China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Frog lover turns passion into a promising business
Former opera singer sets up lucrative pet breeding base containing dozens of species
While millions of Chinese have recently become obsessed with a mobile game about a traveling frog, a man in Chongqing has been raising amphibians as pets for years — and has turned his hobby into a promising business.
Li Shu, 31, used to be a Sichuan Opera singer and owned a dance club. But he loved collecting weird things, and in 2006, he bought an ornate horned frog at a pet market.
The species — known as a Pacman frog for its resemblance to the video game character — is one of the largest frogs people can purchase as a pet. Native to subtropical regions in Brazil and Argentina, this nocturnal frog typically lives for seven to 10 years.
“I had never seen a frog with such beautiful colors,” Li said. “My life changed then, and now it’s all about my frogs.”
Like the Travel Frog game players who worry about their “tadpoles” every day, Li was besotted with the little creature and would check on it throughout the day to see its growth.
He began to collect more pet frogs, too. Some unique species cost tens of thousands of yuan, and he estimates he has spent nearly 1 million yuan ($158,000) on his hobby.
Li discovered that no one in China had the technology or experience to breed pet frogs and that all the horned frogs in the country were imported. So, without any related background, he had the bold idea to breed them domestically.
He spent all his time in research and even sold his dance club, which he had run for seven years.
“I was just a newcomer in China’s amphibian fan circles at that time, but I love frogs so much,” he said. “I wanted to make a difference.”
Li built a frog farm in suburban Chongqing and started his breeding project. There were no reference books to consult, and he had to do everything on his own.
Every day, dressed in a white coat, he feeds and washes the frogs, and records their activities to find out the proper ways to breed them.
In the winter of 2013, an infectious disease killed more than 200 frogs at the farm and only 20 survived, which was a huge blow to Li’s research. “I was heartbroken. All my efforts were in vain,” he said.
Though he had debts of more than 600,000 yuan at the time, Li did not give up. In 2015, after countless setbacks, he became the first person in China to breed horned frogs. “I did it. It was unbelievable,” he said.
Now his farm is the country’s largest frog breeding base with dozens of species. Some unique ones sell for as much as 10,000 yuan. In peak seasons, the monthly revenue of the farm reaches 1 million yuan.
“Chinese frog lovers don’t need to buy imported frogs anymore,” Li said, adding that he now plans to build a breeding base.
“I want to develop some new species and make a contribution to conservation.”