Snails anyone!

[sallu00]

HI Guys,

I am very excited with Snail (Helix aspersa) backyard farming. Snail is a delicacy in Europe and in Australia slowly people are getting used to them, I mean eating. My friend (Jeff) got me interested in this. As with any thing, this is a science and needs to be learnt the proper way and the best person in Australia in Sonya Begg.

Landline interview:-
http://www.abc.net.au/landline/content/2006/s1774369.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/telegraph/food/stories/s1155560.htm

Sonya's website (download some free books)
http://www.snailfarming.net/publications.php

Yum Yum:-
http://www.snailfarms.com/gallery.html

Anyone already started Snail farming yet? I am getting some tanks made by www.tankworks.com.au will keep you updated.

How this fits in Aquaponics? well Snail eats---> Aquaponics plants---->Fish & Poultry eats Snails----> Humans eats Fish, Snail, Poultry and Plants.

Salman.

[Murray]

You are welcome to eat all the snails you like Salman, but not for me thanks....I can't imagine anything worse!!!!
I am happy to eat the fish and the veggies.....

[GaryD]

Hi Salman,

Snails are a perfect addition to any integrated backyard food production system and.....as you quite rightly point out....they provide food for a variety of creatures including people.

I propose to include snails in my system eventually so I'll be particularly interested to see how you get on.

Gary

[newfish]

hey there, does anyone know if snails could become a supplemental part of the diet for fish or chickens? what is the nutritional makeup of snails? are slugs similar in composition? they are all over my garden.

-mikE

[anniefish]

Hi,
Chooks love them, I always give any creepy crawlies to them and they have a banquet. Have a mouse problem at the moment, regularly see them running around with one in their beak. Puts me right off eggs and poultry for dinner! Vegetarian eggs anyone?
Cheers Ann

[SandyB]

That made me laugh Ann. My cat caught a mouse outside the other day and as I watched, one of the chooks went straight up and bullied it off her. Bossy creature she is:D

[inzane]

mmmmm, snails with garlic and herb butter on fresh bread...heaven! I'm going to be starting a snail farm soon! Not sure wether to stick to what I know, ie french style escargots or try and be really brave and go with the giant african landsnails. They are very popular in francophone west africa, but they are BIG, like snail steak. It would take a bit to get use to the idea of a sunday snail carvery, but the benefits if you can are ace!

I have some giant golden applesnails that bred in my tanks that I was planning on trying, but I had to treat the tanks and now not sure if they are food safe. Apparently water snails are popular in malaysia, so one website told me. They have teeth though so would be crunchy, lol.

[Hamish]

Those giant snails are freaky! One of those snails would feed my perch for a month! We dont get them in Australia. Pic attached.
By the way - what do snails taste like?

[GaryD]

Hi,

I believe that the only snails that are able to be farmed in Australia are the Helix Aspersa......the garden snail.

Fortunately, the large African varieties are banned.


......what do snails taste like?
Snails have a faintly earthy taste....and a rubbery texture (not unlike overcooked calamari). They take on the taste of various flavourings particularly garlic.

Gary

[inzane]

I have only ever eaten snails in france, where they are cooked in their shells which have been PACKED with butter and ENORMOUS amounts of garlic, so they tasted like chewy garlic butter...ace! And as gary says there was a faintly earthy taste!

I want to eat a giant snail...but its gonna have to be on a BRAVE day...lol

[kenc45]

Sallu00, how did you go with the Snail tank, and your snail project. There doesn't seem to be an update for a while. I'm interested in how you went.

I've read that they purge snails by keeping them on Oats for a couple of days, I wonder if you raise them in a aquaponics bed on something like basil, whether you wouldn't need to - they'd be pre-seasoned :)

[Hamish]

I have been researching keeping snails. The jade perch certainly like to eat them!

[kenc45]

So what have you learned? If you were keeping them in an aquaponics sytem, would you keep them on a growbed with specific plants? Can they move over rocks? Are there any sites that you would suggest?

[Hamish]

I am looking at growing them in a shade house - not in an AP system as such. You can either feed them on pellets or grow crops for them to eat. The web links at the start of this thread are the best place to learn. There are some free documents you can download via the links which is a good start.

[GaryD]

Hi,

I'm keen to incorporate snails into my IBFP concept. I'll eat the best ones and feed the rest to my fish, ducks, chickens and quail.


If you were keeping them in an aquaponics sytem, would you keep them on a growbed with specific plants?

Not a bad idea. Snails are usually reared in an enclosure (shadehouse or pen) in which suitable food plants are grown. There's no reason why a good-sized growbed covered in a mini-green/shadehouse wouldn't be a suitable rearing pen.

Gary

[Hamish]

Hi,

I'm keen to incorporate snails into my IBFP concept. I'll eat the best ones and feed the rest to my fish, ducks, chickens and quail.



Not a bad idea. Snails are usually reared in an enclosure (shadehouse or pen) in which suitable food plants are grown. There's no reason why a good-sized growbed covered in a mini-green/shadehouse wouldn't be a suitable rearing pen.

Gary
Snails lay their eggs in soil - so you would probably need to have an area for them to lay. Perhaps a tray of soil a few centimeters thick that they can lay their eggs in? Perhaps they would lay in a coco pete bed watered with fish tank water like the ones I have set up?

From what I have read you can keep snails in with a simple 6 or 12 volt electric fence. Essentially 2 strips of metal connected to a small 6 or 12v battery. Id say one of those large square 6V lantern batteries would do the trick. One strip is connected to positive and the other is connected to negative. They are placed a few mm apart. When the snail tries to crawl over the strips the snails body closes the gap between the strip and the snail gets a nasty surprise and they turn around and crawl the other way quickly!

[GaryD]

Based on what I've read so far, I'd be inclined to set up a separate breeding pen.

[kenc45]

I think that they are a great idea. I like things that have multiple uses. I assume that as they are the bottom of the food chain that they must lay a lot of eggs - not like they can out run their enemies. :)

I'll have to wait until I actually have fish and a grow bed to try them. So I'll watch in antisipation how you guys go with yours.

[GaryD]

Hi Ken,

You can gather up the common brown garden snails and purge them before eating them.

Gary

[Hamish]

Aparently an easy way to purge them is to feed them carrot. Clean out the container you are keeping them in each day. They are ready to eat once all excrement is orange. I tried it before feeding them to my fish - takes a couple of days.

[kenc45]

Although I can't find where I read it now, I read that snails 'shut down' at certain temperatures. I think the top temp was either 30 or 35 degrees C. So they'd be shut down most days for over half the year up here. Not sure that it's worth it until I move south again.

[Hamish]

They also shut down in cold weather. In fact they need to shut down in cold weather to continue the breeding cycle. Some farms put them in a fridge to put them into hybernation so they will breed again.

[djs-sa]

hamish r u looking at eating them? or ur fish?
cockle would be better than snail if u r eating them

[djs-sa]

hamish r u looking at eating them? or are ur fish?
cockle would be better than snail if u r eating them

[Hamish]

Im actually a vegetarian so not keen to eat them myself. However the fish love snails :) Im also interested in them as a commercial crop when I get some land.

If the s#it hits the fan the way I think it is going to in the world - and food becomes too expensive to buy - then I think I will convert to eating fish, snails, rabits and anything else I can lay my hands on or grow easily.

I am learning all I can now so that if things go belly up in the world I will be able to survive and perhaps teach others (friends and family) to do the same.

Some people think I am paranoid - I think they are just uninformed as I was a few years ago.