• .

SNAIL PRODUCTION
-

TECHNIQUES IN NIGERIA

Extension Bulletin No. 108

Forestry Series No.12
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
Acknowledgement ... .3
Introduction .4
Snail Farming System .4
Requirement Before Starting .4
Selection of Site .... .. 5
Choice of Breeding .... .. 6
Types of Snails Farm ...... 8
Construction of A Snail Pen (Snailery) ... 9
Introduction of Snails into Pen .. 13
Feeds and Feeding of Snails ... .. 14
Taking care of the Snails ... .. 15
Causes of Mortality in Snails .... 16
HaNesting Snails .... 16
Economics of Snail Production .18
Summary and conclusion ................................................... .......21
Bibliography... ...... .. ......... ..... .. .............. .... .. .. ......... .... ... 22

1
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors wish to gratefully acknowledge the immense

help got from the following during the preparation of this
bulletin:-
*Federal University of Technology, Owerri
*Federal University of Agriculture, Umudike
*Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria, Benin; and
*FAO Publication on Snail Farming (Rome) .

Chris Chinaka and E. K. Wilson.

(1995) .

2
 INTRODUCTION:
Snail meat commonly known as "Congo meat" is one
of the most popular delicacies in Nigeria. Snails are one of
the commonest sources of animal protein in Southern Nige-
ria where the ecosystem favours their continued existence.
The meat is high in protein (12 - 16%) and Iron (45- 50
mg/kg); low in fat (0.05- 0.08%) and contains almost all the
amino acids needed for human nutrition.
Ordinarily, in Nigeria, snails are collected from the
wild. Wild snail population have considerably declined be-
cause of human activities such as: deforestation, pesticide
use, slash and burn agriculture, bush fires and collection of
snails before they have reached maturity. If the present
intensity of these factors continues unchecked, the giants
land snails will sooner or latter get extinct. One way of pre-
venting this from happening is to start rearing snails in farms
just as is done for poultry, sheep , goats, and rabbits.

SNAIL FARMING
Snail farming is the rearing of snails in captivity. The
snails are confined in an enclosure and most of their re-
quirements like feed ; water and lime are supplied on a
regular basis by the farmer. On maturity, the snails are
harvested, processed and consumed by the farmer or
sold . Since the seasonality of supply of snails from the
wild limits their use for meat on a continuous basis, the need
for organized small or large scale snail farming has become
imperative.

3
 SNAILS FARMING SYSTEMS:
There are two main systems of snail farming . These
are: Indoor and Outdoor systems.
Indoor System: This system involves raising snails in-
doors in pens located in a building . The snails are fed a
mixture of fresh vegetables, concentrates, and other food
materials. The system utilizes little space as the snails
could be raised even in trays placed on shelves on the
walls. In advanced management, the system allows for
temperature regulation, controlled lighting, regular clean-
ing, and health care.
Out-door System,;, In this system , snails are raised out-
doors on pastures. The snails may or may not be fed . The
farmer has little control over the performance of the snails.
The snails move about feeding on natural food materials.
A modification of the out-door system is one in which
the snails are confined out-doors in enclosures and fed both
synthetic and natural diets. It is easier to control and ma-
nipulate snails in this setting. This system fits in very well
into the Nigerian farming system.

REQUIREMENTS BEFORE STARTING:

The farmer will need the following to start a snail
farm- (The modified out-door system).
*Enough edible live snails.
*A good site near his house with the right kind of soil and the
right amount of water for the snails to live and grow.
* Enough food and shelter plants
*The materials to build a pen for the snails.

4
SELECTION OF SITE:
A prospective snail farmer must choose a suitable
site for his farm . Important factors to consider are: Loca-
tion , soil type, moisture content, wind direction, lime content
of the soil and environmental temperature.

Location of Farm:
The snail farm should preferably be located close to
the farmer's house. In this way he will be able to watch
his snail regularly, detect any problem early, protect them
from their enemies and take care of them easily. There
should be adequate space for future expansion.

Soil Type:
The snail farm must be sited at a place where the
soil is rich in humus and other decaying plant and animal
materials. The soil should contain sufficient lime or cal-
cium for eggs and shell and snails shell formation. Snails
do not live in hard soils nor do they live in loose sandy
soils. Snails cannot dig into hard clayey soils to rest and
lay eggs while soils with a lot of sand do not hold enough
water. The ideal snail soil should be medium (light) to
allow air and water to penetrate easily.

Moisture content of Soil:

Snails prefer damp soils. The farmer should avoid
very wet lands and lands prone to flooding in the rainy sea-
son. Dew and rain keep the ground moist so that the snail
can move easily and dig into it to rest and lay their eggs.
For a round the year production of snails, a ready source of

5
water supply for irrigation or spraying should be provided.
Snails usually seal off their aperture and go into hibernation
during the dry season unless a continuous supply of mois-
ture is guaranteed. The soil could be kept continuously wet
by the provision of shelter plants like banana/plantain or the
farm could be watered to provide the necessary conditions
for the survival and multiplication of snails.

Wind Direction:
Snail farms should be situated in sites well protected
from the wind. Strong winds during the snail growing
season are bad for snails because they lead to dehydra-
tion and subsequent drying up of snails.

Temperature and Humidity:

Snails are cold blooded animals and therefore sen-
sitive to change in atmospheric humidity and tempera-
tures. In West Africa, temperatures in the areas where
most edible species of snails are found do not fluctuate
greatly. However, significant fluctuation is in humidity
below 75% induces the snails to aestivate (i.e. to loose
valuable growing time) . Snails therefore prefer a habitat
that is neither too hot nor cold. When the temperature is
too hot or too cold, the snails withdraw into its shell. This
is called hibernation. Snails thrive best on temperatures
of about 10 - 23°C.

CHOICE OF BREEDING STOCK:

Like most livestock ventures, the success of a snail
farm depends in part on the quality of the farmer's founda-

6
tion stock. It is recommended that the farmer should choose
snails based on the desirable characteristics below:

i. Good strong shell: Strong shells, protect snails from

their enemies. Snails with cracked shells or thin shells
should not be selected for a snail farm.

ii. Snails that fill their shell: The farmer should choose
only snails that fill their shells. A snail that does not fill
its shell may be sick or it may have lost its water be-
cause of dry weather. It may not grow well.

iii. Fully-Grown Snails: For his new snail farm , the

farmer should choose only fully-grown snails as
startment stock. They are hardier and would pro-
duce eggs and baby snails earlier than immature ones.

iv. Large Snails: The larger snails of any kind of

snail will be neater, healthier and lay more eggs than a
snail that is smaller. The eggs of larger healthy snails
hatch better and the baby snails grow bigger and faster.
The farmer should therefore choose the largest of the
fully grown snails of the type of snails he intends keep-
ing.

v. Same Kind of Snail: The same kind of snail should be

selected for the snail farm. The farmer may decide to
use either the giant type of snails (e.g. Archatina
achatina; Archachatina marginata) or the exotic small
types (Helix pomatia, Helix aspersa) .Never rear a

7
 mixture of small and large types in the same enclosure.
Their requirements and maturity periods are not the
same.

TYPES OF SNAILS TO FARM:

Only snails that live on land and are edible should
be selected for farming. Some kinds of land snails habour
parasites which can cause diseases in man. Many spe-
cies of edible land snails are recognized in Nigeria. The
popular species of economic interest is the West African
giant snail's Archachatina marginata and Achitina achatina.
These are therefore the recommended species.

Archachatina marginata: These snails are

found in places where it is warm all year round. Their shells
are characterized by brown to pale brown colour with verti-
cal streaks, zig-zag lines or blotches. They weigh from 150
-200 gm or more at maturity. They grow to full size in 24
months if well fed and watered. They lay about 5-1 0 eggs
four to eight times each growing season. The breeding sea-
son is from May to October (rainy season) . However, if
provided with regular supply of water, food and lime, they
could grow and reproduce throughout the year. Their shell
length ranges from 90m to 130mm. They have rounded tails
with blackish foot.

Achatina achatina: Like the Archachatina

marginata, they are native to West Africa. They have strong
brown shells and grow to full size in two years under good
management conditions. The lay more eggs per growing

8
size. Achatina achatina lays from 100- 300 eggs, once to
two times each growing season. They have pointed tails
with whitish to grey foot.

Snail eggs:
Generally, the eggs of snails are lemon yellow in colour
and resemble small bird's eggs . The eggs hatch usually
within 30 days. Young adult snails lay more eggs than old
ones.

Where to get snails for your farm:

The farmer can gather wild snails from nearby bushes
for use in his farm. He could also buy from people who
gather and sell wild snails. Snails could equally be bought
from another snail farmer in his locality. Snails bought
from the open market should never be farmed. Theses
are of doubtful quality and may soon die shortly after in-
troduction into the pens.

CONSTRUCTION OF A SNAIL PEN (SNAILERY):

The type of snail pen depends on a number of fac-
tors which include:
*The scale of the snail farming enterprise;
*The type of snails farming i.e. In-door or Out-door;
*The stage of development and habits of the snails.
This bulletin will discuss the construction of out-door snail pen .

Size of Snail Pen:

A snail pen can be large or small depending on how many
snails the farmer wants to raise . For a new farmer, it is

9
advisable to start with a small pen . He would need fewer
materials and fewer snails for this. As he becomes more
experienced in snail farming , he can build a bigger pen and
get more snails to raise. ASm x Sm out-door pen is a suit-
able size to start with.

Preparation of site for Sm x Sm out-door snail pen:

Choosing a suitable site close to the house. The snail
farmer should clear the area of all plant materials like bushes,
grasses, roots and weeds. The cleared materials should be
evenly spread on the ground where the pen would be lo-
cated. Burn the materials when dry. Burning of the area will
clear it of insects, weed, seeds, rats and other pests. From
the cleared area, a square of Sm x Sm is marked out for the
snail farm . The ground in the square is dug to a few centi-
meters dept (20cm) and turned over with s shovel, hoe or
other suitable implements. If any more insects and other
enemies of snails are seen, more dried plant materials are
spread on the ground and burnt again. The ground is then
smoothen after digging. The ground should be smooth and
well worked as it would be when planting a vegetable gar-
den.

Fencing of Pen:
On the smooth and well worked ground, a snail pen (Sm x
Sm) is created by fencing the area with one or more of the
following materials:-
*Corrugated iron sheet
*Woven plant materials
*Plastic sheet

10
*Chicken wire mesh
*Wooden posts.
Some of these materials (wire mesh, corrugated iron
sheets, plastic sheet) though durable, are expensive and
unaffordable by most farmers living in villages. However,
woven plant materials fence cover is cheap and available in
most rural areas. Such fences could be made from gamba
grass or other tall grass species. The fence is built just like
any other fence . A number of wooden posts of reasonable
length are driven into the ground along the perimeter of the
(5m x 5m) farm , such that when in place, each post is at
least one meter above ground . When all the posts are in
place, dig a shallow trench (about 0.4m deep) all the way
round the pen. Attach the woven plant material (fence cover)
to the post and ensure that the plant material fence cover
goes all the way to the bottom of the trench. Whatever
material that is used for the fence of the snail pen should be
buried to a reasonable depth below ground. When woven
plant is used, the bottom of the material tends to rot after
some time and needs regular replacement. As soon as the
plant material fence cover is in place fill in the trench to
complete the fence . If a combination of chicken wire mesh
and woven plant material is to be used, followed by he wo-
ven plant material. The farmer should remember to change
the bottom of the fence cover when it rots. To facilitate easy
replacement of rotten material in future, the fence cover could
be made in two parts- one for the top and another for the
bottom of the fence. To prevent snails from crawling out of
the pen, flips could be attached to the top of the pen. In
some pen designs the fence covering is made of mosqui-

11
toes wire netting. Whatever materials that is used for the
pen should ensure that rats and other predators are kept
out.
At one corner of the snail pen, put a hatching chamber
for hatching snail's eggs and a rearing unit for young snails
(Fig. 1). The hatching unit and rearing unit could be wooden
boxes covered with wire mesh or out drums or even baskets.
The floor of the hatchery or rearing unit is filled with rich
organic/top soil to a depth of 4-?cms. Perforate the bottom
of such chambers to drain out excess water. Do not intro-
duce newly hatched young snails into snail's pens to avoid
cannibalism.
Other types of out-door snailery include the following:

j. ,

Figure 1: Modified outdoor snail pen (from the top)

12
 Fig. 2: Single unit hutch box (with lid open).

Figure 3: Multichanbered hutch boxes (with one lid opend)

13
(a) Hutch Box Method:
The hutch boxes which could be single (Fig. 2) or multi-
chambered (Fig. 3) are wooden boxes with lids. The lids
are openings covered with wire netting or nylon mesh .
The floors of the boxes are filled with sieved organic soil
to a depth of 5 - 8 em, which must be slightly limed
(Caco 3). The bottom of the hutch boxes have holes to
allow excess water to drain out. The hutch boxes are put
under trees like rubber, cocoa, citrus and even plantain
for shade. When hutch boxes are used, the soil is changed
once every two to three months.

(b)Trench Pens:
In the trench type, pens, square or rectangular holes
(depending on the desired shape of pen) are dug in the
ground about SOcm deep. The dug up area is divided
into pens and the sides are built up to 2- 3 blocks high
from the ground level while the bottom is covered with
loose soil. The pens are covered with nylon mesh nailed
to wooden frames for lids. The trench pens which more
or less look like the hutch pens could be used for hatch-
ing snail eggs, rearing and for finishing .

(c) Make-shiftSnailaries:
Snail keeping as a hobby or on a very small scale
could be done using the following make-shift outfits:-
i. Stack of old motor types
ii. Baskets
iii. Boxes

14
 iv. Pots and calabashes
v. Cut drums, old basins etc.
In each case, the tops are covered with wire or nylon
mesh.

INTRODUCTION OF SNAILS INTO PEN:

With the food and shelter plants in place, the snails
can now be put into the pen. Snails selected for the farm
should be very gently handled and carefully put into a con-
tainer such as basket. In this way, they can be carried to
the pen without hurting them . Before putting them in the
pen, all grasses and weeds should be eliminated. The snails
should be put in the pen in the evening when it is cool. They
should never be put at the period of the day when the sun is
hot. On days that no dew is available and the leaves of the
plant and the ground are dry, wet them before putting the
snails in . The newly introduced snails should be placed in
different locations in the pen. Only the right number of snails
should be put in the pen . Do not stock more than 15- 25
mature snailsfm2. There should be no overstocking . After
introduction of snails a check should be conducted the fol-
lowing morning to see that they have all moved. Any snails
found to be dead should be taken out and replaced by equal
number of snails. At first the newly introduced snails will try
to crawl out of the pen . The farmer should go round each
morning and put them back. After about two weeks he snails
will become used to their new homes and most of them will
not try to crawl out.

15
FEEDS AND FEEDING OF SNAILS:
Snails are voracious feeders and may consume about
10 time their body weight of leafy vegetable or plant material
every day. To be successful in snail farming , the farmer
must ensure a steady uninterrupted supply of foodstuffs to
his snails throughout the snail growing season.

Food Plants:
Snails feed on a wide variety of cultivated and wild plants.
Young tender green leaves as well as dead and decaying
leaves are eaten. Green leaves of Amaranthus, cocoyam,
cassava, lettuce, cabbage, fluted pumpkin , hibiscus, are all
eaten by snails. Before beginning , the farmer should find
out what plants his snails like to eat. He can thus get infor-
mation from an experienced snail farmer in his locality. He
can also with his lantern watch snails at night and see what
they are eating. Different plant materials could be dropped
in the pen and by trial and error, he could find out which
ones the snail would prefer.

Fruit Trees as shelter and food Plants:

Some fruit trees provide shelter as well as food for
snails. Banana, plantain , mango, pawpaw, sweet oranges,
cocoa etc serve dual purpose of providing shelter as well as
fruits. Snails prefer feeding on over ripe fruits of these
trees. Ripe oil palm fruits, broken pods, seeds and seed-
lings of cocoa are also consumed by snails.
Generally, snails usually hide on shelter plants dur-
ing the day when it is dry and move to food plants to eat at
night or early in the morning when they are wet with dew.

16
Other Feeds:
Snails also feed on synthetic diets containing a good amount
of protein , calcium and phosphorus. An example of such
diet is poultry marsh. Wet poultry droppings, rotten veg-
etables and dead animals are all consumed by snails. Apart
from the items mentioned here, there are many other foods
in the farmer's locality which snails like to eat. As stated
earlier, these could be found out by trial and error.

Feeding Habit of Snails:

Snails are nocturnal and feed on a wide variety of feed mainly
in the night, early morning , evening or on cold rainy day.
Their activity level (including their rate of feeding) fluctuates
with the ambient temperature.

TAKING CARE OF THE SNAILS:

After the snails are put in the pen, the farmer should :
*Watch them carefully to see that they are eating well.
*Give them the right type of food in adequate quantity.
*Wet the food and shelter plants and moisten the ground
regularly.
On dry days during the snail growing season, water
the ground daily. Always water in the evening at sunset.
Ensure that the soil is moist and not wet. In areas with
dry season, when plants do not grow, snails dig into the
ground to rest. They should not be watered at this time,
otherwise the snails come out of the ground when they
should not. The snails breeding season in Nigeria corre-
sponds to the period of the rainy seasons.

17
 CAUSES OF MORTALITY IN SNAILS:
Snails have many enemies. These include termites,
soldier ants, frogs , toads, rats, snail eating birds , lizards,
and larvae of some beetles. Common salt is also poisonous
to snails . Over crowding is a serious cause of mortality in
snail pens. When too many snails are crowded in a pen ,
they produce undesirable secretion which is observed to
reduce their productivity. To remedy these;
*Examine the pen fence regularly and mend any open-
ings.
*Use materials that keep out pests from your fence.
*Maintain the right stocking density in you pen .
*Keep away poisonous chemicals like common salt.

HARVESTING SNAILS:
Generally, snails that are well fed and managed would
be ready for harvesting within 12 to 24 months from the date
of stocking. Also, when the farmer sees a lot of baby snails
in the snail pen, he could harvest the fully grown snails that
he first put into the pen . Average weight of a snail a well
matured snail of the giant type is 200gm. It takes not less
than two years of efficient feeding to attain this weight. Growth
rate is slow and a lot patience has to be exercised in snail
farming .

How to Harvest:
Harvesting is done with the hands. Sometimes the snails
hide under the cover of vegetation. Easiest time to find
them is when the plants are wet (after it has rained) or at
night when there is dew and they are moving about eating.

18
The farmer can also put in some of the food that snails like
(e.g. ripe pawpaw) and when they comet to eat, the farmer
can collect them. When harvesting , snails should be care-
fully handled and put in a container such as basket, box or
net sack. Too many snails (more than 1Okg) should not be
put in one container otherwise those at the bottom would be
injured.

What to do with harvested snails:

The harvested snails could either be sold or retained for
family consumption. Snails meant for sale should have clean,
intact shells. They should be carried to the market in suit-
able containers like baskets or box. Snails could be stored
alive in containers filled with materials such as saw dust or
chipped maize husks for as long as 6- 8 weeks.

ECONOMICS OF SNAIL PRODUCTION:

Unlike other livestock enterprises, housing for snails
is cheap to construct. Snails could easily be kept even in
make shift housing. The feeding of snails is cheap, snails
do not compete with man for food , rather, they feed on
the wastes from man's kitchen , poultry droppings, leaves
and over ripe/rotten fruits . Snails have very high multipli-
cation ratio.
The A. marginata for example lays up to 80 - 100 eggs/
growing season while the A. achatina lays up to 300 eggs
or more in a growing season. Snails hatch within 30 days
and in 12-24 months are ready for table. One snail there-
fore can in a growing season give 100 - 300 new snails

19
(depending on the breed). Labour requirement for attend-
ing to snails is very low. 1 man hour/day can care for 100
snails.
If a farmer started with 10 snails which cost about
N400 (Umuahia Market- June 2008) , in a growing season
the 10 snails will give about 10 x 300 eggs =3,000 eggs.
When hatched and reared, and allowing 10% mortality, in a
growing season , the farmer will come up with about 2,700
new snails. Feeding on leaves, fruits and kitchen waste, the
farmer spends nothing on feed .
At maturity; the 2,700 will sell at
2,700 X N40 =N1 08,000

Internationally, snail meat commands good market in

Europe and North America. The French snail requirement
is about 5 million kg/annum, out this, more than 60% is im-
ported. Italy is said to consume about 306 million snails
annually. Back home in West Africa, Cote d'lvoire has an
estimated annual snail consumption of 7.9 million kg . Al-
though the annual snail consumption figure for Nigeria is not
known , one thing is certain that the demand is far ahead of
the supply. Snail farming in Nigeria therefore has very bright
future.

20
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Snail meat (Congo meat) is a high protein food . Collection from

the wild is not sustainable. Therefore conscious efforts should
be made to rear snails in captivity.
To start a snail farm , the following are required: enough edible
live snails, a good site, enough food and shelter plants and a
pen for the snail. Snails require soil that is rich in humus with
enough calcium for shell and egg formation. Snails prefer damp
soils. Protect snails from wind. Snails are cold blooded.
Therefore avoid sudden changes in atmospheric humidity and
temperature. Choose snails for rearing that conform to: good
strong shell; snails that fill their shell; fully grown and large snails.
House only one type of snail together construct snail pens using
materials available in your environment and according to you r
resources. Do not stock more than 15-25 snails/m2 .
Ensure steady and uninterrupted. Food supply to snails on dry
days, water the ground daily. Keep solider ants, frogs, toads,

21
rats, snail eating birds, lizards and some beetle larvae off snail
farm. Avoid common salt in snail farm . Snails mature in 12- 24
months.
Snail farming is very profitable and therefore highly
recommended even as a hobby.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. A. A. Awa (2003) MTRN Monograph (unpublished)

Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria, Benin City

2. Chowdhuny, SMZH, Mandai , MMH , Hug, S and

Rahman, M. H. (1994) . Prevalence of Fascida
cercarrcae in lymnaeid snails in Bangladesh . Asian
- Australian Journal of Animal Science, 1994. 7 (3)
401-403.

3. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) 1989. snail

production series 11-29. Rome Italy.

4. Michael Okpara University of Agriculture (2002). Snail

Production Monograph (Unpublished) Umudike, Abia
State Nigeria.

5. Udoh A. P. Akanyung E. 0 . and lgiran, I. E. Nutrients

and anti nutrients in small snails for chemistry. 1995.
53 (3) 239-241 .

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