Categories of Essential Food for Snails

Snails need carbohydrates for energy, and they also need protein for growth. In addition, snails require large amount of calcium (Ca) deposits in their environment for their shells, as well as other minerals and vitamins.

1. Calcium Supplements
Snails must have abundant supply of calcium to build and repair their shells. Always keep a source of calcium close in the snail housing at all times. You can read different snail housing construction styles here. Calcium powder, cuttlebone, shells from dead snails, natural limestone, bone meal, and wood ash are good sources of calcium for snails.

2. Leaves and Vegetables
Snails will eat the leaves of the following plants: Apple, broccoli, cocoyam, spinach, kola,cassava, onion greens, okra, eggplant, celery, parsley, loofah, turnip, mushroom, carrot, barley, camomile, beans, cabbage and paw paw. Paw paw leaves (as well as its fruit, flower, and fruit peels) stand out as an essential food for snails.

3. Tuber Crops
Cocoyam, cassava, yam, sweet potato and plantain. Tubers are a good source of carbohydrates, though low in protein. (Cassava must be of a very low cyanide content).

4. Fleshy Fruits
Fruits are rich sources of minerals and vitamins, but are low in protein. Fruits that form part of the essential food for snails include; Aubergine, Paw paw, Green beans, artichoke, mango, banana, eggplant, apricot, pear, oil palm, fig, tomato, peach, orange, pumpkins, ripe cherries, watermelon, cucumbers (a favorite snail food).

5. Flowers
Edible flowers for snails include; rose, cauliflower, hibiscus, paw paw, and sunflower.

6. Non Chlorinated Water
Place a shallow dish filled with spring water for your snail to drink from, and bath in. Replace the water every 1-2 days. Ensure you do not supply chlorinated water because chlorine is harmful to snails.

7. Other Essential Food for Snails
Some household wastes like peels of fruit and tuber, banana, plantain, watermelon, damaged fruits, yam, and cooked foods like potato, rice, carrot, and beans. You must, however, be careful to avoid household waste that contain salt. Note that raw food has a higher nutritional content than cooked or processed foods. In addition, specially formulated snail feed or meshed chicken feed can be fed to snails.



Foods that are Dangerous to Snails

1. Contaminated Foods
Any food that have been treated with pesticide are potential snail killers. Also, home grown foods that have been contaminated by poisonous gases (like vehicle fumes) are not good for snails.
Snails will always avoid plants that have hairy leaves, or those that produce defensive toxic chemicals. You should be careful not to provide your snails with such.

2. Starchy Foods
Starchy foods like rice, millet and pasta are not easily digestible and they end up blocking the internal digestive system. This internal blockage can cause swelling and hence, result in the death of snails.
Salt should be generally avoided as they are dangerous to snails.

3. Chlorinated water
Some water sources like tap water may contain chlorine that’s harmful to snails. If you don’t have access to non chlorinated water, you can leave tap water out in the sun for 48 hours to remove chemicals. Ensure you use a very shallow dish to supply water to the snails to prevent them from drowning.

In conclusion, It is good practice to ensure you wash all food before they are offered to the snails. This is important because some insect larvae may be hiding in the food without your knowledge. In addition, remove all uneaten snail food from the pens daily as it will spoil quickly. Spoilt food will attract fleas, lice, mice, rats, and diseases.

To facilitate cleaning, the snail food should be placed on a flat dish or a concrete slab constructed within the pen. All dishes (both feed and water dishes) should be heavy enough as they will tend to tip it up as the snail move over them.

Source: http://www.agro4africa.com/essential-food-for-snails/

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What do you feed your snails?

I do not think that o.p. is a practising farmer.He wrote that wood ash is a source of calcium to snails. Whereas wood ash can kill them and they always avoid it. O.p. is an Internet farmer/ blogger that lacks practical knowledge of snail farming.

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