How to raise river snails well? A complete guide to practical farming techniques

Farmers who use small water surfaces or rice fields to farm river snails can achieve considerable economic benefits. The river snail farming techniques are introduced as follows:

1. Selection of river snail farming sites

River snail farming sites should be chosen in places with abundant water sources, good water quality, humus soil and convenient transportation. A site with flowing water is best.

Construction of the farming pond. The snail pond is generally 1.5-1.6 m wide and 10-15 m long, or can be built according to the terrain. Build banks around the pond, with a bank height of about 50 cm. Set up water inlets and outlets at both ends of the pond and install screens to prevent river snails from escaping. At the same time, sparsely plant aquatic plants such as wild rice stem in the middle of the farming pond. This can not only increase the land output rate, but also create a good ecological environment for the growth of river snails.

2. Stocking density and feeding management

1. The stocking density of river snails is generally 100-120 per sq m. At the same time, about 5 summer fry of silver carp and bighead carp per sq m are stocked together for polyculture. River snails are generally stocked in March.

2. Fertilizing and bait feeding. First apply some manure to the farming pond to cultivate plankton and provide feed for the river snails. The amount of fertilizer depends on whether the pond bottom is fertile or poor. After the river snails are put into the pond, feed them with green vegetables, rice bran, fish viscera or rapeseed cake, soybean cake, etc. Green vegetables and fish viscera should be chopped and mixed evenly with feed such as rice bran before feeding. Rapeseed cake, soybean cake, etc. should be soaked until soft so that the river snails can eat them easily. The feeding amount depends on the feeding situation of the river snails and is generally calculated at 1%-3% of the total weight of the river snails, fed once every 2-3 days. Feed every morning. The feeding position does not need to be fixed, and the feed is given every other day. When the temperature is lower than 15°C or higher than 30°C, no bait is needed.

3. Water quality regulation. First, new water should often be injected into the snail pond to regulate water quality. Especially in the breeding season, it is best to keep the pond water flowing. Especially in high-temperature seasons, flowing-water farming gives better results. In spring and autumn, slight flowing-water farming is better. The water depth of the snail pond should always be kept at about 30 cm. Second, regulate the pH of the water. When the pH value of the pond water is low, apply 0.15-0.18 kg of quicklime per sq m, scattering it once every 10-15 days, so that the pH value of the pond water remains 7-8.

4. Overwintering management of river snails. When the water temperature drops to 8-9°C, river snails begin to hibernate. During hibernation, river snails drill into the soil with the top of their shells, leaving only a small round hole on the soil surface and occasionally bubbling to breathe. River snails do not eat during the overwintering period, but the farming pond still needs to maintain a water depth of 10-15 cm. Generally, change the water once every 3-4 days to maintain an appropriate oxygen content.

High-efficiency river snail farming techniques

1. Choose a site.

River snails have strong vitality and disease resistance. Ditches, paddy fields and shallow ponds with flowing water sources can all be used for stocking. Pond farming is generally adopted. The snail pond is generally 2-3 m wide and 10-15 m long. Build banks around the pond, with a bank height of 0.7 m, and install screens around it to prevent river snails from escaping. Spread 20 cm thick fertile mud on the pond bottom, inject new water, and stock water hyacinth, small gourd, red and green duckweed, etc. on the water surface. To provide food for river snails, insert small bamboo poles or wooden sticks in the pond for the snails to rest on and lay eggs.

2. Stocking seedlings

Select breeder snails or young snails and put them into the pond. After the pond is built, seedlings are generally stocked from April to November. Every year from June to September is the season when river snails lay large numbers of eggs. You can pick them up in rice fields and river ditches, or buy them from the market. The characteristics of female snails are: light brown color, relatively thin shell, relatively round body, blunt tail. Select female snails of 15-20 g and put them into the pond. Generally, stocking 10 female snails per sq m is enough. If young snails are selected as seedlings, stock them at a female-to-male ratio of 2:1. Female snails are larger, with a rounder body and a concave and flat operculum shell; male snails are slightly smaller, with a longer body and a protruding operculum shell. Young snails can be harvested for market after about one year of farming.

3. Feeding management

River snails have abundant feed sources. Microorganisms, organic matter and tender stems and leaves of aquatic plants in the water are all their main food. In the peak growth season for young snails, from April to November each year, add rice bran, wheat bran, tofu dregs, cooked sweet potato, small insects, small fish and shrimp, and animal viscera, etc. Compound feed can also be given. Feed once a day at 8-9 a.m. Larger feed should be chopped before feeding. The daily feeding amount is about 1.5% of the snail body weight. Change the water regularly to keep the water fresh, about once every 10 days. When the water temperature is above 30°C, often inject new water and deepen the water level. At ordinary times, keep the water depth at 30 cm. In winter, lower the water level during the day to increase light exposure. At night, deepen the water level. Combine with applying some pig manure and barnyard manure to increase temperature and fertilize the water quality. River snails are relatively sensitive to pesticides and industrial sewage. Attention should be paid to avoiding them, and attention should also be paid to damage by ducks.

4. Harvesting for market

After one year of farming, those reaching a body weight of more than 15 g can be harvested for market. Harvesting methods can be draining the pond for harvesting or shallow-water harvesting. At the same time, leave some female snails to prepare for breeding young snails the next year.

5. Overwintering management

When the water temperature drops to 8-9°C, river snails begin to hibernate. During hibernation, river snails drill into holes, leaving a small hole on the soil surface and occasionally bubbling. At this time they do not eat or move. Keep the water depth at 10-15 cm and change the water once every 4-5 days to increase oxygen content so that river snails can overwinter safely.

Scientific river snail farming techniques

1. Living habits

River snails like to live in waters that are warm in winter and cool in summer, with soft bottom material, abundant feed and clear fresh water. They especially like to gather in places with slight flowing water. River snails like to inhabit water environments where the bottom mud is rich in humus, such as lakes with lush aquatic plants, ponds, field depressions or slowly flowing river ditches.

River snails are omnivorous and mainly eat tender stems and leaves of aquatic plants, bacteria and organic debris, etc., and river snails like to move and feed at night. River snails begin to move and feed when the water temperature is about 15°C. The most suitable temperature for growth is 20-27°C. When above 30°C, river snails will retract their bodies into their shells, stop feeding, and gather in shady places or burrow into the mud to escape the heat. When the water temperature exceeds 40°C, river snails will die. When the water temperature is below 8°C, river snails burrow into mud holes to hibernate. It is not until the next spring when the water temperature rises back to about 15°C that river snails come out of their holes again to move and feed.

2. Reproductive habits

The method of distinguishing female and male river snails is mainly based on the shape of their right tentacle. The right tentacle of the male river snail bends inward to the right (the curved part is the male reproductive organ). In addition, female snails are large and round, while male snails are small and long.

River snails are ovoviviparous animals, and their reproductive method is unique. The embryonic development and young snail development of river snails are completed in the mother's body. From fertilized egg to the birth of the young snail, it takes about one year of gestation in the mother's body. River snails lay eggs in batches and begin to reproduce from March to April each year. While producing young snails, female and male parent snails mate and fertilize, and at the same time conceive in the mother's body the young snails to be produced the next year. One mother snail produces about 100-150 young snails in a whole year.

3. Stocking breeder snails

Generally, breeder snails can be stocked one after another starting in late March. Ten days before stocking river snails, splash quicklime over the whole pond at 50 kg-100 kg per mu to remove wild fish, shrimp and other miscellaneous snails. After 3-4 days, pile organic fertilizer in the water body and breed feed organisms for river snails to eat. Breeder snails can be purchased from markets or collected by oneself. Stock 100-120 breeder snails per sq m. Four summer fry of bighead carp can also be stocked in the pond. Before stocking breeder snails, first apply an appropriate amount of manure in the pond to cultivate feed organisms. It is best to complete the stocking of breeder snails before the early stage of river snail reproduction. Breeder snails should be selected as live snails with light brown color, thin and complete shells, round bodies and blunt tops. River snails can be farmed alone, or together with some silver carp and bighead carp fry, or by mixed farming of river snails and loach.

4. Farming water body

River snails have strong adaptability and few diseases. As long as they avoid poisoning by large amounts of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, many ordinary water bodies in rural areas such as flat canals, stream beaches, pits, rice fields and ponds can all be used for stocking. If a special pond is dug for farming, choose a place with convenient water sources and humus soil to build the pond (if the soil is unsuitable, it is best to first apply mixed compost to improve it). Keep the bottom mud thickness at 10 cm-15 cm. There is no limit on area size. If it is an open water body, a small amount of red duckweed and water lotus, etc. can be cultivated on the water surface. Plant some long-vine melons and vegetables around the pond to build a shade shed, and place bamboo tails, branches or stones, grass, etc. in the water for river snails to hide and rest.

5. Water quality regulation

The quality of the water in the farming pond is one of the keys to the success or failure of river snail farming. First of all, ensure excellent water quality. Water containing large amounts of iron and sulfur must never be used. Because with water of too high iron content, the mortality rate after stocking seedlings is very high, and the shells of those that survive also have red rust attached, and even the snail meat appears reddish brown. Sulfur water also makes the snails have a sulfurous smell and makes them unfit to eat. For farming water, slightly turbid natural water bodies such as rivers or ponds are best. Do not use water that is too clear and transparent. The water body should contain abundant natural feed and sufficient oxygen. Because river snails are very sensitive to dissolved oxygen in water, when the dissolved oxygen content is 3.5 mg/L, they do not feed much, and when it drops to 1.5 mg/L, they will die. Therefore, the farming water must be fresh, and semi-flowing-water farming is ideal. The snail pond should often be injected with new water to regulate water quality. Especially in the breeding season, it is best to keep the pond water flowing. In high-temperature seasons, flowing-water farming gives better results. In spring and autumn, slight flowing-water farming is better. The water depth of the snail pond should be kept at about 30 cm.

6. Feeding management

Growth is fastest in the first three to four months, then gradually slows down, and after two years they no longer grow. Therefore, during artificial farming, river snails should be given full feeding at the right time so that they grow to market size in a relatively short time. In this way, the snail meat is large, soft and delicious, beyond what natural snails can match, and the yield is also higher.

In the extensive farming method in natural waters, it is only necessary to maintain water fertility. Applying an appropriate amount of organic fertilizers such as barnyard manure, chicken manure, cow manure, pig manure or rice straw at intervals can meet the growth needs of river snails. After stocking the snails, feed them with vegetable leaves, rice bran, soybean cake, rapeseed cake and animal viscera and other scraps. Cake-type feed should be soaked until soft before feeding, and other feed should be chopped and mixed evenly before feeding.

The feeding amount is generally calculated at 1%-3% of the total weight of the river snails, fed once every two or three days, and the feeding amount should be adjusted according to the growth and feeding situation of the river snails. Feeding does not need to be at fixed locations, and more feeding points should be set up. When the water temperature is lower than 15°C or higher than 30°C, no feeding is needed.

River snails do not have high nutritional requirements. Simply mixing rice bran, wheat bran and soybean powder at a ratio of 60%, 25% and 15% makes a top-grade feed for river snails. According to the feeding situation and climate conditions of river snails, within the suitable growth temperature range (that is, 20-28°C), river snails have a strong appetite and can be fed once every two days, with each feeding amount at 2%-3% of body weight. When the water temperature is 15-20°C or 28-30°C, feed twice a week, about 1% each time. When the temperature is lower than 15°C or higher than 30°C, feed less or not at all. In natural conditions, river snails can grow to individuals of 6-8 g in the same year, while artificially farmed individuals can reach 12-15 g.

7. Daily management

It is strictly forbidden for water sources polluted by pesticides and chemical fertilizers to flow in; prevent invasion by enemies such as ducks, snakes, rats and birds; remove aquatic weeds and grass roots in the water in time. At ordinary times, use slight flowing water and keep the water level at about 30 cm. In high-temperature seasons, increase the water flow to control the rise in water temperature and ensure sufficient dissolved oxygen in the water body. In cold weather, river snails enter the mud to hibernate. At this time, change the water 1-2 times a week and scatter some chopped rice straw into the water body to help river snails overwinter.

8. Overwintering management

When the water temperature drops to 8-9°C, river snails begin to hibernate. Hibernating river snails use the top of their shells to seal with mud, leaving only a small round hole on the soil surface and occasionally bubbling. River snails do not eat during the overwintering period, but the farming pond still needs to maintain a water depth of 10-15 cm. Generally, change the water once every 3-4 days to maintain an appropriate oxygen content.

After one year of careful feeding, the stocked young snails can reach 10-20 g, and the young snails hatched in the same year can also reach a size of more than 5 g. When harvesting river snails, adopt the method of catching the large and keeping the small and marketing in batches, selectively taking adult snails, keeping young snails for continued farming, and paying attention to selecting and keeping some mother snails, so as to achieve natural restocking and avoid the need to stock seedlings again later. According to their living habits, in the high-temperature seasons of summer and autumn, choose early morning or night to pick them up from the shore or from rotating bamboo branches and grass bundles in the water body; in winter and spring, choose noon on sunny days to pick them up. In addition, methods such as entering the pond to feel for them or draining the pond and picking them up can also be used to harvest river snails.

In short, river snail farming techniques cannot be mastered in one day. Farmers need to keep learning and accumulating experience during the farming process in order to do better and better in the river snail farming industry.