₦airaland Forum

@ olamilec I had contacted someone at IITA if truly they does rear or sale rabbit but he said NO. the good news is that I know where to get Flemish giant in Lagos from one of my customer but she only want to sale the young ones.

Pregnancy test for rabbits

Palpating
Palpating is a method used for determining doe pregnancy at 14 days after mating. Non-pregnant does are re-bred immediately.

Late pregnancy test
Inexperience keepers should practice detecting pregnancy on does that are 20 days pregnant at which stage the fetuses are easy to identify. By around 28 days the mammary gland will have developed significantly and this can be regarded as final confirmation of pregnancy. At around 29 days, the doe will begin to remove fur from her abdomen to make a nest.

Pseudo-Pregnancy Test
False pregnancy occurs as a result of sterile mating or more commonly from stimulation of one doe riding another. It happens more frequently with does that have not kindled their first litter. Always separate does at least a month prior to breeding.

Does must be separated at least 18-20 days before mating. The doe may pull fur and attempt to make a nest but she will not keep it clean.

Thanks @ Olamilec
Mating
Experience suggests that early morning or evening mating is best. It is certainly advisable to avoid the hottest periods of the day for this important operation.

For mating, always take the doe to the buck’s cage. If they fail to mate a few minutes, take her to a different buck.

If this fails, try again the next day but do not leave the doe with the buck all day or even an hour in an attempt to solve a mating problem.

If the does is ready to be mated she will stand still within a few seconds, stretch out and slightly raise her hindquarter so as to allow the buck to mount and mate.
 
Successful mating is signaled by the buck thrusting forward and literally falling off the doe. Often the buck makes a characteristics cry of pain or joy. If the buck slides backwards off the doe and does not fall the mating has not taken place.

If mating was successful put the doe back in her hutch.

@Olemilec , OK I will upload the pics later and likewise you can mate flemish giant with other breeds of rabbit but you must know that the offspring won't be pure breed of either Flemish giant or the other. Thanks

@ exclusive7, for male the maturity starts from 5-6 months, Female 4-5 months old.
But note that maturity age can be hinder or hasten depending on feeds contents/ nutrients, management care or facility available and genetic variation.
How to know if your rabbit is on heat is just by checking the vulva of the rabbit if it turns pink red it is on heat or when you introduce your female rabbit to the male instead of the male mounting the female, the female will be mounting the male.
But if I want my female rabbit to be mated there is a method I used to adopt to which is term FALSE MATING because some rabbits are just too stubborn to follow jeje mating and this method is always working for me atleast 75%.thanks dyoungforester.

@ peace, let me know the number of rabbit you want to purchase so that If I can agree with your terms.thanks.
8-12 ( is it eight rabbits) or 8-12 weeks old.
Dyoung forester.

rabbit tested and trusted house net

image 1 female
image 2 male


HOUSING AND EQUIPMENT
Rabbit housing and equipment differ from country to country. Factors that affect their design include;
Climate
Raw materials (Availability and cost)
Scale (large or medium) and system of production (Intensive, Extensive or semi-intensive)
Expertise of the rabbit production
 
Housing requirement
Housing should be able to provide;
Adequate space: Since rabbit spends its entire life in its hutch, it therefore needs sufficient space to avoid the stress caused by restriction of movement. Space should be able to provide good ventilation to prevent the animal from being choked up by ammonia (NH3) from their urine.
 
Protection: Housing should be able to prevent against injury within the hutch, rain, direct sunlight, direct and indirect wind and predators such as dogs, cats, rats, ants, man, etc.
TYPES OF CAGES/ HUTCHES
Indoor hutches: These are kept inside a house (stable). The stable is a place in which or under which the hutches are placed.

Advantages:
It provides good conditions for the rabbit and the rabbit keeper
Easy access to animal (even when there is rain or high sunlight)
For animal adequate protection
The individual hutch can be easily cleaned and disinfected
It allows ease increase in production
 
 Disadvantage:
It is very expensive
Out door:
The requirements of space, protection and ease of management can be achieved through appropriate design, construction and siting.
 
Design: A typical rabbit hutch dimensions are follows;
1m above the ground
Height of hutch: 60cm at the front, 50cm at the back for easy drainage
Width: 50-60cm
Length: 90-120cm
 
Construction: The materials used in construction would usually be locally available materials such as interwoven branches, split bamboo, mud, tin, plastic. If possible, a fence should be built around outdoor hutches and fitted with a padlock gate.

SEXING OF RABBIT
Determining the sex of rabbits is not difficult with a little practice.

It can be carried out shortly after weaning at six to eight weeks. This is the time when the males and females should be separated,

the rabbit should be held on its back, put one finger on the tail side of the genital opening and on the abdominal side.

Press down gently and stretch the organ with the finger and thumb.

If it is a doe, a long slit will appear, if it is a buck, a small rounded tube-like structure will show.

new cages 5 cells, 8cells #7k,10k
old Cage 5cells, 8 cells #4k, 7k respectively. sir the buyers will be responsible for the transportation fee. thanks I'm located in Abeokuta, Ogun state.

@ peacemaranatha, here goes the price
Weaners 4-6 weeks #1500
growers 8- 12 weeks # 2500
breeder 14- 16 weeks #3500
parent stock 16 weeks and above # 4000 - 5000.
Thanks

@Eluyebayowa. yes I know someone who sales rabbits cage made with wood. Do you need newly constructed one or reused cage?
price
New cage @ 7- 10 (depends on the number of cells)
Reused cage@ 4-7( depends on the number of cells)
thanks Dyoung forester.

Thanks olameic, sorry I have been busy some months ago due to some programs I had attached myself with but not withstanding rabbitry is still my passionate venture.
Regarding the Flemish Giant I once had it before but unfortunately I slaughtered it for meat but I never knew then it was Flemish Giant. I had been making some findings I discover that one woman have the breed in Lagos but she doesn't intends to sale the matured once but it had been a while I had call her, I will find means to get in tourch with her. thanks
DYoung forester want to use this medium to apologies to some of rabbit lovers and its business that I'm really sorry for not been constant on the thread and more so those that I had promise to deliver one or two necessary information on either rabbit production steps or on how to make feeding trouph for rabbit but I was unable to do so please bear with me, and I hope my apologies is accepted. Thanks once again.......Samshot where are you?.

Can you believe D young forester is now an expert in artificial snails hatchery

I can now hatch thousands of snails egg artificially with the grace of God, it is the best news for me this morning
If you wish to know how to hatch snails' egg artificially let me know.

plastic

Do you know that snails can cannibalise one another? Image 1,plastic basket for snails' house

It is Archachatina maginata, because of it huge size sir.

Do you know that you can artificially incubate your snails' egg and it will hatch within 28- 32 days.
Process and procedures
First and foremost, it dependent on how you want it, you can construct wooden incubator, or you can use a bucket filled with loamy soil
Steps in constructing a wooden incubator
Note: The wood should be semi- hard wood or completely hard wood, Dimensions it depends on the number of your stocks, the construction ls like of that of chicken cage or rabbit cage but the ground of the cages must be drill and perforated into holes in other to allowed water to pass through it while doing partial wetting and the roof must be made with net I.e window and chicken net... Note do not place it under direct sunlight.

Bucket method
Just make or drill holes enough to the base of the bucket and cover it with the stated net
process
fill inside the incubator with loamy soil and place the eggs on the surface of the soil and cover it with partial soil and use banana leaf to cover it as well .After all these carryout continuous partial wetting starting from day 1 to 28 or 32 days.Thanks Dyoung forester.

How to Start Snail Farming in Nigeria
Snail farming can be very profitable in Ghana,
Kenya, Cameroon, South Africa, and Nigeria. Yet,
it is one of the most neglected animal rearing
business in these countries. Snail farming
provides one of the finest opportunity to make
money within a short period of time. But why are
Africans not yet fully engaged in this money
making animal rearing? The reason is ignorance.
In Australia and USA, snail rearing is big
business, providing opportunities to many
farmers. In Uk, snails can be seen in many
supermarkets and stores. meaning it's a big dea
over there.

Most people in Nigeria and Ghana still have the
believe that snail can only be picked in the bush
The culture of going to the bush to pick snails i
the villages during raining time has been there f
generations. So, it has been difficult for people t
come to term that snail can actually be kept an
grown at home.

The good new: After reading this article, you will
be on your way to starting your own snail
business in easy and simple steps. And we are
backing it up with a Practical Snail Farming
eBook for those who can afford it.
Making ₦5,000,000 annually in snail rearing is a
done deal if you do it well and get it right.
I will try to be as comprehensive as possible wit
this article so that you can get going after
reading it, and as people starts commenting -
asking questions and adding what they know
about snail farming, the information here would
be more enriched for everyone's benefit.
What is Snail: Land snails belongs to the class
Molluscan, Gastropod. The one popularly known
as ' Congo Meat ' in many parts of Africa. Nigeria
- Eju , Igbin , etc... There are so many species of
snails but the types we are looking at here are
the ones that are suitable for commercial Snail
Farming in Africa.
1. Achatina fulica - The East African land snail,
or giant African land snail, scientific name
Achatina fulica, is a species of large, air-breathi
land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod
mollusk in the family Achatinidae. It is the
smallest in size among all the desirable species
for rearing in Africa.
Achatina fulica has a narrow, conical shell, which
is twice as long as it is wide and contains 7 to
whorls when fully grown. The shell is generally
reddish-brown in colour with weak yellowish
vertical markings but colouration varies with
environmental conditions and diet. A light coffee
colour is common. Adults of the species may
exceed 20cm in shell length but generally averag
about 5 to 10cm. The average weight of the snai
is approximately 32 grams (Cooling 2005).

2. Achatina Achatina - Achatina achatina,
common name the giant Ghana snail, also know
as the giant tiger land snail, is a species of very
large, air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial
pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family
Achatinidae. Giant African land snails are
hemraphrodites, meaining they possess both the
female and male reproductive organs. Two snail
are still needed for breeding, but they are very
prolific breeders.
Similar to the other species in the genus,
Achatina achatina's shell can attain a length of
200 mm and a maximum diameter of 100 mm.
They may possess between 7-8 whorls and the
shell is often broadly ovate. The body of the
animal is silver-brown in color although albino
morphs may exist.

3. Archachatina Marginata - Archachatina
marginata, common name the giant West Africa
snail, is a species of air-breathing tropical land
snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk
the family Achatinidae. They can grow up to 20c
long, and live up to 10 years.
Among these three species, Achatina Achatina is
the most desirable for farmers because it grows
so big to become the biggest snail species in th
world. Achatina Achaina has it's origin from
Nigeria, get to Liberia from Nigeria and then
Ghana
Another reason is due to it’s high yield capacity.
The other species are very good too but I will
focus on Achatina Achatina and Archachatina
Marginata in this blog post because, they are
easy to find in Nigeria.
Achatina-Achatina is very good for
commercialization as well, because of its
profitability. This is because of the volume of
eggs it lays at once. Each achatina lays 300 to
500 eggs at a time in clutches, three times a
year. Therefore, if you start a farm with about
1000 snails, in one year you would be getting
about 1.5 million snails going by the number of
eggs they produces.

Having decided on the specie, let’s take you
through the step by step how to setup your snai
farm in a small scale level and starts rearing you
snail towards harvest.

1. Snail Farming Environment - Snails are easily
dehydrated, and wind increase the rate of
moisture loose in snail which in turn, leads to th
dryness of the animal. To prevent snails from
losing water so quickly, your snaileries (the snai
house) must be located in environment that is
protected from wind.
A low plain, downhill site surrounded with enough
trees is perfect for snail farming. You may plant
plantains and bananas around your snail farm to
prevent the impact of wind.

2. Type of Soil For Snail Farm – Snail’s major
habitat is the soil, and soil contains some of the
components and chemical substances that it
needed to survive. However, not all soils are
suitable for snail rearing. The shell of the snail is
mainly calcium and it derive most of them from
the soil. Snail also lay it’s eggs on the soil and
drink water out of the soil.
Hence, the suitable soil for snail farming must
contain these elements. Must be balanced, not
waterlogged, not too dry, and must not be acidic
The most desirable soil for snail is sandy-loamy
soil with low water holding capacity. Clayey soil
and acidic soil must be avoided.

3. Getting The Sails For Farming – To start up
snail farm, it is advisable to get snails directly
from the forest instead of buying from the market
after they have been exposed to sunlight and
have dehydrated. This is because snails drink a
lot of water, so are easily dehydrated and this
stresses them out, and reduce their fertility
capacity.NOTE DYOUNG FORESTER GOT ALL HIS SNAILS FROM A SUITABLE AND IDEAL ENVIRONMENT.
The intending snail farmer could pick the snails
from the bush with a very simple technique; clear
a little portion of land during rainy season and
sprinkle spicy fruits like pineapple, pawpaw,
plantain, banana etc at about 5o’clock in the
evening, when you go back there about 7pm or
8pm, you will pick up snails suitable for rearing.
Repeat the procedure until you get enough
quantity.
Another way could be to pick up snail eggs
littered in the market place where it is sold and
through a technique, check the fertility of the
eggs, because some of them must have lost
fertility due to the exposure to sunlight. The egg
are later put inside a container containing wet
sand and covered with cocoyam leaf. Between 2
to 28 days, the eggs would hatch into baby
snails. You start feeding them and gradually you
raise a snail farm.”

4. The Snail House (Snailery) - Snaileries can
vary from a patch of fence-protected ground,
sheltered from the wind to a covered box if you
are breeding in small scale.
For larger population of snails, you can dug a
trench or make a concrete pen with soil deep of
about 10 inches, and cover it with screen or wire
all around to prevent the snails from escaping.
Remember that snails can reproduce fast and
become pests when their breeding is uncontrolled
Snails love dark and cold places, but make sure
the humidity does not drop to levels harmful to
the snails. You can use fresh leaves and cloth
that is regularly wet to regulate the temperature
Also, the wire is useful in keeping away rats and
snakes or other predators from eating the snails
in your snail farm. But aside from these bigger
predators, you should be wary about smaller one
like ants and termites. Your construction must
have these predators in mind.

5. Snails Foods and Feeding – Snails especially
Achatina mainly feeds on green leaves and fruits
though they can utilize other ranges of foods.
Feed your snails leaves, fruits, or even formula
from the feed store. Aside from food to grow
tissues, snails need calcium to grow shells.

Leaves : Cocoyam leaves, pawpaw leaves, okra
leaves, cassava leaves, eggplant leaves, cabbage
and lettuce leave.

Fruits : Mango, eggplant, pawpaw, banana,
tomatoes, oil palm fruits, pears. and cucumber.
Once they start growing, separate the big ones
from the small ones.

One hundred thousand snails after a year or two
sold at the rate of N50 each (highly reduced
price) will give you about N5 million! Isn’t that a
good investment?

Harvesting - It is not economically wise to
harvest your snails before it's maturity, it has to
be matured before harvesting. To know if your
snails are already matured enough, check the
brim of the shell. If it is matured enough, the brim
should be thicker and harder than other parts of
the shell.
Do not harvest all the matured snails at once for
the market. It is important to keep few for
breeding and to serve as base stock for your
farm.
Drop your comment below.
How to Start Snail Farming in Nigeria
Snail farming can be very profitable in Ghana,
Kenya, Cameroon, South Africa, and Nigeria. Yet,
it is one of the most neglected animal rearing
business in these countries. Snail farming
provides one of the finest opportunity to make
money within a short period of time. But why are
Africans not yet fully engaged in this money
making animal rearing? The reason is ignorance.
In Australia and USA, snail rearing is big
business, providing opportunities to many
farmers. In Uk, snails can be seen in many
supermarkets and stores. meaning it's a big dea
over there.

Most people in Nigeria and Ghana still have the
believe that snail can only be picked in the bush
The culture of going to the bush to pick snails i
the villages during raining time has been there f
generations. So, it has been difficult for people t
come to term that snail can actually be kept an
grown at home.

The good new: After reading this article, you will
be on your way to starting your own snail
business in easy and simple steps. And we are
backing it up with a Practical Snail Farming
eBook for those who can afford it.
Making ₦5,000,000 annually in snail rearing is a
done deal if you do it well and get it right.
I will try to be as comprehensive as possible wit
this article so that you can get going after
reading it, and as people starts commenting -
asking questions and adding what they know
about snail farming, the information here would
be more enriched for everyone's benefit.
What is Snail: Land snails belongs to the class
Molluscan, Gastropod. The one popularly known
as ' Congo Meat ' in many parts of Africa. Nigeria
- Eju , Igbin , etc... There are so many species of
snails but the types we are looking at here are
the ones that are suitable for commercial Snail
Farming in Africa.
1. Achatina fulica - The East African land snail,
or giant African land snail, scientific name
Achatina fulica, is a species of large, air-breathi
land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod
mollusk in the family Achatinidae. It is the
smallest in size among all the desirable species
for rearing in Africa.
Achatina fulica has a narrow, conical shell, which
is twice as long as it is wide and contains 7 to
whorls when fully grown. The shell is generally
reddish-brown in colour with weak yellowish
vertical markings but colouration varies with
environmental conditions and diet. A light coffee
colour is common. Adults of the species may
exceed 20cm in shell length but generally averag
about 5 to 10cm. The average weight of the snai
is approximately 32 grams (Cooling 2005).

2. Achatina Achatina - Achatina achatina,
common name the giant Ghana snail, also know
as the giant tiger land snail, is a species of very
large, air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial
pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family
Achatinidae. Giant African land snails are
hemraphrodites, meaining they possess both the
female and male reproductive organs. Two snail
are still needed for breeding, but they are very
prolific breeders.
Similar to the other species in the genus,
Achatina achatina's shell can attain a length of
200 mm and a maximum diameter of 100 mm.
They may possess between 7-8 whorls and the
shell is often broadly ovate. The body of the
animal is silver-brown in color although albino
morphs may exist.

3. Archachatina Marginata - Archachatina
marginata, common name the giant West Africa
snail, is a species of air-breathing tropical land
snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk
the family Achatinidae. They can grow up to 20c
long, and live up to 10 years.
Among these three species, Achatina Achatina is
the most desirable for farmers because it grows
so big to become the biggest snail species in th
world. Achatina Achaina has it's origin from
Nigeria, get to Liberia from Nigeria and then
Ghana
Another reason is due to it’s high yield capacity.
The other species are very good too but I will
focus on Achatina Achatina and Archachatina
Marginata in this blog post because, they are
easy to find in Nigeria.
Achatina-Achatina is very good for
commercialization as well, because of its
profitability. This is because of the volume of
eggs it lays at once. Each achatina lays 300 to
500 eggs at a time in clutches, three times a
year. Therefore, if you start a farm with about
1000 snails, in one year you would be getting
about 1.5 million snails going by the number of
eggs they produces.

Having decided on the specie, let’s take you
through the step by step how to setup your snai
farm in a small scale level and starts rearing you
snail towards harvest.

1. Snail Farming Environment - Snails are easily
dehydrated, and wind increase the rate of
moisture loose in snail which in turn, leads to th
dryness of the animal. To prevent snails from
losing water so quickly, your snaileries (the snai
house) must be located in environment that is
protected from wind.
A low plain, downhill site surrounded with enough
trees is perfect for snail farming. You may plant
plantains and bananas around your snail farm to
prevent the impact of wind.

2. Type of Soil For Snail Farm – Snail’s major
habitat is the soil, and soil contains some of the
components and chemical substances that it
needed to survive. However, not all soils are
suitable for snail rearing. The shell of the snail is
mainly calcium and it derive most of them from
the soil. Snail also lay it’s eggs on the soil and
drink water out of the soil.
Hence, the suitable soil for snail farming must
contain these elements. Must be balanced, not
waterlogged, not too dry, and must not be acidic
The most desirable soil for snail is sandy-loamy
soil with low water holding capacity. Clayey soil
and acidic soil must be avoided.

3. Getting The Sails For Farming – To start up
snail farm, it is advisable to get snails directly
from the forest instead of buying from the market
after they have been exposed to sunlight and
have dehydrated. This is because snails drink a
lot of water, so are easily dehydrated and this
stresses them out, and reduce their fertility
capacity.NOTE DYOUNG FORESTER GOT ALL HIS SNAILS FROM A SUITABLE AND IDEAL ENVIRONMENT.
The intending snail farmer could pick the snails
from the bush with a very simple technique; clear
a little portion of land during rainy season and
sprinkle spicy fruits like pineapple, pawpaw,
plantain, banana etc at about 5o’clock in the
evening, when you go back there about 7pm or
8pm, you will pick up snails suitable for rearing.
Repeat the procedure until you get enough
quantity.
Another way could be to pick up snail eggs
littered in the market place where it is sold and
through a technique, check the fertility of the
eggs, because some of them must have lost
fertility due to the exposure to sunlight. The egg
are later put inside a container containing wet
sand and covered with cocoyam leaf. Between 2
to 28 days, the eggs would hatch into baby
snails. You start feeding them and gradually you
raise a snail farm.”

4. The Snail House (Snailery) - Snaileries can
vary from a patch of fence-protected ground,
sheltered from the wind to a covered box if you
are breeding in small scale.
For larger population of snails, you can dug a
trench or make a concrete pen with soil deep of
about 10 inches, and cover it with screen or wire
all around to prevent the snails from escaping.
Remember that snails can reproduce fast and
become pests when their breeding is uncontrolled
Snails love dark and cold places, but make sure
the humidity does not drop to levels harmful to
the snails. You can use fresh leaves and cloth
that is regularly wet to regulate the temperature
Also, the wire is useful in keeping away rats and
snakes or other predators from eating the snails
in your snail farm. But aside from these bigger
predators, you should be wary about smaller one
like ants and termites. Your construction must
have these predators in mind.

5. Snails Foods and Feeding – Snails especially
Achatina mainly feeds on green leaves and fruits
though they can utilize other ranges of foods.
Feed your snails leaves, fruits, or even formula
from the feed store. Aside from food to grow
tissues, snails need calcium to grow shells.

Leaves : Cocoyam leaves, pawpaw leaves, okra
leaves, cassava leaves, eggplant leaves, cabbage
and lettuce leave.

Fruits : Mango, eggplant, pawpaw, banana,
tomatoes, oil palm fruits, pears. and cucumber.
Once they start growing, separate the big ones
from the small ones.

One hundred thousand snails after a year or two
sold at the rate of N50 each (highly reduced
price) will give you about N5 million! Isn’t that a
good investment?

Harvesting - It is not economically wise to
harvest your snails before it's maturity, it has to
be matured before harvesting. To know if your
snails are already matured enough, check the
brim of the shell. If it is matured enough, the brim
should be thicker and harder than other parts of
the shell.
Do not harvest all the matured snails at once for
the market. It is important to keep few for
breeding and to serve as base stock for your
farm.
Drop your comment below.

Some snails Hibernate. Some species of snails actually hibernate during the colder months of the year. They cover their bodies with a thin layer of mucus, which prevents them from drying out. Sometimes snails are also able to hibernate in the summer to survive if they are faced with a severe drought. They live off of the stored up fat during this time of year. This process is one of the many reasons why they have been able to survive for million years. 2. Snails can have a long life. The life span for snails depends on their habitat and the species. Some of them only live for about 5 years. However, others in the wild are believed to be up to 25 years old in unusual occasions. 3. There are huge snails. The largest land snail recorded was 12 inches long and weighed near 2 pounds. It belonged to the Giant African Land Snail species. Other species are extremely small being only a few centimeters long when they are adults and weighing just a couple of ounces. 4. Snail Moving. While moving, snails they leave behind a trail of mucus. This mucus acts as a powerful lubricant to reduce friction against the surface. This is why they are able to move upside down, around corners, and other situations. 5. Snail Mucus. It is a myth that this mucus is going to make humans ill. Many people worry that snails being in their garden will ruin the foods grown there and make them unfit for consumption but that is all false.

Lol, it is not shrine but a cool environment and a water lodged area.

main entrance of my snailery unit

my snailery unit

preferably it is Archachatina maginata because it is the biggest and for mass production I prefer Achatina fulica because of it mass eggs per laying and it production I.e 50 - 300 eggs, maturity is 6months, while Formal is 6 - 8 eggs and maturity is 10 - 12 months.

Ilupeju, Camp, Abeokuta, Ogun- State. Dyoung forester Glo number- 09050172582.

yes there should be little available of water and majorly soil in their housing

just make the egg shells to be in pieces but not fully crush sir

what types if breeds is this

what breeds is this house

I serve the snails pawpaw leave they really loves it, next tridax, pawpaw flowers, water Mellon peel,likewise egg shell

housing types

Old motor Tyre housing system types