You will need

10. If you have or can get all of these things, you can raise snails.

18. The kind of snails that you can farm are snails that live on land, and there are many kinds of land snails that are good to eat.

19. However, some kinds of land snails are not good to eat and they may even make you very, very sick.

20. So, you must be very careful when you choose snails to farm. If you are not sure that a snail is good to eat, do not use it.

21. Now look at the drawings on pages 8 to 11 and you will see four kinds of good snails that live in different places.

22. You may be able to find one of these kinds of snails where you live. Notice that two of them are small and two of them are large.

23. The smaller kinds of snails, shown on pages 8 and 9, can often be found in places where part of the year is warm and part of the year is cold.

24. The larger kinds of snails, shown on pages 10 and 11, can often be found in places where it is warm all year round.

This kind of small snail

1 can be found in places where part of the year is warm and part of the year is cold

2 weighs from 15 to 25 grams and measures from 40 to 50 millimetres

3 has a strong shell which is pale brown and off- white

4 grows to full size in two to three years if it is well fed

5 lays from 30 to 50 eggs each growing season

This kind of small snail

1 can often be found in places where part of the year is warm and part of the year is cold

2 weighs from 4 to 20 grams and measures from 30 to 45 millimetres

3 has a weak shell with broken stripes which are light brown to black

4 grows to full size in one year if it is well fed

5 lays from 40 to 170 eggs one to three times each growing season

This kind of large snail

1 can often be found in places where it is warm all year round

2 weighs from 150 to 200 grams or more and measures from 90 to 130 millimetres

3 has a very strong brown shell

4 grows to full size in two years if it is well fed

5 lays from 100 to 300 eggs one to two times each growing season

This kind of large snail

1 can often be found in places where it is warm all year round

2 weighs from 150 to 200 grams or more and measures from 90 to 130 millimetres

3 has a very strong brown shell

4 grows to full size in two years if it is well fed

5 lays from five to ten eggs four to eight times each growing season

25. If you cannot get one of these snails, you may be able to get others very much like them where you live.

26. There are many other kinds of good snails. There may even be several kinds of good snails that are eaten where you live.

27. If snails are eaten where you live, you can farm one of these. Then you will be sure that it is good to eat.

28. When you are ready to get snails, perhaps you can get them by gathering wild snails that live near you.

29. Perhaps you can buy them from people who gather wild snails to sell to others.

30. You may even be able to buy them from another snail farmer.

Note

Never term snails that you buy at the market. Snails at the market may have been washed, kept too cold or hurt and they may die soon.

31. A good place for a snail farm is one where there already are snails. If there already are snails, you will know that the soil and the water in the soil are right for snails to live and grow.

32. However, if there are no snails near where you live it does not mean that you cannot raise snails there.

33. If you have the right kind of soil with the right amount of water, you can bring good snails from another place to start your snail farm.

34. Soil is important for snails. Part of the time they live on the soil and part of the time they live in the soil, and to live well, snails need good soil.

35. When snails are not on the soil or in the soil, they are on plants which grow in the soil. So, the soil must also be good for the kinds of plants that snails need.

36. When snails are in the soil, they are resting or laying their eggs. If the soil has the right amount of water, snails will live well, the eggs they lay will hatch well and the baby snails will come out of the soil easily.

37. Snails cannot live in hard soil such as heavy clay soils. When heavy clay soil is too dry, snails cannot dig into it to rest and lay their eggs. When heavy clay is too wet, snails and the eggs they lay may die.

38. Snails cannot live in loose soil such as soils that have a lot of sand. Sandy soils do not hold enough water for snail eggs to hatch.

39. The drawings on the next page show how a snail digs a hole, lays its eggs, closes the hole and how the baby snails come out when they have hatched.

40. Snails need calcium from the soil to make their shells. All snails grow better and have stronger shells when there is a lot of calcium in the soil.

41. So, if you are going to farm snails, you must have a good medium soil that has neither too much clay nor too much sand. It must also have enough calcium and the right amount of water for your snails to live and grow.

Note

If you have a garden, you can easily tell if your soll is good for snails. If your green leafy vegetables grow well, snails will also grow well in the same kind of soil

1 snail digging a hole

2 laying the eggs and closing the hole

3 baby snails hatching and coming out of the hole

42. Snails need plants for both food and sheller. Most kinds of snails use several kinds for food and several other kinds for shelter.

43. They may also use different plants for food and shelter at different times of the year. Sometimes during the growing season snails eat and find shelter on the same plants.

44. Snails usually hide on shelter plants during 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. However, sometimes snails do eat during the day after it has rained.

45. If you live in a place which has a season when plants do not grow, snails will dig into the soil to rest and they do not eat then.

46. During the growing season snails will eat a lot and grow very fast if they have food plants that they like.

47. So, before you begin you will have to find out exactly what plants they like to eat. To do this you will have to watch snails at night when they eat.

48. You can tell that snails are eating when you see their heads moving as they scrape food into their mouths. You can also tell when a snail has been eating by the holes it makes in the leaves.

49. You will also have to find out what plants they like for shelter. To do this you will have to watch snails during the day when they rest.

50. It is often difficult to find snails on shelter plants because they are hiding. So, you will have to look very carefully.

51. In addition to the food plants, there are many other kinds of foods that you can put into a pen for your snails to eat. You will learn about these foods and when you should use them in the next booklet in this series.

52. Dew at night in the growing season helps the plants to grow and makes the leaves and the ground wet so that snails can move about.

53. Rain in the growing season also helps the plants to grow and it cleans the plants of dust and the dirt that snails leave when they move about. The dirt that snails leave may make them sick.

54. So, it is very important that the food and shelter plants are wet and clean.

55. When the leaves are wet, snails move easily, eat more and grow well. When the leaves are dry, snails move very little, or not at all, and they grow poorly.

56. When it rains and the plants are clean, the snails will be healthy. When it does not rain and the plants are dirty, the snails may get sick.

57. Dew and rain also keep the ground moist so that the snails can move easily and dig into it to rest and to lay their eggs.

58. In the next booklet, you will be told how to wet the leaves of plants and moisten the ground when it is too dry.

59. Land that is very wet, low land that does not drain well or land that floods in the rainy season is not good for snail farming.

60. Wind during the growing season is bad because it dries the dew and dries out the snails.

61. If you decide to farm snails, try to keep them in a place that is protected from the wind.

62. If you decide to farm snails you must keep them in a pen. Snails kept in a well- built pen will not get away easily and you can watch them and take care of them well.

63. After the first year you will need at least two pens. If you decide to farm more snails you may want even more pens. You will learn how to use two or more pens in the next booklet.

64. In each pen you can give your snails the right kinds of plants for them to eat and to use as shelter.

65. In each pen you can put the food and shelter plants near each other so that the snails can move easily from one to the other.

66. Each pen you build must also keep the snails safe from their enemies. Snails have many enemies. You must be careful to protect them from

67. A snail pen can be small or large depending on how many snails you want to raise. However, when you first begin, start with a small pen. You will need fewer materials. It will be easier to take care of.

68. In addition, with a small pen you will need fewer snails to begin. When you know more about raising snails, you can build a bigger pen and get more snails to raise.

69. A good size for a pen is 5 x 5 metres. Later in this booklet you will learn how to build a small pen of this size.

70. If you are using small snails like those you have seen on pages 8 and 9 in this booklet, you will need more snails to begin.

71. If you are using large snails like those you have seen on pages 10 and 11 in this booklet, you will need fewer snails to begin.

72. With a pen of 5 x 5 metres (25 square metres) you will need

• 150 snails if you use the small kind (6 for each square metre)

• 25 snails if you use the large kind (1 for each square metre).

73. The amount of snail meat that you will get from small snails will be about the same as what you would get from large snails. This is because you will use many more small snails than large snails and the meat will be about equal.

74. With one 5 x 5 metre pen you will get 12 to 13 kilograms of snail meat each year and with two 5 x 5 metre pens you will get 24 to 26 kilograms each year.

75. In the first part of this booklet you have learned many things about snails and farming snails. You have learned

76. You may also have been able to learn a lot about snails by watching the wild snails near where you live.

77. An old farmer may have told you what he knows about snails. Someone who gathers snails to sell to others or another snail farmer may have helped you to learn.

78. So, now that you know a lot about snails it is time to decide if you would like to start your own snail farm.

79. If you would like to begin you will learn exactly what to do in the rest of this booklet and in the next booklet.

80. Try to choose a place that is close to your house. That way you will be able to watch your snails, protect them from their enemies and take care of them easily

81. In Items 34 to 41 you were told that to farm snails you must have the right kind of soil with the right amount of water.

82. Remember, if green leafy vegetables grow well in your soil, snails will also grow well in the same kind of soil.

83. In Items 59 to 61 you were told that low, wet land and wind are bad for snails. So, avoid low, wet places and try to put your snail farm where it is protected from the wind.

84. In Item 63 you were told that after the first year you will need at least two pens and later you may want even more. In Item 69 you were told that it is best to start with a small pen of 5 x 5 metres.

85. So, try to find a place where you can put at least two or three 5 x 5 metre pens.

86. Clean the site and prepare the ground a little before the growing season so that you can build the pen in time to plant the food and shelter plants.

87. First, mark out a square of 8 x 8 metres on the place that you have chosen.

88. That way, with a pen of 5 x 5 metres in the centre of the square, you will have a path of 1.5 metres all the way around it (see Item 92). If you have enough land, the path can be even wider.

89. Clear the square of trees, bushes grass, creeping grass and weeds. Take away all of the roots and the big stones that you can.

90. Spread the plant material that you have cleaned evenly on the ground and cover the whole square. If there is not enough, bring more plant material from another place.

91. When the plant material is dry, burn it. This will kill the insects, the weed seeds and the roots of creeping grass, and rid the ground of mice, rats and shrews.

Note

Insecticides and poisons can also be used to rid your pen of insects, mice, rats and other enemies of snails. However, if you use them, do not use them by yourself because they are very dangerous. Ask someone who knows how to use them, such as your extension agent.

92. Now mark out a smaller square of 5 x 5 metres inside the big square. This is for your first snail pen.

93. Dig the ground in the smaller square to a depth of 20 centimetres and turn it over well. As you dig, remove any rubbish or roots that you find.

94. While you are digging, if you see any more insects or any of the enemies of snails, bring more dry plant material and burn the ground again. To farm snails, the area must be free of insects, mice, rats and other enemies.

95. When you have finished digging, the ground in the 5 x 5 metre square should be as smooth and well worked as it would be if you were planting a vegetable garden.

96. However, do not use any fertilizer, animal manure or compost as you might with a vegetable garden. Fertilizers may burn the snails and animal manure or compost may bring in insects and weed seeds.