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DIYARBAKIR, Turkey - A Kurdish former construction worker in Turkey’s southeastern Kurdish province of Diyarbakir (Amed) has started his own scorpion farm to extract valuable venom from the arachnids for commercial use.
Evdila Fidanten, 36, opened the facility in Diyarbakir’s Lice district in 2023 after acquiring an initial 400 scorpions from a lab in the southern Sanliurfa (Riha) province. That number has now risen to 3,000, with plans to significantly increase it to 50,000.
“I was fascinated by the scorpions as they have been used as a source of medicine to heal diseases,” Fidanten told Rudaw on Monday, adding that he turned his interest into a growing business. The demand for Androctonus Turkiyensis - the local scorpion species – led him to open a farm after obtaining permission.
Using tweezers and tongs, he carefully removes the scorpions from their boxes and waits for them to release a tiny drop of venom from their stingers into a container.
“We milk our scorpions once a month to collect their venom. We extract 0.2 milligrams of venom from one scorpion. To obtain one gram of venom, we need to milk 300 to 350 scorpions. We collect 8 to 10 grams of venom per month,” Fidanten said.
He then sends the venom to labs, where it is frozen and processed into powder before being exported. Fidanten said the substance is used internationally in the production of cosmetics, painkillers, and antibiotics.
Evdila Fidanten, 36, opened the facility in Diyarbakir’s Lice district in 2023 after acquiring an initial 400 scorpions from a lab in the southern Sanliurfa (Riha) province. That number has now risen to 3,000, with plans to significantly increase it to 50,000.
“I was fascinated by the scorpions as they have been used as a source of medicine to heal diseases,” Fidanten told Rudaw on Monday, adding that he turned his interest into a growing business. The demand for Androctonus Turkiyensis - the local scorpion species – led him to open a farm after obtaining permission.
Using tweezers and tongs, he carefully removes the scorpions from their boxes and waits for them to release a tiny drop of venom from their stingers into a container.
“We milk our scorpions once a month to collect their venom. We extract 0.2 milligrams of venom from one scorpion. To obtain one gram of venom, we need to milk 300 to 350 scorpions. We collect 8 to 10 grams of venom per month,” Fidanten said.
He then sends the venom to labs, where it is frozen and processed into powder before being exported. Fidanten said the substance is used internationally in the production of cosmetics, painkillers, and antibiotics.
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