Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Snails

Basic Snail Farming Tools and Equipment

According to research, Snail consumption and cultivation are popular to varying degrees in France, the U.S., Turkey, China, Indonesia, Italy, Spain, as well as African countries including Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Ghana. In France, the delicacy known as escargot is an actually cooked snail. Escargot is very popular in many parts of Europe as well.

Meanwhile besides the customary gardening tools (shovel, hoe, rake, cutlass, broom), the following equipment and tools are needed in successful snail farming:

1. Small weighing scale, for weighing snails and feed.

2. Measuring tape, for measuring pens and snails

3. Hand trowel, for digging in and cleaning out the pens.

4. Water container and watering can, for keeping the soil moist and refilling water troughs.

5. Water and feeding troughs or dishes.

6. Most important: a notebook, for carefully recording inputs (e.g. labor, materials and feed) and output of the snail farming venture.

Read Also: Comprehensive Guide on How to Plan a Profitable Snail Farming Venture

Health benefits of eating snails and snail farming

As mentioned above, snails are high in proteins and water and low in fat. Additionally, there are many other health benefits of eating snails.

A 3-ounce serving of cooked snails delivers 76 calories with no cholesterol or sugar, as well as over one-third of an adult’s daily vitamin E requirement. It promotes the production of red blood cells that benefit muscles and other tissues.

Additionally, snail consumption can give you one-half of daily recommended selenium intake. Selenium is an antioxidant mineral that helps prevent heart disease, thyroid. Snails also contain minerals.

A single serving of escargots can provide you with one-sixth of the daily requirement of iron, as well as nearly 10 percent of the potassium, one-third of the phosphorus, and two-thirds of the magnesium. Snails contain tryptophan which is important chemical human brains need. Eating snails thus can be a good mood booster.

There are certain equipmets and tools that you will be needing in your snail farming business. Some are used on daily basis while are used on when needed. Below are some the equipements and tools you need in your snail farming business and what they are being used for:

Equipment and Tools Needed in Snail Farming Business

Basic Snail Farming Tools and Equipment

Below are the equipment’s and tools needed in a snail farming / snail rearing business and what they are used for in commercial snail farming:

1) Water tanks

Snails need water every now and then, so you need to always have water available in your snail farm. Keeping a large water tank on your farm will ensure that you always have provision for water.

2) Wheelbarrow

With a wheelbarrow, you can comfortably move large quantities of snail at harvest. You can also use a wheelbarrow to move larger quantities of soil to the farm site.

Another important use of wheelbarrow is for moving the snail feed from one snail cage to another. Especially when the farm is too large to be carrying heavy loads around.

Read Also: Feeding Snails locally and How to Formulate Snail Feeds

3) Small weighing scale

A weighing scale is a measuring instrument for taking a measurement of the weight of snails. There are analogue measuring scale and more recently the digital weighing scale.

I prefer the digital weighing scale because it gives a more accurate measurement of the weight of snails in grams.

4) Watering can

Snails like their environment to be moist at all time, so you need to always moisten the snail farm. A watering can is a snail farming equipment you can use to spray water in your snail pens.

5) Shovel and Rake

You need a shovel in your snail farm for moving loam soil into the snail pen and for changing the soil in the snail housing.

Shovels come in handy for digging and moving dirt in a free-range snail farm. The rake is used for cleaning the surrounding of your snail farm. It can also use it to turn the soil in the snail pen when searching for eggs under the soil.

6) Hand Trowel

When you want to dig small holes or mix snail feed, you can use a trowel. Another time when a trowel comes into work in snail farming is when you are incubating your snail eggs.  You use the trowel to move soil to cover the eggs slightly for so that they can hatch.

7) Water and feeding troughs

When serving snails crushed foods like calcium, use a feeding trough to put the food so that it does not become moist in the already damp soil. You can also use a plate with shallow depth to serve as a feeding or water trough for snails.

The water trough serves as a provision for the snails to drink and bath. Just make sure the water trough for snail is not too deep so that they don’t drown in it.

Read Also: Ideas on Snail Sales and Marketing

8) Hoe and Cutlass

A hoe is used for digging in and around the snail farm. You can use a hoe to dig the floor of your snail pen when searching for snail eggs. Both hoes and cutlasses are very useful for weeding the environment of the snail farm to maintain hygiene.

9) Plastic buckets

Plastic buckets are used for carrying water and snail food around the snail farm. You can also use it to carry snails around when you are sorting your snail pens.

10) Plastic Spoons and Plastic Plates (with lid)

To increase the hatchability of snail eggs, do not pick the eggs with your hand. A plastic spoon becomes very important at this time of your snail farming journey.

After picking the eggs, you can put them in a plastic plate containing a soil mixture suitable for hatching the eggs and then cover the lid.

11) Hand Sprayer and Water Hose

The essence of the hand sprayer is for pest management while the what hose serves as a means of spraying water round a very large snail farm. To use the water hose, you can attach a shower cap at one end of the hose while the other end is connected to a tap.

This type of construction makes it easy for you to spray water in the entire snail farm without having to carry heavy buckets of water and watering can.

Read Also: Comprehensive Guide on How to start Cockerel Farming Business

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Agric4Profits

Benadine Nonye is an agricultural consultant and a writer with several years of professional experience in the agriculture industry. - National Diploma in Agricultural Technology - Bachelor's Degree in Agricultural Science - Master's Degree in Science Education - PhD Student in Agricultural Economics and Environmental Policy... Visit My Websites On: 1. Agric4Profits.com - Your Comprehensive Practical Agricultural Knowledge and Farmer’s Guide Website! 2. WealthinWastes.com - For Effective Environmental Management through Proper Waste Management and Recycling Practices! Join Me On: Twitter: @benadinenonye - Instagram: benadinenonye - LinkedIn: benadinenonye - YouTube: Agric4Profits TV - Pinterest: BenadineNonye4u - Facebook: BenadineNonye

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