AdewebsSnail farming, also known as “heliciculture” or “heliculture,” is the practice of rearing snails. In Nigeria, snail business is a profitable and essential economic activity, however, only a handful of individuals are benefiting from it.
So, what are the steps to starting a snail farm in Nigeria? You must choose a farming location, obtain your preferred snail breed, set up the snail farm, treat the soil, obtain snail feeds, stock your snails, manage your snails, mulch, and harvest.
If you want to start snail rearing in Nigeria but don’t know where to start, you’ve come to the right place.
How To Start Snail Farming In Nigeria [Beginners Guide]
Snail farming activity in Nigeria is on the rise, and efforts are being made to improve the venture. Nigerians are showing interest in the venture, which has brought it to the forefront.
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Step 1: Choose a Farming Location
Farmers can practice snail farming anywhere in South Africa. Snail farms are similar to poultry farms rather than plant farms. However, there are some factors to consider when looking for a location. The climate should be mild, with temperatures ranging from 15°C to 25°C and humidity levels ranging from 75% to 95%.
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Furthermore, the wind level should be moderate; windy areas should be avoided because snails like to retain moisture unless you make provisions to prevent excess wind from reaching your snails.
Step 2: Get Your Favorite Snail Breed
Several snail breed species are available for purchase and farming in the market. Snail breeds differ in size, breeding cycles, cost, as well as taste. Choose your snail breed based on your intended consumers or customers. To purchase your snail breed, you should go to a well-known snail farm.
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Step 3: Establish the Snail Farm
Now that you’ve purchased your snail farm, it is now time to start the farm. Many materials will be required to set up the farm and make it suitable for snail farming.
There are various types of snail houses that you can build. The snail pen, hutch box, and free range pen are all available.
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The pen should be filled with high-quality loamy soil, which is neither too loose nor too dense like sandy soil or clay soil. It also has components and chemical substances that are beneficial to snail survival.
Step 4: Soil Preparation
You must treat the soil in your snail pen before stocking the snails. Soil treatment is an ongoing process. It would be best if you treated the ground every six months to prevent contamination and disease spread.
Step 5: Stock your Snail
It’s time to populate your farm with snails (snail pen). The capacity of the snail farm determines the stocking density. Importantly, don’t overstock the snails into a pen but try to maintain adequate stocking density.
Step 6: Managing Snails
Stocking your snails is just the beginning; you also need to take care of them to keep them healthy, moisturized, and protected from predators like rats, soldier ants, and millipedes.
For this reason, you must construct a snail pen to safeguard your snails. To keep the snails alive and healthy, it is also important to water the soil, treat it, and remove any dead or decaying snails and food.
Also, Snails are herbivorous, as such they feed on plants. The best thing to feed them is vegetables or tender leaves and shoots; toxic or hairy plants should be avoided.
Step 7: Mulching
Mulching is a crucial task that must be done in snail farming, just like it is in plant farming. Mulching should be done to protect the soil’s moisture and the snails from the cold. Using fresh/dried leaves or vegetables shredded to cover the top layer of soil in a pen is the best way to mulch the soil.
Step 8: Harvesting is step nine.
Your snails’ activity level and feeding rate may change significantly as you continue feeding, managing your snail population, and mulching.
As a result, they will eventually grow larger and grow faster, producing a quick harvest that will bring in more money.
Depending on the breed and how well you care for them, snails can typically be harvested between the ages of 7 and 12 months. It’s interesting to note that snails can be gathered year-round.
What Do I Need To Start A Snail Farm?
Depending on the kind of snail farming system you choose, you may need to start with free-range pens, mobile pens, mini paddock pens, trench pens, hatch boxes, mosquito nets, concrete blocks, soil as well as other items. Sprinkler systems and humidifiers may also be needed for climate management.
How Much Do Snail Farmers Make In Nigeria?
Snail farming is undoubtedly a profitable business that might earn you between 200,000 Naira and 300,000 Naira per month.
How Many Months Does It Take A Snail To Mature?
The target market and purpose for raising snails will determine the maturity of the snails. Snails raised for home consumption typically take six months to grow, but snails raised for market sale often take eight months to reach the appropriate marketable size.
How Much Is A Snail In Nigeria?
The cost of a medium-sized snail ranges from 450 to 800 Naira, depending on size.
What Food Makes Snails Grow Faster?
Foods that are rich in protein and calcium aid growth processes in snails. An example is a moringa.
How Long Does It Take A Snail To Mature In Nigeria?
In Nigeria, it takes snails about two years to grow into maturity and be ready for marketability.
How Long Does It Take To Train Snail?
The time it takes to train a snail depends strongly on the type of specie, as well as the rearing condition. However, it normally takes two to three years for most snail species to reach maturity.
Which Snail Is The Best To Rear In Nigeria?
The best snails for farming in Nigeria are Achatina Achatina and Archachatina Marginata. The gigantic Ghana snail, sometimes known as the large tiger land snail, is scientifically known as Achatina Achatina. Both male and female reproductive organs are present in the enormous Ghana snails.
What Are The Disadvantages Of Snail Farming?
The fact that snails develop very slowly is the main drawback of snail farming. Consequently, cultivating snails is not a quick method to get rich!
How Many Times Do Snails Lay Eggs In A Year?
The quantity of eggs laid by snails in a year is determined by the snail species, feeding, and weather conditions. Snails can breed up to once a month, and each snail can lay 430 eggs every year.
Do Snails Eat Their Babies?
There is currently no definitive answer to this question. However, it is quite strange for adult snails to eat their babies
At What Age Do Snails Lay Eggs?
Most snails are hermaphrodites, meaning male and female reproductive organs are found in the majority of snails. From findings, snails are capable of reproducing when they are 1-year-old.
How Profitable Is Snail Farming?
Snail farming is a profitable business that you may start and sell to customers on your own. If done correctly, you can expect to make a good living from your business.
In terms of cost and time, snail farming is a low-risk and successful operation, unlike many other livestock enterprises.
What Are The Challenges Of Snail Farming?
The challenges of snail farming include weather and climate conditions, infrastructural development, limited snail farming resources, infections, diseases and parasites, and predators.
What Soil Is Best For Snails?
Snails thrive on sandy-loamy soil. According to a study, the Sandy-loamy soil is not water-logged, dry, or acidic.
How To Start Snail Farming At Home
To begin home snail farming, you must first construct a snail house (pen), obtain the suitable snail species, feed the snail, care for your snail, and harvest when they are mature.
The Secret Of Snail Farming
The Hatchability and Morphometric Growth Rate under appropriate feeding conditions are the keys to successful snail farming.
Problems Of Snail Farming In Nigeria
There are difficulties in any endeavor. Consequently, the difficulties faced in Nigerian snail farming include:
- Climate and weather conditions
- Agrochemicals such as pesticides, fertilizers, and others
- Development of Infrastructure
- Limited resource
- Bush Burning
- Defective snail pen
- Infections, diseases, and parasites
- Predators
Snail Farming for Beginners PDF
This Snail Farming for beginners PDF is written for beginners with no prior knowledge of snail farming. It is intended to make snails more appealing to the home gardener and provide you with the basic practices and equipment you’ll need to keep your snails healthy, while they breed and multiply.
Snail farming is a lucrative business. Snail supply will continue to increase as demand grows, and people are also interested in eating them. There are numerous ways to make money from snail farming. If you want to start snail farming, there are snail farming PDF materials that you can read through to acquire comprehensive knowledge of the trade.
Snail Farming House
The houses used for farming snails come in various varieties. Your choice will depend on the size of your farm and the type of snail farming system you want to use.
To set up the farm and make it suitable for farming snails, you will need to purchase a lot of materials. The various styles of snail farming homes include:
Snail Pen
The farm’s snails are housed and raised in a snail pen. Depending on your preference and financial capacity, various sizes and designs of snail pens are available.
Concrete Pen
Concrete blocks are used to construct this kind of pen. The pen can be raised 40 to 50 cm above the ground or dug into the ground.
Hutch Box
The hutch box is yet another popular type of snail pen. This pen type has wooden boxes with lids that are square or rectangular and have one or more chambers. The hutch box is covered by a lid made of wire netting or nylon mesh. When finished, hutch boxes can either be planted in the ground or left to stand on their own.
Free-range Pen
This kind of pen mimics the snails’ natural habitat by having vegetables grown and shelter structures constructed on the farm. The finest snail house to construct if you’re planning to engage in extensive commercial production is this one.
The amount of snails kept in each of the pens affects their size.
Snail Farming with Tyres
If you are looking to start snail farming with little cost or small-scale farming, you can make use of used car tires to cut the expenses of building a snail house. Typically, car tires can hold three to six snails, however, it depends on their size. Five to ten mature snails can fit into tires with a greater diameter.
Where To Buy Cheap Snails In Nigeria
There are different snail farms, animal stores, and shops, as well as online vendors in Nigeria where you can purchase edible jumbo snails for food or breeder point of lay snails for farming at discount prices.
How Profitable Is Snail Farming?
Snail farming has a large profit margin. A single snail can be sold for as much as 500 to 1000 Naira depending on the size of the snail.
Conclusion
I hope you find this informative piece helpful. We have compiled all the necessary information that will help you establish a successful snail farm. Ensure you read through and stick to the guidelines for optimal results.
