Crocodile farming can be a profitable business venture. The reptiles are raised for their hide and meat. One benefit in raising crocodiles, they are sturdy creatures and not prone to illness. They can be housed in a concrete pen with provision for bathing.
Up to four years, you can house one hundred crocodiles in a one hundred square meters space. Beyond that you have to double the area. They are fed on meat and fish. The best time to harvest crocodiles for their meat and hide is when they are four to five years old.
By this time they would be weighing thirty to forty kilos each. When sold live they can fetch 25,000 in Philippine peso (US $560). The raw skin can command a price of 15,000 pesos (US $340).
However, when the hide is processed and made into shoes, bags, belts, purses and the likes, the value of these items from the hide of just one crocodile can amount to 75,000 pesos (US $1670).
World market price of crocodile leather can fetch up at US $12 per square centimeter. Buyer of crocodile leather are mostly from European countries.
Crocodile meat is a gourmet food in Japan. The choice cuts are just like beef tenderloin and the meat has its health advantage for having no cholesterol.
Crocodiles start breeding and laying eggs when they are nine years old. The reptiles usually lay their eggs once a year from months of March to September.
Their eggs are oblong in shape with hard shell, weighing about 140 grams each. They usually lay about forty to sixty eggs in a season. Once their eggs incubated they are hatched after ninety days.
