How to build a snail farm for harvesting

This snail farm project is aimed to construction of a professional breeding ground with the purpose to obtain a high income of international commerce level. Therefore, we exclude any chance of skipping any step of this process. Nevertheless the methods that are described are useful equally for any snail business no matter its level.

The first step to describe, is fundamental for ensuring profitability and to avoid serious problems once snail farming process starts.

Before introducing the snails in the enclosure of reproduction, to the effects of minimizing pathological risks, it is suitable to submit them to a process of wash under jet of soft water and to immerse them in some minutes in a receptacle containing some disinfectant and bactericidal genera:

Tip: Prepare a solution of blue of methylene reduced in water because of a drop in one liter of water.

Then, without need to dry them, they get in the tables, cages or elements foreseen for his containment, in a maximum number of 250 animals per one square foot of useful surface. The base of the cage is not considered to be a useful surface.

Tip: Use for this firstly stage cages with measures and design we will further explain in a next post.

After locating the snails in container, place them in salvers with clean water and receptacles with ground, for the positions, humid, clean and spongy to which you will ahyve to add 30 % of humus of earthworm that provides certain grade of very suitable acidity for the development of these mollusks.

Building a snail farm

The snail business basically involves three different, but much related levels, that otherwise none would have sense without the others: Raising, processing and sales, in that order.

That is, there would be needed three different structures for a same purpose.

- First, the snail farm will be designed according the sale volumes in function to the demand.
- Second: the snail processing plant will not be so complicated, but it does have a relative important cost.

- Snail selling structure

We can deduce that the international sale cost will be divided in three. If we decide to outsource the two final stages we will be getting a small part of that selling price, or worse, not even cover the snail farming costs.

That is, the problem to resolve passes through the snail product processing for sale. This takes us to the conclusion that before putting up a snails farm, we have to have clear in mind if we are going to do it by our own or we will outsource. If it is the latter, we must have the exact cost of the snail processing (in the case of being able to rent the structure or the services), or the price the processing company will pay for our snail products, if it buys from us. Got this numbers, we can make our calculations on the probable area and profits.

Building a snail farm can be done with creativity and a “bit” of money, but a snail processing plant has to follow the rules and policies of state and sanitary authorities, lots of money and a bit of creativity.

You can choose to build installations to produce among 1000 to 2000 pounds a month. As long as the production increases, the initial investment will increase.
Getting the union of a group of snail producers of no more than 10 would be a great solution.

In fact, what the buyer will demand will be a determined volume of snails and a determined delivery frequency.

But, do all buyers demand the same quantity? The answer can be found through a market research. It is easy to suppose the resistance of other not so big “buyers”. There is the big chance for the small snail producer.