SNAIL FARMING

The process or practice of rearing snail is known as Heliciculture or simply Heliculture. It involves raising of land snails for human consumption or using the snail's shell for various use both domestically and traditionally. They are hermaphrodites I.e there isn't a separate male and a separate female. I remember while I was young, I used to think a particular type of snail is the male while the other type is the female, I never knew they were all the same, they just differ in specie.

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Every snail has its male and female reproductive organ, although they have both the make and the female reproductive organ, they still necessarily mate with other snails of the same species before they can produce eggs. A particular snail might act a male this season and act as a female in subsequent seasons and vice versa.

Its funny but snails spend several hours courting which after they might have been matured which takes several years, they can store sperm cells for up to a year but lay their eggs in just a few weeks. Hatching their eggs depends strongly on their environment which includes soil temperature, soil composition, moisture content of the soil and also the hardness of the soil.

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Dry soils are not fit for rearing snails, its takes a snail about 1 or approximately 2 days to lay about 30-50 eggs.

Factors To Be Considered In Snail Farming

• Climate
  Snails prefer considerable cool environments with relatively high humidity. Wind is not so good for snails because it enhances moisture loss and snails must retain their moisture.

• Moisture
  Snails enjoy dampy areas but not areas that are water logged, so the moisture content of their environment should be kept at an approximate value of 80%.

• Soils
  They live better on soft moisturised soils, they even ingest these soil's particles. Good and rich soils favor their growth because of the nutrient it contains.

The pH of the soil must be neutral I.e it must be around 7, a pH lesser than this makes the soil become acidic which is detrimental to the health of the snail, like wise a pH higher than 7 makes the soil basic, which is also not good for the snail's health. The soils they inhabitate must also be rich in calcium.

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Baby snails can be fed on lettuce leaves while matured snails can feed on other juicy leaves such as; pawpaw leaves, barley, carrot, cabbage, pumpkins etc.

-Diseases and Pests
A good environment harnesses hood hygiene for the snails preventing them from the spread and contamination of diseases and this also improves the health and growth of the snail.

Economic Importance of Snails

• Snails are good sources of protein, they van be prepared in diverse ways for several delicacies, they can be boiled, roasted or some persons prefer it being fried with pepper.
  
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• Snail shells can be used traditionally or domestically for making traditional medications and scrubbing powder for washing and cleaning of kitchens utensils and other wares.

• Snail liquid extract are used to make face cleansers and other skin treatment creams.

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