The white jade snail is an edible snail, large in size, with white flesh, tender and delicious meat, high economic value, and quite competitive on the international market. (1) Advantages of open-air artificial farming. First, it has fast growth; open-air farming can meet the snail's requirements for the three key factors of temperature, humidity and feed, so growth and development are fast, and the growth rate is higher than that of box farming.
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<p>The white jade snail is an edible snail, large in size, with white flesh, tender and delicious meat, high economic value, and quite competitive on the international market.</p><p></p><p>(1) Advantages of open-air artificial farming</p><p>First, it has fast growth; open-air farming can meet the snail's requirements for the three key factors of temperature, humidity and feed, so growth and development are fast, and the growth rate is higher than that of box farming. Second, the meat is white and of good quality. Third, the shell patterns are clear and bright, very suitable for making shell-carving crafts. Fourth, it saves labor and feed, yields more product, and brings higher income.</p><p>(2) Open-air farming conditions</p><p>① White jade snails freeze to death below 5°C, so areas where the average winter temperature is above 5°C can serve as the boundary for open-air farming. Most areas of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China can carry out open-air farming.</p><p>② A good sales channel must be found; before farming snails, the sales channel must be secured first, so that the products produced do not stagnate and cause economic losses.</p><p>③ There must be strict measures and equipment to prevent white jade snails from escaping.</p><p>④ The ecological environment of the open-air farming site must be maintained and kept free from damage by humans and other organisms.</p><p>(3) Farming techniques</p><p>① Selection of site. A site sheltered from the wind, shaded, humid, with good drainage, and covered with weeds or shrubs, at the foot of mountains, on slopes, hills, wasteland, or idle land in front of and behind houses, can all be used as stocking sites.</p><p>② Building escape-prevention facilities. (a) Dig a perimeter ditch. Around the farming site, dig a ring of ditch, generally 10 cm wide and 5 cm deep; where conditions allow, shallow water can be stored in the ditch. This perimeter ditch both prevents snails from escaping and serves to drain and store water for the site. (b) Plant scallions, garlic, chives, onions, etc. around the site as a barrier belt; because the above plants can give off a pungent smell, they have a certain repellent effect on snails. (c) Use wire mesh or plastic mesh to make a fence with inward-facing angles, forming a "┐" shape; when the snail climbs to the top, because it is inconvenient to turn and its center of gravity is downward, it will fall back into the farming site. (d) Taking advantage of the snail's physiological reaction of avoiding high alkalinity, build a wall about 1 m high with bricks around the farming site, and coat the inner wall with a layer of highly alkaline lime-sand-cement about 1 cm thick, with a pH value of 11.5; the escape-prevention effect is very good.</p><p>③ Releasing young snails at the right time. Release young snails when the temperature begins to stabilize at 20°C; in the Nanjing area, this is from May 10 to 20. The young snails should be uniform in age, preferably 2-3 months old and 5-10 g in weight, and the stocking density is 100-200 snails per sq m.</p><p>④ Strengthen management. Every night and early morning, especially after rain, is the peak period for white jade snails to come out and move about; timely inspection allows escaped snails to be retrieved in time.</p><p>⑤ Take good measures against the harm of natural enemies such as rats, frogs, snakes, birds, turtles, centipedes and ants.</p><p>⑥ Sell the products in time. Generally in early September, when the snails reach an individual weight of more than 30-50 g, they should be sold promptly to prevent losses caused by changes in disastrous weather.</p>
The white jade snail is an edible snail with a large body, white flesh, tender and delicious meat, high economic returns, and is quite competitive on the international market.
(1) Advantages of outdoor artificial farming
First, it grows fast. Outdoor farming can meet the snail's three major requirements for temperature, humidity and feed, so growth and development are rapid, and the growth rate is higher than that of box farming. Second, the meat is white and of good quality. Third, the shell patterns are clear and bright, very suitable for making shell-carving handicrafts. Fourth, it saves labor and feed, yields more products and brings higher income.
(2) Outdoor farming conditions
① White jade snails freeze to death below 5°C. Therefore, areas where the average winter temperature is above 5°C can serve as the boundary for outdoor farming. Most areas of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China can carry out outdoor farming.
② Find a good sales outlet. Before farming snails, a sales outlet must first be secured, so as to avoid unsold products and resulting economic losses.
③ Have strict measures and equipment to prevent white jade snails from escaping.
④ Maintain the ecological environment of the outdoor farming site without human or other biological damage.
(3) Farming techniques
① Selection of site: choose a wind-sheltered, shaded, moist location with good drainage and growing weeds or shrubs; mountain foothills, slopes, hills, wasteland, and idle land in front of and behind houses can all serve as stocking sites.
② Build anti-escape facilities (a) Dig a water ditch around the site. Dig a ring of water ditches around the farming site, generally 10 cm wide and 5 cm deep; where conditions permit, shallow water can be stored in the ditches. This ring ditch both prevents snails from escaping and serves for drainage and water storage within the site. (b) Plant scallions, garlic, chives, onions, etc. around the site as an isolation belt, because the above plants can release pungent odors, which have a certain repellent effect on snails. (C) Use wire mesh or plastic mesh to make a fence with inward-facing corners, forming a "┐" shape; when snails crawl to the top, because it is inconvenient to turn and the center of gravity is downward, they will fall back into the farming site. (d) Taking advantage of the snail's physiological response of avoiding high alkalinity, build a brick wall about 1 m high around the farming site, and coat the inner wall with a layer of highly alkaline lime-sand cement about 1 cm thick, with a pH value of 11.5, which has a very good anti-escape effect.
③ Release young snails at the right time. Release young snails when the temperature begins to stabilize at 20°C; in the Nanjing area, this is from May 10 to 20. The young snails should be of uniform age, preferably 2-3 months old and 5-10 g in weight, and the stocking density should be 100-200 snails per sq m.
④ Strengthen management. Every night and early morning, especially after rain, is the peak period for white jade snails to go out and move about; timely checks allow escaped snails to be recovered in time.
⑤ Take good measures against natural enemies such as rats, frogs, snakes, birds, turtles, centipedes and ants.
⑥ Sell products in time. Generally in early September, when snails reach an individual weight of 30-50 g or more, they should be sold promptly to prevent losses caused by changes in disastrous weather.