Snail eggs, the white caviar

Snail eggs are known as white caviar, it’s a product gaining more acceptance and, demand, especially among gourmets. The fact that main chef are using snail eggs in their cooking has allowed this snail product to gain select and exclusive status. Moreover, the price has incredibly risen; half a pound of white caviar can cost up to $2100 in the European market.

After the mating of snails and the necessary time before starting snail spawning, snail breeders try to force the laying of eggs in boxes full with very fine soil, of which every grain is no bigger than 2mm of diameter.

Snails dig holes of 1.6 inches deep in these boxes, laying an average of 150 up to 200 eggs. After this, it only takes gathering them and sieving each box. Snail eggs have a longer diameter than the soil’s grains. The next process is an exhaustive cleaning and keeping them in brine in a temperature between 23 Fº and 28.2 Fº.

Every snail egg laid weighs 3.6 grams, which means, in order to obtain a pound of white caviar it takes over 44 000 eggs from the spawning of 550 snails that obviously makes white caviar quite expensive.

Who have the change to taste white caviar affirm is a true delicacy and has great versatility in cooking. If we ever get lucky to try it, we definitely won’t miss it. Have you ever has the pleasure of trying snail eggs, yet?

Dangerous aquarium snails: how to get rid of them

As a fish breeder you obviously want your aquarium free predating snails. However, you not necessarily have to get rid of them all; you can always keep a few of them to give life and variety to the aquarium environment.

Two of the first things you must take away from your aquarium are dead snails. They are not beneficial at all, they pollute the environment. Likewise, poisoning products damage plants and the rest of aquatic creatures, so you better do not use whatsoever.

One of the best solutions to clean your aquarium is getting an animal that mainly eats sea invertebrates, as Clown loach, which only eats mollusk eggs and leaves the plants untouched.

Clown loach can live for over 22 years! So you can consider it a good long-time investment. But if you want something cheap –I mean really cheap- you can place on a lettuce leaf at night. In just 30 minutes you will be stunned by the loads of snails gathering around the lettuce.

In addition to this, you can prevent the massive snail reproduction by is removing the jelly layer covering the leaves were snail eggs lay on. It is a leg work, but it is easy and priceless.

Finally, keep in mind that although these and other techniques help eliminate dangerous snails from aquariums, the main reason of snail overpopulation is overfeeding. Therefore, if you regularly clean your aquarium (focusing on the rests of food on the bottom) you can save yourself a great deal of work and trouble.

Snail harvesting

Snail havesting - Small snail animals with finished edge must be discarded the obtaining by harvesting brings prepared some complications, although amendable.

He is more advisable to carry out it at the end of winter and beginnings of spring. They have all its reproductive potential and they begin its activity to plenary session. Just they leave the natural period of hibernation, is the moment of smaller risk with respect to pathologies.

Those snails of greater size are due to choose, (30 mm or more), observing that do not have the edge of the finished opening, this must be filoso, fine and of indefinite white coloration. The finished edge is white and defined well, with a thickness of approximately 1-1,5 mm and its appearance and texture they remember a tiled one.

This edge means to snail harvesting adulthood guarantee of the residual number of positions is not had, however the edge without finishing says of its youth and aptitude to us, giving us certain margin as far as the amount of future positions, although first they can not be optimal.

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.