Hi naira landers,

Here is a true story I'll share with you, I'm hoping that you can learn from my experience and uncover treasures in your backyard.

Happy new year naira landers

Most people associate treasures hunting with pirates, engrappacino says we can find treasures all around us it all depends on where you are looking.

I'm Alpacino a fresh graduate who came out of school to meet a country which had no plans for me, as a hardworking young man I decided to research on a productive business that I could lay my hands on.

The aim of the business.
1. To contribute my own quota to reduce unemployment in my country.
2. To expose valuable informations of a very productive business venture.
3. To become financially independent.
4. To be able to earn money in foreign currency (dollars).
5. To create a business which is very productive and still have time for other things.

After much searching on the Internet and sharing ideas with friends I came up with a plan. Knowing the effect of procrastination I had to set a target for myself.


Snail farming is another interesting, thriving and profitable business venture that an entrepreneur interested in making money from livestock breeding should consider going into. As a matter of fact, snail farming requires low start – up capital and anyone who is serious about business can generate good income from the business. Snail meat has been severally affirmed as a most safe and nutritious delicacy.

This is going to be an exciting experience I tout to myself, pacing round the room back and forth "where to start from" I thought to myself.

My landlord will evict me if I even tell him I want to startup a snail pen in his compound.

I decided to meet my guy Efe, maybe I could reason with him based on logistics.

Alpacino: oboi how e dey be?
Efe: I dey my guy.
Alpacino: come make we reason abeg.
Efe: hope say na money Mata cos as I dey so hmmmm.
Alpacino: u too like money joor.
Alpacino: it's about this your backyard I dey reason to setup one small snail farm for there.

Hahaha haha Efe laughed as he sat up and looked straight into my eyes to see if I was indeed serious.

Efe: guy u serious oo.
Alpacino: real matters my guy.
Efe: well sorry man, that can't happen cos I already asked my landlord make I run chicken poultry and he said he wants to use the space.

Immediately he said children poultry I remembered a church member who has chicken poultry in their backyard and asked me if I wanted to start one as they were not using it again.

I gave them a call and spoke on how I would love to use it as a snail pen.

Lovely people,they offered to allow me use it, on the conditions that it's noice free and it wouldn't smell.

I assured them It wasn't and promised to keep around the pen clean.

Arranging the pen was the next step which i tried doing myself, as i had limited funds to work with.

A system must meet the following conditions such as
1. Escape-proof: Snails are master-escapists and unless prevented from doing so they will quickly wander all over your backyard or house.
2. Spacious: Snails suffer from overcrowding,which impedes their development and increases the risk of diseases. Suitable rearing densities range from > 100/m2 for hatchlings to 15-25/m2 for breeding snails.
3. Ease of accessibility: easy to work in or with, for handling the snails, placing feed, cleaning and other tasks.
4. Well-protected from insects, predators and poachers.

TYPES OF SNAIL FARMING
There are two main system of snail farming; indoor system or outdoor system.

INDOOR SYSTEM
The indoor-system requires raising snails indoors, in pens located in a building. The snails are fed with a mixture of fresh vegetables, concentrates, and other food items. This process utilizes little space as the snail could be raised even in trays place on shelves on the walls. In advanced management, these processes of snailing allows for temperature regulation, controlled lighting, regular cleaning and health care.

OUTDOOR SYSTEM
The out-door system, snail are raised out doors and allow to move about 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. Theres a modification of the out-doors in enclosures and fed on both the natural diets and systhetic substance. The modification of the outdoor system includes the following;

* Extensive system outdoor, free range snail pens.
* Mixed or semi-intensive system
* Intensive closed system. This can be plastic tunnel houses for snailing, green house and building with controlled climatic condition.

I am following you.

The snail pens is a very important aspect in snailery and after that is the type of snails to breed, there are different types of snail and choosing the right breed can save u alot.
there are two major snail breeds that are common Achatina achatina and Archachatina marginata

Achatina achatina
They have strong brown shells and grow to full size in 2years under good management conditions. They lay more eggs per growing season. The eggs are lemon yellow in colour which resembles eggs of small birds. The eggs hatches within 30days, the young adult lays more than the old ones. The species prefers warm conditions 20”c-30”c, and a relative humidity of 80%-90%. They have their tails pointed whitish to gray foot.

LAYING EGGS;
Laying usually takes place in the late evening and night. Eggs are laid in clutches of 30-300 eggs, they are brooding oval, dirty yellowish about 8-9mm long and 6-7mm wide. They lay from 100-300 once to two times each growing season.

HATCHING/HATCH LING;
The eggs hatch 2-3 weeks after laying with a range of 10-31days, depending on temperature of the place it has a high hatching rate of 90% even 100% hatch ability is not uncommon. The baby snail has a thin shell membrane which calcifies progressively. This period is characterized by raid growth, and the snails are able to survive the first few days (5-10days) after hatching without eating.

Archachatina marginata
It has two type, the big black snail and the big white snail. The big white snail is not eaten in most part of the country especially in the south west due to some cultural beliefs. The big black snail is recommended for rearing. The big black snail is called the African land snail is a large snail of about 20cm and 500g body weight. The shells are characterized by brown to pale brown color with vertical streaks, zig-zag lines or blotches. The head of the snail is dark-Grey, and its foot is a lighter shade. It is a native to the humid African rain forest belt from southern Nigeria to Congo but now found in other areas of African rain forest zone. They grow to full size in 24monthe if well fed.

LAYING EGGS; ;
They lay about 5-10 eggs four to ten times each growing season (about 100eggs . The breeding season is from May to October (raining season).though when provide with regular water, food and lime, they could grow and reproduce throughout the year. They have rounded tails with blackish foot.

JUVENILE
The juvenile growth was found to be interesting proportional to temperature, falling sharply at >30”c, and directly proportional to rainfall and humidity. In the reproduction process, the species reaches sexual maturity at an age of around one year. the shell length of juvenile snail increases by an average of 0.33mm/day for the first 8months (slowing down to 0.2mm/day) at 15months. Shell length hardly increase after that time.

ADULT
The adult phase starts when the snail reaches sexual maturity (note not all adult snail lay eggs each season). An average life is 5-6years, although there are reports now that say the same snails survive up to 9 or 10years. The snails reach sexual maturity at around 10-12months.

for this project i will be using the ARCHACHATINA MARGINATA because it has a larger size than the other.

FEEDING OF SNAILS;
Snails are voracious feeders and may consume about 10times their body weight of leafy vegetable or plant material everyday. To be successful, you must ensure a steady growing season of feeds throughout the snail growing season. Snails feed on wide variety of plants, ranging from young tender green leaves and dead and decaying leaves. The following food should be noted snail food;
LEAVES;
Cocoyam, kola, pawpaw, cassava, okro, eggplant, loofa, centrosema, cabbage and lettuce.
FRUITS;
Pawpaw, mango, banana, eggplant, pear,pil palm, fig, tomato and cucumber. Fruits are rich in mineral and vitamin but low in protein.
TUBER;
Cocoyam, cassava, yam, sweet potato and plantain. tubers and good source of carbohydrates, through low in protein. (cassava should be the low cyanide type).
FLOWERS;
Oprono (mansonia altissima), oduwuma (musanga cecropoides) and pawpaw.
HOUSE WASTE;
Peels of fruits and tuber like banana, plantain, pineapple, yam and especially pawpaw and leftovers like cooked rice, beans, fufu and eko. Note, the house waste must not contain salt

OBSERVATION; i noticed that water plays a very important in snail feeding, they like a good drink and even taking little swim. steady watering of the pen will also provide water as they absorb the moisture from the soil. with this regular water supply the snail will feed well and mortality will reduce. after-all snail meat is 74% water.
Calcium should be feed to the snails to increase their shell size thereby improving growth. this can be done by sprinkling oyster shell powder or grounded snail shell on the leafy vegetables.

Show pictures of the snail house or describe how to build one.

i have written a little on the snail pen earlier on but for more understanding on building a snail pen i will deliberate more.

As stated on my previous post the most important aspects to note is that snails are master escapist, (na dem suppose act prison break) so all efforts should be made to avoid loss of snail. the pen can be made with different material taking the number of snails into consideration.
1)Sandcrete blocks or mudbricks.
2)Galvanized sheets, polythene sheets.
3)Chicken wire, for protection.
4)Mosquito nets or nylon mesh, for covering the pens as protection agaisnt insects.
5)Second hand materials like car tires,oil drums and old water tanks.

The old car tire, oil drums and old water tank can be used in relation to cheap snail pens. placing a couple of tires ontop each other with mosquito mesh between the topmost tire and the second can provide a cheap pen.

Oil drums should have holes in the bottom for drainage, be filled with good soil to a depth of 7-10cm, and fitted with wire plus mosquito mesh on the top. such pens are for keeping few snails for private use.

HUTCH BOXES;
This process covers a square or rectangular size of pens. It may be a single or multi-chamber wooden box with lids, placed on wooden stilts above the ground at a suitable height for easy handling. The stilts are fitted with plactic metal conical protector or aprons to prevent vermin from crawling up the stilts to attack the snails in the boxes. The protectors could be made from old tins or plastic bottles. In the middle of the lid is an opening covered with wire netting and nylon mesh. The lid are fitted with a padlock to discourage pilfering. The floor boxes are filled with sieved black soil to a depth of 18-25cm. The boxes should be well protected from the sun or rain.

TRENCH PENS;
These are snail pens of about 0.6 * 0.6m to 1 * 1m that are dug into the ground (must be well-drained), or raised 40-50cm above the ground. Outside walls and inner partitions consist of concrete blocks or mud bricks in either case. They are also filled with suitable soil to a depth of 10-15cm; covered with wooden or steel frame lids with chicken wire plus nylon mesh and fitted with padlock to discourage poachers. The trench pens must be protected against the fierce heat or sun or heavy rain. Shredded semi-dry banana leaves may be spread in the pens to provide shelter for the snails. The trench pens are more suitable in semi-intensive to intensive snail growing ventures. They can be used as hatchery, nursery or fattening pens with the number of stock being adapted to size of snail in each case. The snail can be moved from one pen to another to growing cycle. One of the advantages of this method is its flexibility. Snails can be moved around easily, in accordance with their size and phase in growing cycl, they are always easy to locate for feeding, handling, and selection for sales of for consumption.

MINI-PADDOCK PENS
Mini-paddock pens. This process involes a square or rectangular pen in a fenced area, it may be constructed with bamboo and nylon mesh or made of timber, chicken wire and nylon mesh. The walls dimension could be 50cm high and 20cm depth to the ground. The wooden frames are attached to the top of the walls and covered with the mesh to prevent snails from escaping from the pen. The plant that will provide shelther and food are planted before the snails are introduced to the pen. These plants could be cocoyam, sweet potato, fluted pumpkin, and leafy vegetables. This method allow for easier access to the whole area on the pen without having to enter the pens. The mini-padlock can be constructed higher above the ground with a completely enclosed frame, and are roofed. This method is suitable for fattening pens, where snails that are no longer needed for breeding are allowed to put on weight before being collected for consumption or sale.
The advantage of mini-padlock is that snails grow in an environment resembling their habitat. The area of the dimensions permit cose monitoring and supervision. Food and shelter plants must be replanted regularly or from time to time. The mini-padlock pen csn be closed or roofrd entirely through it will cost more.

pictures coming soon.

Pics

Nice one, I'm following....

thanks papanonso....... more updates coming..

TAKING CARE OF SNAILS;
There are several ways to care and monitor your snails after you must have put them in their pen. This includes;
 You have to watch them carefully to see that they are eating well
 Give them the right king of food in adequate quantity
 Wet the food and shelter plants and moistens the ground regularly. On dry days during the snail growing season, water the ground daily always in the evenings at sunset.
 Ensure that the soil is moist and not wet. During the 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. Their breeding season should be the period of the rainy season.

For record purposes i took account of egg production and mortality in my pen.

For safety reasons I will advice that the eggs shouldn't be touched, if they are on the surface one can dig 2inch and bury them.

Following u bumper to bumper

Bros where do you reside!

xteve:

Bros where do you reside!

Delta state.

Engrappacino1:

Delta state.

pls i need ur phone no

aquila3:
pls i need ur phone no

07060987593 it's also my watsapp number.

orlard3:
Following u bumper to bumper

Kool Boss, more informative updates coming soon.

Thanks for helping me out of my predicament, you gave me vital solutions. Thanks

Thank you bro...you have been so helpful. Your post has gingered me more. Please keep up the good work.

orlard3:
Thanks for helping me out of my predicament, you gave me vital solutions. Thanks

You are welcome.

efetoma:
Thank you bro...you have been so helpful. Your post has gingered me more. Please keep up the good work.

Thanks Boss.

Engrappacino1:

07060987593 it's also my watsapp number.

ok

I rate you five star on this thread Thank you for this helpful encouraging, information that every one that what to go into snairy need more grace we will be looking forward to get more info from you..you boi Chris [/color][color=#000099]

chrisochris11:
I rate you five star on this thread Thank you for this helpful encouraging, information that every one that what to go into snairy need more grace we will be looking forward to get more info from you..you boi Chris [/color][color=#000099]

Thanks chrisochris11, let's find and harness these treasures in our backyard.