Snakes on a plate – scientists tout pythons as food of the future

Would you eat snakes?

That might be the future, after researchers suggested python meat could provide a more sustainable alternative to other farmed meats.

The reason? They grow rapidly, and need much less food than other livestock animals.

Presumably they also fart less than cows too.

Dr Daniel Natusch and colleagues studied the growth rates of 4,601 reticulated (Malayopython reticulatus) and Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) at two snake farms based in Uttaradit Province in Thailand and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. 

The pythons were fed a range of local proteins, such as wild-caught rodents and fishmeal, on a weekly basis and measured and weighed over a weekly basis for 12 months. 

They found that both species of python grew rapidly, by up to 46g per day, and females had even higher growth rates than males – with the snake’s growth rate in its first two months being the best predictor of body size later in life.

The researchers then looked at a range of different protein sources, including chicken, pork-waste products, rodents and fishmeal, among a smaller subset of 58 Burmese pythons at the Ho Chi Minh farm, and found that for every 4.1g of food consumed, 1g of python meat could be harvested. 

The lower quantity of food was also attributed to the Burmese pythons fasting for periods of between 20 and 127 days – during which time they lost very little body mass.

As agriculture systems struggle with environmental and population pressures, cold-blooded animals like snakes, fish and insects are growing in popularity in some Asian countries. 

These cold-blooded animals are more energy-efficient than warm-blooded animals such as cattle or poultry, and are suggested to be a good alternative to some meats. 

The findings suggest that commercial python farming could be a feasible and sustainable food production option that could complement existing livestock systems, according to the authors.

The authors say that further research should look into the most effective and humane way to raise snakes as livestock animals, and that there is potential for the reptile to be farmed on an industrial scale with a lower environmental impact than traditional meat production.

However, they did not comment on the taste of python meat.

The study is published in Scientific reports.