Welcome to livestockspot, today I will discuss on how to prevent and control pest on a snail farm. Nowadays, Snail farming is a booming livestock farming business. Everybody is now moving up to a new level of health consciousness, they are now mindful of what and the type of food to ingest into the body.
Snail meat is a very good meat highly rich in protein especially for the aging and pregnant women. Because of the discovery of the high nutritious values of snail meat, there is high demand of the snail both internationally (Europe) and locally (Africa) in Nigeria.
For the success of a snail farm, there are factors and sacrifices to be made. They are: Farm location, feeding and management such as prevention and control of pests must be considered in the snail farming business.
Because of the consistent increase in the world population, the demand for snail meat is high and thereby generating a good market for snails and making it a lucrative livestock business. Although the demand is high, and livestock farmers have increased as well, but yet the supply of snail across the world has never been met.
Why is demand never met?
Let me explain in details, majority of snails farmers lack the skills and knowledge to handle and manage challenges that their snail farms may face. Some of which are lack of adequate training, poor feeding etc.
The most difficult challenge of them all, which is the main focus of this post is Pests attack, its prevention and control. To avoid the unnecessary loss of snails to pest attack, you as a farmer must know the tactical approach to control and prevent pests in a snail farm.
Here are the most common snail pest: termites (soldier ants), snakes, birds, lizards, toads, frogs and so on.
Read Also: Best Guide to Start A Snail Farming Business
Toads and frogs prey mostly on young snails, while the bigger reptiles like the snake prey on both the snails and the eggs regardless of the size. These pests are always found wandering around the snail farm.
How To Prevent And Control Pests On A Snail Farm
Pest invasion is one of the most important things to be mindful of, when you are into snail farming business. Like one of the popular quote that says "prevention is better than cure", you shouldn't wait for these pest to attack your snail farm before the necessary action is being taken.
This is because the effect of these pest can be detrimental to you snail farm, in the sense that they cause damage to the lives of these micro livestock animals.
1.) Treatment of Soil
Every snail farm with any type of housing system be it intensive, semi intensive and extensive system needs a soil. Soil is the major habitat where the live span of snail begins and ends too. And as well these pest also reside in this soil because it is there habitat too, and your snails can be vulnerable to their attacks.
With the knowledge of the risks surrounding the use soil for your snail farm, there is a need to treat it in other to avoid the invasion of these pest. Soil Heating or Solarization is the very best method to treat the soil because there is no need of chemical applications.
This involves the use of heat to eliminate and kill pest residing within the soil before being taken to the pen. Here, the soil are being transferred into big cooking basins where they are heated to about 120°C to ensure that all the pests and micro organisms dwelling in the soil are eliminated.
Read Also: How To Start A Lucrative Fish Farming Business
Immediately after heating the soil, take them into the pens while hot and allow them to cool there. Endeavor not to make the mistake of allowing the soil to first cool outside the pens before transferring because these pests can enter, this is the first criteria when adopting an intensive housing system.
2.) Pest repellant plants
There are some plants, crops or even grasses that can naturally assist in the prevention of pest by making the environment unfavorable for them to survive, they are called pest repellant plants. They are very good in preventing reptiles like snakes, insects from entering and residing in your snail farm. Examples of these pest repellants are neem leaves, garlic, ginger and so on. Gingers and garlics can be grinded and then sprayed all over the corners and entrance of the snail farm often.
3.) Removal of leftover feeds
Most of the times, snails farmers form the habit of leaving perishable food like fruits for a very long period of time in other avoid food wastage. They wait for the snails to forcefully eat them, this isn't right at all.
It is best that leftover snail food should removed and disposed properly especially the perishable ones after 24 hours. This is because allowing the food back there will attract pest like ants which is not good for the health of your snails.
4.) Regular sanitation of snail farm
For the health and safety of your snails, you must endeavor to maintain consistent practice of sanitation on your snail farm. Keep your entire surrounding clean and free from pests. Snails are living things like us, so they feed and defecate, endeavor to clean their pens every morning to remove waste before new food is served.
You May Like: Complete Guide To Start A Pig Farming Business
Make sure that the feed plates and drinkers plates are clean most especially the drinkers plates. Wash and rinse properly such that you yourself will gladly accept anything from those plates. For maximum productivity, snails need optimum care.
5.) Use of organic pesticide
It is good to use organic pesticide in your snail farm. This is mostly done before stocking your snail farm or immediately after harvest. Examples of these pesticides are black soap and neem oil. These pesticides will help to maintain good sanitation and also eliminate the stubborn pests thereby keeping your snail farm as healthy as possible.
Precautions to be taken in pest control on a snail farm
There are some important precautions that I need to mention before commencing with the ways to control pests on a snail farm. I believe these precautions will ensure the safety of your micro livestock animals and also improve the effect of your control application.
1.) Never use chemicals in the control of pest as this can be very poisonous and harmful to your snails.
Read Also: Guide To Start A Lucrative Poultry Farming Business
2.) The use of pesticides should be done either before stocking the farm or after harvest. But know that when spraying your farm, endeavor to spray the entire farm at the same time. Never try spraying your snail farm in batches, as those pests are smart that they will evacuate to the another portion or corner of the farm and cause more damage.
No matter how big your snail farm is, the use of organic pesticides should be once in a while and try to employ more persons to help you do the spray once and together in coherence in other to be more effective.
3.) Snail food should be served on flat containers.
In other to enhance and improve the ease of cleaning and pest free snail farm, make sure that all forms of snail food is served in a flat container. This will help prevent decays on the soil which may harbour pests and also keep your farm in a healthy and neat condition.
With everything I have said on this post, I hope and believe that I have given a good detail information on how to prevent and control pests on a snail farm. Never forget to give us some feedback with the comment box below or by using the contact us page.
Snail meat is a very good meat highly rich in protein especially for the aging and pregnant women. Because of the discovery of the high nutritious values of snail meat, there is high demand of the snail both internationally (Europe) and locally (Africa) in Nigeria.
For the success of a snail farm, there are factors and sacrifices to be made. They are: Farm location, feeding and management such as prevention and control of pests must be considered in the snail farming business.
Because of the consistent increase in the world population, the demand for snail meat is high and thereby generating a good market for snails and making it a lucrative livestock business. Although the demand is high, and livestock farmers have increased as well, but yet the supply of snail across the world has never been met.
Why is demand never met?
Let me explain in details, majority of snails farmers lack the skills and knowledge to handle and manage challenges that their snail farms may face. Some of which are lack of adequate training, poor feeding etc.
The most difficult challenge of them all, which is the main focus of this post is Pests attack, its prevention and control. To avoid the unnecessary loss of snails to pest attack, you as a farmer must know the tactical approach to control and prevent pests in a snail farm.
Here are the most common snail pest: termites (soldier ants), snakes, birds, lizards, toads, frogs and so on.
Read Also: Best Guide to Start A Snail Farming Business
Toads and frogs prey mostly on young snails, while the bigger reptiles like the snake prey on both the snails and the eggs regardless of the size. These pests are always found wandering around the snail farm.
How To Prevent And Control Pests On A Snail Farm
Pest invasion is one of the most important things to be mindful of, when you are into snail farming business. Like one of the popular quote that says "prevention is better than cure", you shouldn't wait for these pest to attack your snail farm before the necessary action is being taken.
This is because the effect of these pest can be detrimental to you snail farm, in the sense that they cause damage to the lives of these micro livestock animals.
1.) Treatment of Soil
Every snail farm with any type of housing system be it intensive, semi intensive and extensive system needs a soil. Soil is the major habitat where the live span of snail begins and ends too. And as well these pest also reside in this soil because it is there habitat too, and your snails can be vulnerable to their attacks.
With the knowledge of the risks surrounding the use soil for your snail farm, there is a need to treat it in other to avoid the invasion of these pest. Soil Heating or Solarization is the very best method to treat the soil because there is no need of chemical applications.
This involves the use of heat to eliminate and kill pest residing within the soil before being taken to the pen. Here, the soil are being transferred into big cooking basins where they are heated to about 120°C to ensure that all the pests and micro organisms dwelling in the soil are eliminated.
Read Also: How To Start A Lucrative Fish Farming Business
Immediately after heating the soil, take them into the pens while hot and allow them to cool there. Endeavor not to make the mistake of allowing the soil to first cool outside the pens before transferring because these pests can enter, this is the first criteria when adopting an intensive housing system.
2.) Pest repellant plants
There are some plants, crops or even grasses that can naturally assist in the prevention of pest by making the environment unfavorable for them to survive, they are called pest repellant plants. They are very good in preventing reptiles like snakes, insects from entering and residing in your snail farm. Examples of these pest repellants are neem leaves, garlic, ginger and so on. Gingers and garlics can be grinded and then sprayed all over the corners and entrance of the snail farm often.
3.) Removal of leftover feeds
Most of the times, snails farmers form the habit of leaving perishable food like fruits for a very long period of time in other avoid food wastage. They wait for the snails to forcefully eat them, this isn't right at all.
It is best that leftover snail food should removed and disposed properly especially the perishable ones after 24 hours. This is because allowing the food back there will attract pest like ants which is not good for the health of your snails.
4.) Regular sanitation of snail farm
For the health and safety of your snails, you must endeavor to maintain consistent practice of sanitation on your snail farm. Keep your entire surrounding clean and free from pests. Snails are living things like us, so they feed and defecate, endeavor to clean their pens every morning to remove waste before new food is served.
You May Like: Complete Guide To Start A Pig Farming Business
Make sure that the feed plates and drinkers plates are clean most especially the drinkers plates. Wash and rinse properly such that you yourself will gladly accept anything from those plates. For maximum productivity, snails need optimum care.
5.) Use of organic pesticide
It is good to use organic pesticide in your snail farm. This is mostly done before stocking your snail farm or immediately after harvest. Examples of these pesticides are black soap and neem oil. These pesticides will help to maintain good sanitation and also eliminate the stubborn pests thereby keeping your snail farm as healthy as possible.
Precautions to be taken in pest control on a snail farm
There are some important precautions that I need to mention before commencing with the ways to control pests on a snail farm. I believe these precautions will ensure the safety of your micro livestock animals and also improve the effect of your control application.
1.) Never use chemicals in the control of pest as this can be very poisonous and harmful to your snails.
Read Also: Guide To Start A Lucrative Poultry Farming Business
2.) The use of pesticides should be done either before stocking the farm or after harvest. But know that when spraying your farm, endeavor to spray the entire farm at the same time. Never try spraying your snail farm in batches, as those pests are smart that they will evacuate to the another portion or corner of the farm and cause more damage.
No matter how big your snail farm is, the use of organic pesticides should be once in a while and try to employ more persons to help you do the spray once and together in coherence in other to be more effective.
3.) Snail food should be served on flat containers.
In other to enhance and improve the ease of cleaning and pest free snail farm, make sure that all forms of snail food is served in a flat container. This will help prevent decays on the soil which may harbour pests and also keep your farm in a healthy and neat condition.
With everything I have said on this post, I hope and believe that I have given a good detail information on how to prevent and control pests on a snail farm. Never forget to give us some feedback with the comment box below or by using the contact us page.
Dear author. Thanks for the insightful writeup.
ReplyDeleteI am a small scale snail farmer and while I have stuck to feeding my snails with only formulated feed and vegetable (avoiding fruits) as a means of preventing insect invasion, I noticed that there are tiny lice-like insects inside my pens still.
I fear that these lice may be parasitic to my snails and may lead to mortality.
Kindly advise on how to get rid of these insects.
You may want to enlighten me on the risk posed by this insects (if any)
Thank you.