Some of the pest and disease of Snails

The fact is that if you really want to make it in Snail farming business you really need to be aware of the several predators, parasites and diseases that attack Snail. Without been told Snails have a lot of natural predators, including members of all major vertebrate groups, carnivorous snails, ground beetles, leeches and even predatory caterpillars.

The Predators that attack Snail

 In Snail farming the major predators that attack Snails are rats and shrews, field mice, frogs and toads, thrushes, crows and also domesticated birds like turkeys and ducks, lizards and snakes, millipedes and centipedes, drilid and carabid beetles. One thing about the frogs is that they tend to take only the young snails, but the reptiles eat both eggs and snails of all ages.
 By peradventure if your Snail farm is located in an area with high bird predation, make sure you use nets to cover your pens. Try as much as possible to make sure you are removing leftover food daily from the pens because some predators, especially rats and field mice, are really attracted by the leftover foods. Some of these predators can decimate the Snail farm in a few days.

The Diseases that attack Snails

 Some of the well known disease that attack Snails are fungal disease. This disease spread through physical contact by licking slime from each other's bodies. One of the first is bacterial disease, which is caused by Pseudomonas. This disease can leads to intestinal infections that may spread rapidly amongst dense snail populations. While the second disease is caused by the fungus Fusarium, which parasitises their eggs of Helix aspersa. You will see the affected eggs turning reddish-brown in color. Another name for this disease is 'rosy eggs disease'.
 The following can also attack Snail; nematodes Parasites, trematodes, fungi, and microarthropods. In some case the problems can spread rapidly when the snail populations are dense. Another disease is bacterium Pseudomonas eruginosa which causes intestinal infections that can spread rapidly in a crowded snail pen, try and make sure that your Snail pen is not over crowded.
 Some of the possible predators include mice, rats, moles, skunks, weasels, birds, frogs and toads, lizards, walking insects, also some types of flies, like centipedes, and even certain carnivorous snail species, like Strangesta capillacea can also feed on your snail if the snail pen is not well secured.
 One things that prevent the spread of disease is basic hygiene. Try as much as possible to be cleaning the Snail pen regularly to remove excreta and uneaten food, as well as any other decaying matter that may serve as substrate for pathogenic organisms. Also It is strongly advise to sterilise the soil in the hutch boxes by steaming or heating every time they are being prepared for a new batch of egg.
 Wish you all the best.