How to farm river snails in rice paddies? These farming experiences are worth referencing
River snails are omnivorous, grow quickly, have strong adaptability, and are easy to breed and raise, but they prefer shade and fear light, so they are suitable for rice paddy farming. This allows one to maximize strengths and avoid weaknesses, and pursue advantages while avoiding harm. Farming river snails in rice paddies while growing rice can not only increase rice yields but also produce a large amount of high-quality commercial river snails, and with low input and high efficiency, it is a good path quite suitable for rural areas to quickly increase income and become prosperous.
1. Rice paddy selection. For snail-farming rice paddies, choose paddies that do not dry up in drought and do not flood in floods. Do not use agricultural machinery during cultivation, and plowing and harrowing are not suitable, but weeds must be completely eradicated.
2. Water quality requirements. River snails are relatively sensitive to dissolved oxygen in the paddy water. When the oxygen content is below 3.5 mg/L, feeding is poor, and at a dissolved oxygen level of 1.5 mg/L they begin to die. Therefore, the paddy water must be fresh and have a relatively high dissolved oxygen content.
3. Construction of rice paddy facilities. Empty lanes can also be left when transplanting rice. Within 1 week after transplanting, dig high-yield ditches 20—30 cm wide and 13—17 cm deep. At the water inlet and outlet of the rice paddy, relatively dense fences or polyethylene nets with smaller mesh should also be installed. Around the field ridges, strictly prevent rats, snakes, and the like from burrowing holes and causing water leakage, so as to prevent the snails from escaping.
4. Stocking and management of river snails. 1. Stocking. Artificial farming of river snails must be flexibly controlled according to actual conditions, generally 90,000—105,000 per hectare. Brood snails can also be released, generally 0.1—0.5 kg of brood snails per square meter. 2. Feeding. River snails are omnivorous. In addition to feeding on natural food, they can be appropriately fed some green vegetables, soybean cake, rice bran, earthworms, etc., and can also be fed other animal offal, scraps, etc. The feed should be fresh. Young snails can be fed 2 weeks after hatching. When feeding, first soak solid feed until soft, chop fish scraps, animal offal, scraps, etc., then mix evenly with rice bran or wheat bran before feeding. Feed once a day, generally at 8—9 a.m. The daily feeding amount is roughly 1%—3% of the total weight of the river snails, and as body weight gradually increases, the amount eaten can be adjusted appropriately. For some relatively fertile rice paddies, feeding may also be omitted, letting them feed on natural plankton and aquatic plants in the water. When feeding, if the operculum of the river snail contracts and the flesh protrudes, it indicates that the river snails lack calcium; at this time, shrimp shell bran, shell powder, etc. should be added to the feed. If the operculum sinks into the shell, it is due to insufficient feed and hunger, and the feeding amount should be increased in time so as not to affect the growth and reproduction of the river snails. 3. Feeding management. In the feeding management of river snails, the most important thing is to manage water quality and water temperature well. In summer and autumn, river snails feed vigorously, and it is also a high-temperature season, so flush water and change water to irrigate the field, lower the water temperature, and increase dissolved oxygen. In addition, water sources with excessively high iron and sulfur content, as well as industrial wastewater, must never be used, because this will directly cause the snails to die.