Introduction To Snail Production

                       INTRODUCTION TO SNAIL PRODUCTION

Snails are hermaphrodites, they have both male and female sex organs in each snail. However its best you have at list three to four snails per pen for mating
and cross-fertilization to take place.

Sexual maturation in intensively reared snails varies from genus to genus but would focus on two breeds the African giant land snails based on its availability
in Nigeria and economically profitable to want to be snails farmers(breeders).
Snail Breeds;

1, Archachatina marginata.

The giant snail takes over 2 years to attain maturity in the wild but under intensive rearing system which is the cage rearing the sexual maturity has been activated as early as 6 months with wider shell at the posterior end when compared to other breeds, matured adults can weigh up to over 700g.

2, Achatina achatina.

Equipment and Tools needed in snail farming ;

1,  Small weight scale
2,  Watering can
3,  Water tanks
4,  Hand trowel
5,  Water and feeding troughs
6,  Shovel
7,  Hoe,  Cutlass
9,  Plastic buckets
10, Measuring tape
11, Rake
12, Broom

SELECTION OF BREEDING STOCK :

The physical observations could still be used in making a choice;
a, Absence of injury to the shell or flesh of the snails which might permit secondary infection.
b, Avoid poor motility or nonresponse to touch in snails.
c, Drying out of the shell of the snails should be avoided.
d, Incompatible breeds should not be housed together in the same compartment e.g snails with the pink reddish tint at the shell mouth and/or shell cone tip should not be mixed with any other breed.
e, Apparent ill health of the snail are to be avoided.
f, However selection of relatively young ones with about four/five complete whorls of the shell which corresponds approximately with sexual maturity of the snail could be another condition for selecting.

STEPS IN SNAIL REARING :

The most important things to acknowledge and look out for in snails to be kept in a conducive and enabling environment for breeding and choosing the breeding stock which includes some physical observations are as follows ;
-The giant African snail Archachatina Marginata is one of the best breeds to use in West Africa due to its adaptation and large body size at maturity as well as the possible amount of snail meat (Congo meat) derivable from it.
-Do not select snails with broken shells either at the pointed end or the opening.
-Do not drill or choose snails with drilled shell from passing in ropes for carrying, this constitute access openings for various infection agents.
-Ensure that there are no cuts or wounds on the head and foot of snails to be used as breeders, the snail must be lively and active.
-There should be no discolouration, inflammations or dryness of skin as these are possible signs of infection.
-However selection of relatively young ones with about four (4) or five (5) complete whorls of the shell (concentric ring on the shell) which corresponds approximately with the sexual maturity of the snail could be another condition for selection.

SYSTEMS OF PRODUCTION ;

(A) Extension system - In this system snails are put in after food and shelter plants are established which mainly feed on planted materials.

(B) semi intensive system - This system is like the Extensive system except that the snails are supplied with feeds besides what is grown in the snailery.

(C) Intensive system - For this system the snails are only fed with feeds brought to the snailery, examples are in
1, Old motor tyres
2, Drums
3, Old tanks
4, Baskets
5, cages
6, Low fenced pen
7, High fenced pen
8, Well rings eg

HOUSING :
For breeding purpose you have three distinct housing types;

A, The Breeder's House :
   This is the wooden or block framed cage with walls of plastic/iron netting to reduce incidence of insect infestation and a bottom tray that holds moist soil but allow excess water to drain off. It is in this house that snails lay their eggs. Laying eggs having in mind that all snails are hermaphrodites but cross fertilization is essential were at least three snails should be reared at any given time if fertile eggs should be produced, this number takes care of known habits in most sexually matured livestock by exhibiting preferences for certain mating partners and these may not be catered for if only two snails are kept in one pen(snail house) at a particular time and it may result in unfertile eggs.
   Archachatina marginata would lay an average of 5 eggs per clutch when laying has just commenced but this will increase to an average of 8 eggs per snail in older ones. Each egg is about 15-18 mm in length.
   Achatina achatina would lay about 140 for young layers per clutch while for more matures snails they lay about 200 per clutch.
   Egg laying is preferably done some depth into loose soil (8.0cm to 10.0cm) and may last hours for one clutch. There are usually 4 clutches per snail per year.
   It is estimated that each Archachatina maginate snail laying an average of 8 eggs per clutch, 4 times in a year gives 32 eggs on the average per year while for Achatina achatine would be able to play about 150 eggs per clutch 4 times a year totalling 600 in a year.

B, The Incubator or Hatching box :
   This is a simple structure, consisting of a cube or cuboid wooden box whose dimension is roughly 30cm x 30cm x 30cm for the cube,(length x breadth x height). it also has wooden lid and should be filled to a depth of less than 5cm with sandy loam soil. Placing such box off the ground and under some shade but still where indirect heat from the sun can reach it, enables the maintenance of an average soil temperature of 27oc which is the hatching temperature of the snail egg.

Egg Incubation
   Egg incubation can either be Natural, by leaving the eggs at the spot where they are laid or Artificial by transferring the egg to a designated incubator.
   The working principle is having a wooden box or container with loose soil which is capable of maintaining a temperature of about 27oc and 85% moisture on the average. Aeration is important as well as avoiding desiccation for good hatch ability which may be 95 - 100% under good conditions.
 
1) Placement of eggs:- Placing of eggs in the incubation box varies but the suggested approach is drilling method. An object is used to drill a furrow into the soil to a depth of not more than 2.5cm along the length of the box into which eggs are carefully placed side by side, standing upright and when one furrow length is made. However note that once a number of eggs had been placed in the soil i.e one clutch or a day's collection, soft soil should be used to cover the area up immediately leaving the remaining furrow for future use.

2) Duration of Incubation:- This ranges from 28 to 35 days. There may be the need to moisten the soil of the incubator very lightly once or twice weekly to avoid desiccation and early mortality in the shells.

3) Other Operations during incubation:- A tag bearing the number of eggs and date of incubation commenced can be stuck to this furrow for easy record and monitoring of hatching/hatch ability. From the 25th day the farmer can start visiting to see if any young snail could be observed on the soil top. As from the 30th day, the farmer could start probing carefully with a blunt spatula into the soil for those probably trapped within. This is to help them out and they can be left on the top of the soil for the first 4 - 5 days before being transfered into the next house, the Brooder cage. The air entering the incubator through the crevices or joints should be adequate for good hatch ability to occur.

C, Brooder Cage:
   This is another wooden cage of smaller size than the Rearing cage. It has five of the sex sides completely closed (the 4 sides and top) while about three tiny holes or slits are drilled into the side wall to allow for aeration but these should not allow the young snails to pass through. This is referred to as the brooder cage.
   The lid could be one or two, if two the innermost one is of plastic netting on a wooden frame for day time aeration. It is always closed except when working on the snail Penn.
   The outer one is entirely wooden and is usually closed on top of the netted lid at nights, or whenever it is too cold, windy or raining.

CARE OF THE NEWLY HATCHED SNAIL
At the point when the snail emerges from the egg shell which it ingests from within outwards, its body shell is usually very tender and almost transparent and needs to be handled with care so as not to crush the new snail shell and kill it.
In this context too,it is believed that the slime of the older snails as well as their requirement for calcium may make them destroy the young snails hence it is advised that these 2 categories be separated at this stage to avoid losses. It is further advised that young snails should stay in their separate brooder Penn/cage for about 3 months before transferring tp the rearing Penn or cage.
The size of the hatching is related to the egg size and the Archachatina marginata's young hatchlings would be about 2.1 cm with a weekly weight gain of about 0.8g.
There is not much difference between the breeding/rearing Penn's except that as much as possible exposure to cold environment should be limited. Stocking density could be twice that of breeders to achieve brooding condition.

Feeding
The same feeds as for adults could be provided in the brooding area but the requirements for calcium and protein are much higher during brooding and must be made
available probably in flat containers so as to monitor the rate of uptakes and frequency required to replenish these sources. The crude protein level  suggested
for the young hatchlings is 22 - 25%
Examples of feeds are;-
i,    Leaves based feed. eg pawpaw,okro,cabbage,lettuces,plantain,banana,cocoyam,cassava etc
ii,   Fruits based feed. eg pawpaw,mango,banana,plantain,pineapple,coconut,orange,melon etc
iii,  Tubers. eg cocoyam,sweet potato,cassava,yam etc
iv,   Flowers. eg sunflower,pawpaw etc
v,    Grains.
vi,   Industrial by-products. eg wheat offal,rice bran,maize bran etc
vii,  House hold wastes. eg banana and plantain peel,cooked rice & beans,fufu,eko(pap) etc
viii, Compounded Ration. eg groundnut cake,soy-bean meal,fish meal,bone meal,palm kernel cake etc