One of the mistakes that have cost many snail farmers their businesses is believing that snails can eat anything.  The right Snail feed is an essential practice of snail farming that needs the highest  priority, as its one of the major  factors that influence:

• The Flesh Size of Your Snails
• How your snails lay eggs
• Shell formation on your snails
• The Taste of Your Snails Meat (the sweeter and healthier their feed is, the better they taste)
• The Survival Rate of Your Snails

What then should you feed your snails?

Feeding varies with Snail Species, but our focus is on the Archachatina Marginata (we are glad to be of help if you are still having challenges identifying the specie of snail ideal for sustainable snail farming).

The Archachatina Marginata (or AM species for short) are herbivores; meaning they feed majorly on plants. Snails may become cannibals if left unfed for some days and they can start to eat one another. Snail diets range from carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and even to water.

Yes! Snails drink water because it refreshes them. A major important mineral is calcium; which helps in their shell formation and egg production.

Here is a list of food you can give to your snails:

Healthy, Fleshy Fruits

A variety of accessible fruits like Pawpaw, Mango, Cucumber, Water Melon, Soursop, Banana, Cherries etc. are rich in vitamins and minerals that are essential nutrients for your snail’s growth.

Tip: (You can slice them using a sharp and clean knife to cut them into smaller pieces making them easier for your snails to eat).
Fruits like oranges and pineapples should be avoided because of their acidic content and their affinity to attract ants to your snail pen; Trust me, you won’t like to see ants invade your snail pen and bully your snails). Too much of acidic fruits are harmful to your snail’s health

Clean Leaves and Vegetables

Snails love leaves and vegetables as they benefit richly vitamins, protein, and calcium for stronger and healthier shells from consuming them.
Leaves without spikes and sharp blades should be carefully selected for your snails.

Examples of edible leaves you can give your snails are pawpaw leaves, Cocoyam leaves, Potato leaves, Moringa leaves, Okra Leaves etc.
You can also give them vegetables such as carrots, cabbages, Jute, lettuce, Pumpkin etc.

Tip: (Wash your leaves and vegetables with clean water before giving your snails, they shy away from anything contaminated, plus, washing keeps away insects from the leaves and vegetables. Also like the fruits, dice them into smaller pieces, so your snails can eat them with ease).

Tubers

Of course, your snails do need some amount of carbohydrates and you can get them easily from yam, sweet potatoes, cocoyam, and cassava too.

But with cassava though, you have to be very careful, make sure the ones you get contain a low level of cyanide (the higher the cyanide content, the bitter the cassava tastes). It can be a bit tricky, so we’ll suggest you take cassava off your snail’s diet, especially if you’re not sure of the cyanide content.

On the contrary, you need to watch the number of carbs you give your snails as too much of carbohydrate intake may cause bloating in your snails.

Calcium Supplements

The Snail shell is what protects it from predators. Calcium helps build and repair the shell. Where then should you get your calcium supplements from?

Eggshells, Snail shells (yes, you read this right, snail shells have a high content of calcium), Oyster shells, and Bone meals. All the listed should be in the powdery form. They can easily be purchased at a trusted feed store near you.

Please Note: You can either add these to the snail’s feed or the soil; Remember that snails ingest soil in their pens too? So, they can have access to some calcium supplement each time they decide to eat the soil.
Also, contact an expert to know how to give your snails these calcium supplements in the right proportion.

SHELLOF

SHELLOF is a plant-based snail feed that is specially formulated for snails by the research team of NGsnails. Most people love to call it “The Jollof for Snails” because it helps your snails to grow better and produce much more.

With SHELLOF, you don’t need to worry about your snail growth or what your snails will eat.
Have you ever seen anyone resist the taste of “Jollof Rice”? No right? Same is applicable to your snails. If you want to embrace a less stressful experience while farming snails, then you need to get SHELLOF. You can always contact any of the numbers attached to NGsnails site to place your orders.

READ ALSO: How To Make Profits From Snail Business In Nigeria

Harmful Feeds to Avoid Giving Your Snails

Avoid giving your Snails Salty Foods

Generally, snails survive in an atmosphere that’s cool and with a substantial amount of moisture. Foods with a high salt content will dehydrate your snails, limiting their chances of survival.

Avoid giving your Snails Contaminated Foods

Snails are sensitive to chemicals, especially from plants and vegetables that have been sprayed with pesticides and exposed to poisonous gases from vehicle fumes, they are harmful to your snail’s health.
Ensure you wash your plants and vegetables before giving them to your snails, to disinfect and remove insects that might be hiding in them.

Avoid Starchy Foods

If you’ve been feeding your Snail left-over rice and pasta (spaghetti), then you’ve been doing them more harm than good. Snails find it hard digesting starchy foods as they cause internal blockages in the snail’s digestive system which in turn leads to swelling (bloating) and death of the snails.

Avoid Chlorinated Water

Guess what? This is not a feed, but yes! Snails drink water too, and you must avoid giving them treated water as it is harmful to their health. Ensure your Snail farms’ source of water contains no chlorine.
Tip: (Ensure you give the water to your snails in a flat and grounded container, to keep your snails from drowning and also, to make sure the snails don’t tilt the container).

The Top Feed For Your Snails

With our years of experience and continued research in snail farming, we discovered some of the above-recommended food might not be easily accessible to you all year round, as such; we have produced SHELLOF.

SHELLOF is a snail feed that is made from plants and specially tailored to improve the growth rate amidst your snails whilst making them produce more eggs for your farm.

In simple terms, SHELLOF is the JOLLOF for your SNAILS; It is irresistible and contains all the nutrients needed for your snails to grow better. The Goodnews is; SHELLOF doesn’t contain any premix or chemicals or boosters; It is made strictly from plants by our skilful team of researchers at NGsnails.

Do drop a comment and share with your friends.

SOURCES
https://www.wikihow.com/Feed-a-Land-Snail
https://mbasic.facebook.com/NGsnails
https://agro4africa.com/essential-food-for-snails/
http://www.slughelp.com/plants-snails-and-slugs-like-to-eat-vegetables-herbs-flowers/
http://www.wikipedia.org