Hatching Methods for Egg Clutches in Snail Farming

In the process of farming snails, you first need to understand the growth habits of snails, and secondly you need to understand their farming methods. However, no matter how much of this book knowledge you read, sometimes it can only remain theoretical. To actually apply it to farming, farmers still need to adapt to the situation.

Hatching of Farmed Snail Egg Clutches

To increase the hatching rate, snail egg clutches should be hatched by setting up a hatching bed (such as a bamboo mat) on a bamboo sieve rack 30 cm above the water surface in a hatching pond (ditch). The top of the hatching bed should be covered with plastic film, and shade material should be placed on the film to prevent rain and sunlight, and some duckweed should be placed in the hatching pond (ditch). When placing the egg clutches, do not pile them up; spread them flat. Egg clutches collected each day should be placed separately. Freshly laid egg clutches are pink; under the suitable hatching temperature of 28—30X2, the eggs turn brown after 4—5 days and white after 7—10 days. Once the eggs turn white, the young snails are about to break out of their shells. After hatching, the young snails automatically fall through the sieve holes into the water. When the apex of the shell changes from red to black, they begin to feed, and juvenile snail rearing can begin.

The hatching time varies with air temperature. When the air temperature is high, the hatching time is short; when the air temperature is low, the hatching time of snail egg clutches is long. At an air temperature of 18—22C, young snails hatch after 27—29 days; above 28°C, young snails hatch after 8-12 days; when the air temperature is around 30E, young snails can hatch in 7—10 days. When the air temperature drops below 20°C, it is very difficult for the eggs to hatch young snails. If the air temperature is below 20C, the bamboo sieve holding the eggs should be placed indoors in a water tray (water depth 10 cm) inside an insulated box enclosed with plastic film, and heated to 28°C with a 40W light bulb; in about 11 days the hatching of the snail egg clutches is completed.

Construction of Snail Farming Ponds  

1. Site selection for farming: Snails have strong adaptability and few diseases. As long as they avoid poisoning by large amounts of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, many flat rural rivers, canals, stream banks, pits, rice fields, ponds, and other ordinary water bodies can all be used for stocking.  

2. Pond construction: Snail farming ponds are generally 1.5 m wide, 10-15 m long, and 30-50 cm deep. Between two ponds, build a 20 cm high embankment for walking. The pond bottom should be covered with 10 cm of fertile mud. Aquatic plants such as wild rice stem, asparagus, water hyacinth, and duckweed can be sparsely planted in the pond to provide shade and cooling for the snails, support for climbing and resting, and feed, improving the utilization rate of the snail pond. Around the snail pond, build a 60-80 cm high wall or mesh fence.

3. Pond disinfection: In snail farming, the use of sodium pentachlorophenate for pond clearing is completely prohibited. Generally, quicklime or bleaching powder can be used for pond clearing and disinfection, but quicklime is best. The dosage is 100-150 kg per mu with water (water depth 30-50 cm), and 50-75 kg per mu without water. Clearing the pond with quicklime has the benefits of increasing pH, increasing calcium content, regulating water quality, and killing viruses and bacteria.

Snail Farming Methods  

1. Selection of brood snails: Snails mostly reproduce naturally. For artificial farming, they can be picked from rice fields, wild rice stem fields, and muddy ditches, or bought from the market. Then choose live snails with light brown color, thin shells, round bodies, and blunt tails as brood snails. Generally, snails weighing 15-25 g have reached sexual maturity and can reproduce at temperatures above 15°C. Female snails are large and round, while male snails are small and pointed.  

2. Stocking time: Brood snails can be stocked all at once in sufficient quantity, or in multiple batches. However, to improve the survival rate, it is generally necessary to avoid the hot summer period. Of course, stocking at the end of the previous year helps shorten the farming time and increase the yield per unit area that year.  

3. Stocking method: If stocking in a natural area, 11 brood snails per sq m is sufficient (3 males and 8 females). If farming in a dug pond alone, 100-500 per sq m can be stocked. The water depth should preferably be 0.8-1 m, and a layer of more than 10 cm of silt should be retained at the bottom of the pond to facilitate crawling, feeding, and resting of the snails. When stocking, put male and female snails together so they can reproduce naturally.  

4. Mixed farming: To regulate water quality, stock 20-50 silver carp of 20-50 g each and 5-10 bighead carp of 20-50 g each per mu. Snail ponds should not be stocked with carnivorous or partly carnivorous fish such as black carp, common carp, crucian carp, and yellow catfish.

Differences Between River Snails and Field Snails  

Many people think river snails are field snails, and field snails are river snails, but in fact they are two closely related species that are merely very similar in many respects.  

1. Different origins: River snails are only found in our country, while field snails are found almost all over the world.  

2. Different shells: The shell surface of river snails is not as smooth as that of field snails, and has many spiral ribbed lines, while the shells of field snails have no ribbed lines.  

3. Different sizes: Field snails can grow very large, while river snails generally do not grow large.  

4. Different habits: River snails live creeping along the bottom of the water and must be caught with specially made trawl nets, while field snails like to live on banks or in rice fields.  

5. Number of offspring: River snails can only give birth to 3-7 young snails per litter, while field snails can give birth to several dozen per litter.  

6. Breeding season: River snails breed continuously all year round, while field snails only begin breeding from March to April each year.

Field snail farming is a relatively popular farming project in rural areas of our country, because snail farming has low investment cost, high return profit, and a relatively low threshold, so many farmers have set their sights on snail farming.