What do forest snails eat

Snails should never be fed onions or citrusy food either as these foods are high in acid. Like other living organisms, snails cannot live without water. Just be sure to provide your snail with fresh food and an environment that is somewhat humid and not too dry. Snails are easy and cheap to keep and they eat a varied diet. Snails can be wonderful pets for children.

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However, note that at the greatest levels of site calcium, snail numbers may actually be slightly reduced Valovirta, Calcium in forest soils can come from below, from the breakdown of bedrock and other parent material that contains calcium, but it also comes from above, in the form of plant debris noting that plants have also obtained their calcium from soil and rock via roots.

Plants use calcium in nutrient and water translocation, cell division and cell walls. The amount of calcium in tree leaves and other litter varies, so forest species composition influences soil calcium Boettcher and Kalisz, ; Vesterdahl and Rauland-Rasmussen, Soil profiles may exhibit declining or increasing calcium with depth, depending upon the calcium content of bedrock versus leaf litter. For our purposes the important issue is the amount of calcium available to land snails at the upper soil horizons where they live, generally the lower O and A1 horizons.

Soil horizon effects may also be interrupted, by calcium-rich limestone outcrops or limestone scree that can make large quantities of this nutrient available to land snails and other animals.

This calcium must also be available to decomposers, in the form of water-soluble calcium citrate as in ashes, maples, and birches , rather than tightly-bound calcium oxalate as in oaks and laurels. Aspens, sugar maples, and flowering dogwood e. Nation, are examples of high-calcium species. Circumstantial evidence suggests that fungi and other decomposers may also play an important role in mediating calcium available for land snails.

Examples of leaf litter snails whose populations are finely-attuned to calcium levels are Punctum minutissimum and Striatura meridionalis. Many snails are calciphiles only found on the richest forest sites, such as Gastrocopta armifera.

Although calcium-rich areas have many species, an interesting variety of land snails exist across the calcium gradient, including calcium-poor sites. Otherwise, the plant will do the cleaning biologically as it tries to absorb nutrients from the manure. Love to start the farm it like now I have a little one am learning so wish to know more about it the food s that I will not be able to lose it.

Thanks alot for this article Sir. I saw few 23 young snails at my back yard and am planning to keep them. Can bitter leaf or scent leaf serve as food for them. Cos I have both of them in my backyard too. May God strengthen our as you empower Nigerians. PS what is the name of the very big snail.

PS I need a reply. I just started snail farming with 65 snails I picked from my compound. How do I get calcium supplements to feed them to achieve a very rapid growth? Thank you for your motivating post. How do l keep my pen slime free. How many young snails will be kept in 1m x 1m pen. Is it good to remove all sand in the pen then replace with a new one.

Hello Nwoke-dike, please send images to my email agroforafrica gmail. Pls how can i find market for my fully grown snail. Thanks in anticipation. If you read through all my introductory articles, I always mention that your market is the first thing to find. For instance, there maybe a lot of snail consumption in Lagos or in the south south region of Nigeria. Pls help on which insecticides I can use if there ants in my snails farm cause my snails are dying day by day. Sir, your post l read last night as it concerns how to care for snail and feeding was educating, motivating and wonderful.

How will l remove snail slim in my pen. How many young snails will 1mx1m pen contain. Thank You. I have written extensively on snail farming, please do well to visit the snail farming category and get answers to many questions you may want to ask.

Sure, it is highly recommended to place plantain leaves on one side of your pen so that the snails can crawl underneath it in the day time. God bless u. Sure, you can send an email to agroforafrica gmail.

Thanks, your articles are all helpful. I followed your instruction on how to hatch my snail eggs and I have seen the result, thanks for this. Now please what can I feed my baby snails to facilitate rapid growth. Good to know that you followed the hatching instructions for snail eggs provided here on Agro4africa.

Baby snails need to form strong shells, therefore, you need to feed them with more calcium supplements whilst providing vegetables, fruits and other food for them. You can buy calcium stones from the market or ground eggshells. Dry bonemeals can also supply calcium too. Thanks so much for explaining things to us. Please what are the things that can cause snails to die?

Secondly, is earthworm good for snails? Thanks so much for the information provided. My questions: 1. Can I begin my snail farming with snails picked from around my house 2.

Can snails be few with orange peels after sucking out the juice and removing the outer cover? What other local leaves do snails feed on….. Moringa leaves and strm, ewedu leaves and stem, spinach and other green vegetable leaves and stem?? You can begin your snail farming with snails picked around the house. However, you must ensure that the snails you have picked are viable snails as recommended in our article on How to Start Snail Farming business.

All the leaves you have mentioned can be fed to snails, but you must ensure that they are soft and succulent for the snails to feed on. Also, you must ensure that they are free of any form of insect larvae which may harm the snails. Hello Admin, please i have about snails i picked from my compound last two week and i constructed a small peg for them and put all of them together both the big ones and the smaller ones,and right now i am feeding them with the necessary food which i read from here in internet,please what next do i do to let them grow well and multiple for a commercial purposes.

Chuka Ken. The next thing to do is to separate the snails according to their sizes so that they do not predate on themselves. Just use your instinct to provide enough space for the snails to move around. PS: There is one tiny problem… What species of snails have you harvested from your compound? Thank you, sir, for ur teaching, I really appreciate, PS: I want to know if I can train my snails inside a sack bag and if I can give them gari, thank u.

You are welcome Ogechi. Sacks tend to wear and tear with constant exposure to sunlight, water and the soil. As for feeding the snails with garri, that too is not advisable. Even though garri is made from cassava and contains carbohydrate, snails prefer to eat fresh food that is moist too. Garri is too dry for snails to feed on. I really commend all your efforts and gestures in taking your time over every questions asked.

I also find your article well informed in helping and encouraging some of us in putting more interest in snail farming. May you continue growing in wisdom and fulfilled destiny by His Grace. God bless you abundantly as you share your knowledge freely. I highly appreciate. I recently went into snail farming and following you has helped me a lot in the right direction. Thank you. Please I really need need about pieces of Achachatina maginata, how much can it cost Please I really need the reply urgently.

I love your patience and eagerness to answer questions. The essence of the earthworm in a snail farm is to loosen the soil and to enhance the growth of vegetation. M, Oyster shell and all that, do i have to grind them b4 giving to the snail. Will appreciate your answer.

Ground Oyster shells, ground snail shells, bone meal and ground poultry shells can be fed to the snails. Also, keep records of the number of snails in each pen you have on your farm. Please send your name, location, phone number and order quantity to agroforafrica gmail.

Thank u admin for taking time to answer the questions. Pls i want to know if there is anything i should do other than feeding to enhance my snails to lay more eggs. I have a serious challenge. They used to be few but they have multiplied and it seems the mortality rate of my baby snails is high. Do you know the insects? Can I use sniper to kill them? I found your article useful n helpful to build my snail pen and also get actively involved in snail farming.

I hope you will continue to encourage people like us for future involvement. Thank you again. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Table of Contents How do snails eat? What is the best snail food for the quick growth of snails? Snails need calcium supplements for their shells 2. Snails also eat tuber crops 4. They love soft fleshy fruits 5.

Some flowers are edible for snail 6. Snails drink non-chlorinated water 7. Other essential food for snails 8. Feed snails with formulated food Some harmful foods you should never feed snails 1. Do not feed snails contaminated foods 2. Avoid feeding snails starchy foods 3. Never give snails chlorinated water 4. Agro 4 Africa. Previous Cucumber Companion Planting [The best and the worst crop to grow with cucumber].