Snail farming: the best way to start your business

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The maintenance of huge snail land is available today as to the people who are professionally interested in mollusks and are their fans. At correctly chosen conditions of snail farming, huge African snails live about one decade and in many respects are ideal pets.

All huge African snails are a part of quite large Archachatinidae family including several kinds, and the sort Limicolaria. There are two kinds of real huge land snails – Archachatina and Achatina, in which there are over 60 different types.

Snail farming in Nigeria: How to start your business?

How to set up a snail farm?

Does it matter what species of snails to farm as the pet? Most likely, no. Conditions of keeping for all of them are very similar. So what is it necessary to know to start snail farming in Nigeria?

These are the basic rules of snail farming for beginners:

Container – the place for indoor snail farming

The aquarium or a terrarium of glass or plastic will become the suitable house for snails. They are available for snail farming at home. It is necessary to consider that one snail needs not less than 3 liters in volume. If you plan to have many snails for business, then you have to multiply this amount by a number of snails. Of course, sometimes it’s hard to find such big terrariums in the sale. The terrarium surely has to have a cover with openings.

Snail farming equipment

Substratum. Snails prefer to bury themselves down, especially in the afternoon. Therefore, at the bottom of a terrarium there has to be a substratum layer. It can be various. Some people believe that the best decision is flower compost without the fertilizers or peat. It is better not to pour the crude peat. It will create too acidic environment. Anyway, you will face esthetic problems. The substratum has to be constantly damp, otherwise, snails humidify it due to the release of own slime. As a result, after a while, you will be able to watch the pets smeared in dirt through the soiled glass. It is impossible to use clay or fatty loam as a substratum. It is better to avoid pieces of bark and easily decaying wood. The simplest decision will be to fill friable sand instead of peat, or to replace it with the shell of filbert or a core of walnuts.

Sand pluses: it is one of the native habitats of the African giant snail. They feel comfortable in it. Minuses: having soiled in damp sand, snails transfer it on all parts of a body while creeping on terrarium walls, and scratch thereby glass and sinks of neighbors, leave a lot of dirt. But sand availability is better than something else, and it stimulates snails to breed and leave eggs. Pluses of an organic substratum (nuts): snails aren’t scratched about it, can even eat away something from it, and are practically not soiled. Minuses: it isn’t so attractive to reproduction. Water accumulates at the bottom of a terrarium and stays there that together with unfinished pieces of food provokes reproduction of flies and similar insects. They are harmless for snails but have a habit to go out from a terrarium and to lodge in the apartment. Generally, whatever substratum you wouldn’t choose, its layer has to be not less than four centimeters in height.

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Snail farming in Nigeria: How to start your business?

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Conditions for snail rearing

• Cleaning of a terrarium. At least, terrarium needs to be washed in 1.5-3 months, replacing a substratum in it. Otherwise, because of accumulation of waste products from a container will begin to smell unpleasant and its walls will become covered by a thick layer of the slime left by creeping snails.

• Lighting. It is optional to install any sources of lighting in a terrarium. The intensity of light doesn’t play a special role in the life of snails. Only basic day-night change does as they are active at night and this is important for them. In the afternoon they prefer to bury down and almost don’t eat. Lighting can help only if you want to see pets better or in a terrarium, where the plants needing light are planted. Anyway, light has to be taken out for container limits.

• Temperature. Everything depends on how warm your place is as African snails are only tropical inhabitants and prefer an interval of 20…28°C. It is impossible to put a terrarium with snails near heating devices or under direct sunshine as it will create the unacceptable contrast of temperatures.

Snail farming in Nigeria: How to start your business?

Snail farming business plan

• So how to rear snails? At first, think about feeding. Large adult snails can be fed one time in several days, but small species need food every day. The African snails are vegetarians. As all of them prefer different products, it is difficult to advise something specific.

• Anyway, an integral part of a diet is green salad, cucumbers, and apples. It is possible to add fresh, not bitter foliage of trees to food. Spinach, vegetable marrows, corn, avocado, mango, berries, a papaya, a melon, watermelon crusts with pulp, bananas are on the second place. A snail can strongly fall in love in these products but can ignore them completely. Sometimes it is possible to indulge snails with oranges or grapes, but it is better not to do it often. The majority of snails don’t pay attention to potatoes, cabbage or carrots. For replenishment of a diet with carbohydrates, it is possible to use oat flakes, bran, dry fresh cookies or bread of firm grades of wheat.

• Nutritional supplements. For the good growth of a sink, snails need a source of a carbonate of calcium and vitamins. In a terrarium, there has to be a piece of chalk or a grated egg shell. It is interesting that snails ignore calcium, received in the chemical way (not natural). Vitamin and mineral mixes can be bought in a pet-shop. The complexes recommended for reptiles will be suitable for snails.

• Water. Along with food at a container, there has to be a container with water. If your snails are absolutely small, it is better to pour water in something small; otherwise, they can drown. Also, it is recommended to spray a substratum and walls of a terrarium regularly without fanaticism. In general, huge snails love water very much as it is necessary for them for slime secretion. It is possible and necessary to bathe them sometimes – sitting at the bottom of a sink or a bathroom, snails reach for a water stream.

Snail farming in Nigeria: How to start your business?

Reproduction in snail

As snails are hermaphrodites. The eggs are laid by each animal. Huge snails breed more intensively – about 160 eggs a year, while usual grape snails do only 60. If the decision to breed only grape snails was made, then about eight hundred animals will be required (large snails are appreciated especially expensive, but it is possible to buy all batch much cheaper wholesale). Each snail will cost you about 2 times more expensive (wholesale purchase of uterine tribes are preferable), but only 200 individuals are necessary here. The weight of grape snails averages 50 grams, Achatina – 70. So, it is better to take them by weight at professional breeders of such animals. People, who have snails as pets, will ask money for every piece. At the same time, they will offer not big parties. However, among traders, there are many persons interested to give the received posterity for nothing as animals just couldn’t be dealt in big amounts, but such way of receiving the tribe isn’t perspective. They will give often young snails that still need to grow, slowly eating costly food within a year.

Health benefits of snail

• Except for esthetic pleasure of these animals, they are also successfully used for the cosmetic purposes. Their slime promotes fast healing of wounds. At massage by means of snails skin rejuvenates and tightens, becomes freshen, and wrinkles are smoothed.

• Slime of snails is applied at treatment of diseases of nasal ways (at bronchitis),

• Thanks to the antibacterial properties, slime of these mollusks is included in the structure of a set of cosmetics.

• Slime of a snail is capable of forming the protective membrane passing air, but impervious to moisture.

• Slime has the excellent regenerating properties. It can be applied not only to the treatment of scratches, but also warts and burns.

• Slime of snails doesn’t cause an allergy.

Snail farming in Nigeria: How to start your business?

• Recent researches have shown that there are substances in snails having the anesthetizing effect.

• Thanks to the use of meat of snails it is possible to get rid of gastric diseases.

• Snails contain a large amount of magnesium, which calms the nervous system and promotes resistance to stresses.

• Snails are one of the most powerful aphrodisiac.

• People make the special extract of snails, which is able to help to keep cheerfulness of the person in an extreme situation even in the absence of food. Production of one such dose requires about 1000 individuals of snails.

• The meat of snails is recommended at diseases of a liver and obesity as it doesn’t contain fat.

Conclusion

As you see, snail business is a difficult process. Snails grow up at least in a year, therefore, it is worth stocking up with patience. However, you will be able to receive the excellent result in the form of the fine income and advantage for health.

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