Humans have been consuming snails for thousands of years. Snails are very high in proteins, iron, and water, while being low in fat. Snail consumption is popular in various countries around the world. Currently, the global snail farming or heliciculture industry achieves sales of greater than $12 billion annually. Let’s take a closer look at the consumption of snails and the basics of starting a snail farm.

In recent times, Nigeria’s economic recovery programmes have necessitated a radical shift from total dependence on government for job to self-employment. One such attractive area for self-employment is snail rearing. It is a great money-spinning business that can provide a substantial source of protein to complement Nigerian carbohydrate meals. Sadly Nigerians inclination to go into business in the fields where thousands have already made their fortune has led to the utter neglect of such lucrative area of snail farming in Nigeria or export at international market.

Many people see snails here and there. Some people take it as meat. But quite a number don’t know how to go about rearing them. This is made worse because of certain fears, the fear of predators seems to top the chart of problems encountered in snail farming. Snails are fragile creatures and the fact that they are equally slow makes them prone to predators. Majorly, people think snakes, soldier ants, and rats are the only snail predators but that is not true.

Handling snail egg
The vast majority of snail keepers choose to destroy any unwanted eggs as soon as they are found. The sooner the better because they develop quite quickly, particularly if the snail has retained them for longer than usual.
Destroying the eggs is more humane than hatching 1000s of unwanted babies. Owners of tropical species do this and liken it much to the viability that is realistically found in the wild. A lot of eggs will be eaten, some won’t develop and the chance of a baby snail surviving to adulthood is very poor. To destroy eggs you can simply crush, boil or freeze them, the latter the most popular method. Most people check the soil every few days, particularly in hot weather. More often than not snails will lay against the bottom or side of a tank so they are easy to spot.
Some snails hold eggs inside for longer than usual so the eggs can be more developed but in the majority of cases, great conditions in captivity mean they can lay as soon as they are formed(To be continued…)