Luo Zhonglin, 35, of Dafang County in China’s Guizhou Province, has been eating live snakes and centipedes which he has done for 23 years. His bizarre eating habits, which began when he was just a small boy, have now grown into a full-blown obsession.
Luo ritualistically puts his hands into a net sling and takes out a curled-up snake about 50 centimeters long and as thick as a thumb. He then pins the snake’s head down in one hand and holds the tail in the other hand. Afterwards, he bites the snake’s head off with his teeth and shucks off the skin.
Eventually, he begins to eat the snake’s body with relish. About five minutes later, the snake has been completely devoured. Luo recently stunned visitors with this startling display.
One snake was not enough to fill Luo’s atypical appetite, so he looked around in an unused space near his restaurant and caught two 10-centimeter-long centipedes for dessert. He put the centipedes into his mouth and began to chew again after cutting off their heads.
He said that he began eating live snakes and centipedes when he was 12 years old and he has been doing it for 23 years. Luo was very fearless and unique when he was young. He wanted to catch and eat snakes and centipedes once he saw them in the village or on the mountains.
Luo has been bitten by snakes and centipedes many times when trying to catch them over the years.
“I have never been poisoned as a result of eating them. My body is very strong because of eating live snakes and centipedes and I have not been ill for many years. I am now addicted to eating live snakes and centipedes,” Luo said.