suppose this means raising critters to feed them. The article suggests feeding waste protein "sausages" from other processes.

https://nationalpost.com/news/science/snakes-on-a-plate-scientists-recommend-python-as-a-food-source

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-54874-4

What do you think? BBQ whole? Snake soup? Snakeburgers?

Woo, back at it again with a 'special' interest that is only useful in very specific situations!

I used to keep and breed ball pythons way back in the day when I was a teenager. I had very supportive parents (except the whole keeping frozen mice in the freezer) but I would think that you might have some issues with the scale of captivity.

First off, many pythons right out of the bat can be finicky eaters. They want to see movement and 'see' the heat radiating off of a living creatures to entice them to strike/eat. Keepers of snakes usually will try to feed frozen mice because they can be purchased at a reasonable price and are easier to keep than the living alternative both in a cost and space consideration. I've had picky eaters that required being duped by other smells being rubbed on the prey item. I can only imagine imitation protein would fun into these challenges. I'm assuming they would have to 'encourage' the feeding via a sort of force feeding where they place the food item in their jaws after opening their mouth but that is very stressful on the animal. Python farms just sound.... challenging?

The next thing is that snakes are not group creatures.  They are solitary and only meet up to either breed or hunt each other. Kingsnakes come to mind as a snake that will hunt down other snakes.

I'm much different than I was back then, and I appreciate the hobby and the lessons that I learned from it. I just am skeptical of a humane way of ranching pythons.

Rattlesnake however does taste good, had that once. Not necessarily a steak however!

Haha, I agree, impractical. Just posted this because I thought it was amusing and might liven up the joint!

The only way I can envision responsible snake meat is to hunt them where they are an invasive, introduced species. And then cook 'em up.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:The only way I can envision responsible snake meat is to hunt them where they are an invasive, introduced species. And then cook 'em up.

From the disease spreading and efficiency perspective, humans are generally encouraged to eat animals that eat things that humans can't eat, and are predominantly herbivores or insectivores. From the permaculture perspective, I'd be aiming for stacking functions. So if I had an industry that attracted large numbers of rats and mice and snakes were part of the management team, I could see an oversupply as potential food, but more a byproduct than the focus.

I can also see if you have an industry that attracts predatory snakes that hurt your business, humane culling and upcycling for food and snakeskin may also be appropriate.

The invasive species thing is a big issue in Florida. Non-native snakes are killing many native species which are already struggling. People are encouraged to harvest them, and there's no "bag limit" however, even then, the one rule being enforced is "must be killed humanely".