How To Start A Snail Farm Business

Snail farm is a very lucrative business and if you have any knack for animal husbandry you should be interested in knowing how you can start a snail farm business.

In addition to the fact that is very cheap to acquire, it is very easy to run, snails are kinds of animals which don’t  need you to care for them, they can literally take care of themselves. That gives you ample time to cater for something else and still not lose your investment.

Another good point is you don’t need so much space. Unlike other animal rearing businesses, you can start snail farming in a small room. It could be an empty room at your backyard or a shed you build, it doesn’t matter. As long it is damp, cool and secure, it’s alright. Snail needs only dampness not comfort.
The security is needed so that some fast hands will not make away with your animals.

And they do not eat much too! You don’t need to invest thousands of naira into buying feed, as in fish farming and poultry. What snails eat are very easy to acquire and cheap, you could get into a nearby bush and get them for free. Now to my favourite question, just
start a snail farm?

Snails, Agriculturally

If you have not studied agric, you will find some of the terms here a challenge. But no worries though, I will take the trouble to explain every little term.

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia, this means it is an animal, well that is obvious

Phylum: Invertebrata, this shows it doesn’t have a backbone.

Class: Mollusca, it belongs to the class of animals with soft smooth bodies, sometimes with a shell. Other molluscs include slugs, octopuses and squids.

Life Cycle

It takes about three or four months for  an average snail to grow to maturity.

Method Of Propagation

Snails lay eggs

How To Cultivate Snails

Like I said snail farming doesn’t require much space and resources. It just takes some time to set up and a few minutes every other single day. What would we be needing, let find out.

Snails (Obviously)

Some spaces, preferably a room

A bed of moist soil

Leaves (this is their food)

Snails

Yes you will be needing some snails yo start (obviously). These are going to be your first generation of animals. How do you get your snails? If you are very cheap like me you can simply go to a damp warm bush and look for them. There are great assurances that you will find no less than ten on a rainy day. This however has its demerits.

Since you don’t know which species of snails the animals you picked are, you can not tell of their performance. Would they be of good yield? I suggest you get to the Ministry of Agric in your state and request to buy some snails. They will give you high yielding, disease resistance animals at very low costs too.

A Room

Like I said snails don’t need a comfortable room. All they need is a damp habitat and a well supply of food. You need to secure it too, snails are not fast but they can “sail” away if you open the doors down. And snails don’t make noise, even if they are been stolen they can’t scream. Make sure you get a secured room, so that all your efforts will not be wasted.

A Bed Of Moist Soil

Snails like dampness, and for good reason. When exposed to dry harsh conditions they dry up and die. If you want them to stay in your abode, you will create an environment favourable to their nature. Apply damp soil in the house. If necessary pour water into it to maintain the dampness. Your snails will be in Paradise.

Leaves

Some people’s favourite food is Jollof rice, others beans. What do snails eat? The answer is leaves. They can and will eat evey kind of leave but they too, like every Tom and Harry have their favourite. They love best the leave used to make moi-moi. They will consume it without delay and complain. Serve them ten times in a day and they will consume it all of the times. Why, you can use this method to collect them in the first place.

Market Value

There is a ready made market for snails and if only you can achieve to rear them healthy, you will be smiling to the bank. An averagely sized snails can sell for at least N200 while a very big one will to for N600. Just 10 big ones and you can have a spare N6000 in your pocket. A small room can house up to about snails. What if we get a bigger house. Okay let’s rear 100 snails and they all manage to be big. Because you want them to sell fast, let each go for N500, we just made a whooping N500,000. Cool business. Don’t you love to know how to start a snail farm business!

Economic Importance Of Snails

Snails are a good source of white meat that contains a lot of proteins. They can replace beef in your diet and you will still be getting the same protein nourishment. Snails are used to cook soups (especially vegetable soups) and Jollof rice.

My Project

I have a very good idea and I would like to share. What if you open a large snail farm and start a canned snail business. Sounds funny? No quiet. You will rear the slow buggers and cook them. Then you put them in sauce and then in cans much like fish. By doing this, we can have snails all year round and in places where preservative equipment are non existence. So what do you think about my idea? Is it worth your while. Well that is what I am going to do once I can expand my snail farm. Now you know how to start a snail farm, you can try this idea too.

Now You Know

So let review what we have learnt today and put some efforts to start setting. Rearing snails doesn’t take your time so even if you are a busy man like you can still run a snail farm. Till next time.

Shisdulo