How to obtain final snail products - Part I

For obtaining snail products ready for consumption and selling there will be necessary to follow a series of processes by stages.

The first step will be setting up a group of snail reproducers- there are two ways:

- Purchasing reproducers with sanitary certification, age and guarantee

- Recollecting snails from nature to set up the group

Buying snails increases the initial investment. Though, you have to turn to European institutions for this purchase.

This way you accelerate the process. It is way to make more viable the future selling of the snail products due to the guarantee of origin and quality that purchase supposes. It implies quarantine, adaptation period, and mortality casualties during adaptation, during transportation, possible diseases and others, adaptation to nutrition or foods adaptation. On top of this, overcoming the import processes.

Define the number of snail reproducers to buy or recollect according to:

- Expected production level

- Natural decrease of snail eggs per lay

- Natural mortality during snail reproduction

- Egg and snail discard for lack of commercial size

- Natural mortality during all raising phases

The snail mortality percentage decreases with the progressive development of the baby -considering a 35% a very bad number – depending of course on the methodology of handling and prophylactic measures.

A well-organized snail farm should NOT go beyond the 20% of mortality.