What You Need to Know About Farming River Snails: Key Points for Beginners to Master
Methods of farming river snails include dedicated pond culture, rice field co-culture, and fish-snail polyculture. For dedicated pond culture, the pond area should be small, the soil soft, and the water source abundant. Aquatic plants such as wild rice stem and arrowhead can be planted in the pond as appropriate, to make full use of the land and create a sheltered ecological environment for the river snails. The water quality in the farming pond is one of the keys to the success or failure of river snail farming. Note: water containing large amounts of iron and sulfur must never be used.
The optimum water temperature for river snail farming is 20°C-26°C, at which they feed vigorously. When the water temperature rises to 30°C-33°C, the river snails burrow into the soil to escape the heat, neither eating nor moving nor growing. The flesh also becomes tough and tasteless. Therefore, care must be taken to keep the water temperature below 26°C. The farming water depth is generally 30 cm. In winter, to raise the water temperature, it can be lowered to about 20 cm. This amount of water is not only needed for the river snails' growth, but also serves to defend against predators.
For raising river snails alongside rice, choose marshy fields that never dry up all year and remain moist, as these are most suitable for river snails' life. The organic fertilizer and weeds in the rice field can supply food for the river snails; when the stocking density is relatively high, some artificial feed can be added. Under the shade of the rice, the river snails can maintain their growth in summer. So raising snails in rice fields is a simple, labor-saving farming method; you just need to be careful to avoid using pesticides, otherwise they will poison the river snails.
River snails can be polycultured with one-year-old carp fingerlings; the feed given to the carp, after decomposing in the mud, serves as feed for the river snails. However, they should not be polycultured with two-year-old carp, because carp of this age will swallow young river snails. They can also be polycultured with other fish or aquatic animals. Sometimes, to increase the output of famous and high-quality aquatic products, river snails are used as high-quality feed in the raising of black carp, turtles, and soft-shelled turtles.
In the natural state, river snails grow fastest during the first three to four months, then gradually slow 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 full size in a relatively short period; in this way the snail meat is large, soft, and delicious, surpassing that of natural ones, and the yield is also higher.
Harvesting Methods
Besides reaching into the pond with your hands to scoop up river snails, they can also be caught with a hand dip net. The net has a diameter of 20 cm and a mesh of 2.8 cm; when harvesting, small individuals can be allowed to slip through the net and remain in the pond to continue growing. If the farming pond is relatively large, roasted rice bran mixed with clay can be kneaded into balls and thrown into the pond; when the river snails smell the fragrance, they will gather to feed, and at this time you can pick the large ones and leave the small ones, or catch them with netting gear.