Unique black apple snail farming in Nghe An
(Baonghean.vn) - Realizing that raising apple snails requires little investment and care but brings in a good income, Ms. Nguyen Thi Kieu in Hamlet 9, Ly Thanh Commune, Yen Thanh has boldly invested in building a solid pond and buying snail seeds to raise.
In 2013, realizing that the source of apple snails (also known as black apple snails, sling snails) in rural areas was abundant and the market demand was increasing, Ms. Nguyen Thi Kieu boldly built 5 ponds, each pond was 15 - 20 m wide.2to buy apple snails to raise.
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| Ms. Nguyen Thi Kieu dug 5 ponds, each pond is 15 - 20 square meters wide, solidly built, provided with enough water, the floor is covered with a thin layer of mud, creating beds with grass and water hyacinth (Water Hyacinth) to create shade and snails to reproduce like in the natural environment. |
Ms. Kieu said: Raising apple snails in a pond is not very expensive, just need to build a closed pond to reduce loss, enough water, cover the floor with a thin layer of mud, create beds with grass and water hyacinth to create shade and snails reproduce like in the natural environment. The main food is rice bran, jackfruit fiber, vegetables, grass, water hyacinth, banana tree trunks. Baby snails are released into the pond for about 3 - 4 weeks and then fed with rice bran. The time for snails to develop to the stage of commercial snail harvest is about 4 months.
Harvesting season is scattered throughout the year due to the overlap of crops, but is most concentrated in the summer from April to September. Night is the easiest time to catch snails, because the water is cool, snails crawl out and cling to the pond walls. Commercial snails usually weigh from 30 - 40 pieces/kg, selling price from 60 - 70 thousand VND, peaking at 100,000 VND/kg right at the pond. On average, Ms. Kieu sells 3-5 kg to customers per day, earning nearly 200 thousand VND per day.
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| The characteristic of the black apple snail is that it lives under the shade of water hyacinth, and when it comes to reproduction, it clings to trees or grass to lay eggs. |
Sharing her experience in raising black snails, Ms. Kieu said: The important thing to note when raising apple snails is that they should not be raised in the same pond with carnivorous fish such as grass carp, snakehead fish or ducks and geese because the food of these species is snails and snail eggs. The pond needs to be cleaned once a year to kill all species that are harmful to snails.
Every time it is time to breed, snails will look for grassy areas with lots of water hyacinth to lay eggs, so it is important to add more water hyacinth or create grass mats for snails to live, breed and lay eggs. When they are first laid, the eggs are white, and when they are about to hatch, they turn opaque white. After about 2 weeks, the snail eggs hatch, the lime shell of the eggs will slowly dissolve, forming a layer of glue that covers the snails on the outside. When the snails are bigger than corn kernels, feed them with rice bran to stimulate the snails to grow quickly.
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| Every day, Ms. Kieu sells about 3 - 5kg, earning about 200,000 VND, about 6 million VND per month from apple snails. |
Black apple snails are easy to distinguish, compared to golden apple snails, they are black, have thick shells and walls, and full mouths, so when buying snails caught in the fields, people must pay attention to selecting and removing golden apple snails. Because if a golden apple snail is mixed in, it can damage the whole pond, because golden apple snails are harmful and reproduce quickly.
The model of raising apple snails requires little investment, has a very stable output, and brings in a good source of income. Because now, snails have become a specialty in restaurants and hotels. Currently, Ms. Nguyen Thi Kieu is self-studying and researching more documents to breed, expand the scale of farming; and experimenting with raising more "specialties" of the countryside such as: crabs, loach and a pond of frogs.
Anh Tuan - Phan Hien
Yen Thanh Radio Station
