What food does the snail eat?

The field snail refers to the molluscs of the family Oncomelidae, which belongs to the subclass Gastropoda, which is distributed in most areas of China. It has high requirements for water quality and low yield, and can be caught in summer and autumn. Chinese round snails are common in fresh water. Let's take a look at what the snails eat.

What food does the snail eat?

Snails like to inhabit the water environment rich in humus in the sediment, such as lakes, ponds, marshes, field valleys or slow-flow river ditches with luxuriant water plants, often feed on microorganisms and humus in the soil and phytoplankton, young aquatic plants and moss in the water, as well as artificial fodder, such as fruits and vegetables, vegetable leaves, rice bran, wheat bran, bean flour (cake) and various animal scraps.

Growth habits of field snails

1. Feeding habits: the snail is a gastropod mollusk, which likes to live in waters with cool winter and summer, soft bottom, rich bait and fresh water quality, especially in places with micro-running water and miscellaneous food habits. It mainly eats tender stems and leaves of aquatic plants, organic debris and so on, and likes nocturnal activities and feeding.

2. Temperature: the snail begins to move and feed when the water temperature is about 15 ℃, and the suitable temperature for growth is 20 ℃ ~ 27 ℃. When the temperature is above 30 ℃, the snail will shrink into the shell to stop feeding, gather in the shade or dive into the soil to avoid summer heat, the water temperature will die when the water temperature exceeds 40 ℃, and hibernate in the mud hole when the water temperature is lower than 8 ℃, and the water temperature will rise to about 15 ℃ in the spring next year before re-emerging and feeding.

3. Reproduction: the field snail is dioecious and viviparous, and the eggs are fertilized and developed in the mother's nursery. They are not excreted until they grow into larvae, and can give birth to 20-30 cubs at a time. In the south, the breeding period is from April to May and September to November every year.

Feeding management of field snail

1. Snails: young snails should start feeding two weeks after delivery, and egg yolks should be used at the beginning. After 1 or 2 days, they can be allowed to eat natural bait, and when feeding, they should lick the bait with their teeth and tongue, so when feeding solid bait, they must soak in soft water to suit feeding.

2. Young snail: after the snail is put into the pond, it begins to feed green vegetables, rice bran, fish offal or tea cake, bean cake, etc., green vegetables and fish offal should be chopped and mixed with rice bran and other feed, and vegetable cake and bean cake should be soaked and softened to facilitate snail feeding.

3. Adult snail: the feed demand of adult snail can be divided into four periods in one year.

From March to May, ① is the preparation period before mating and begins to feed.

The period from May to the middle of August of ② is the period of spawning and hypertrophy. In the early stage, the appetite increases sharply, and in the later stage, the appetite is sometimes depressed due to the influence of spawning and high temperature.

From August to mid-October, ③ prepared for hibernation, increased appetite in the early stage, accumulated nutrients and prepared for hibernation. Before entering hibernation, its food intake decreases.

④ began to feed organic fertilizer the week before when spring came and field snails began to wake up after hibernation.

⑤ needs to be fed during the preparation period of spawning and hibernation, and it is appropriate to feed twice a week, and the amount of feed can be flexibly controlled according to the feeding and water quality of field snails.

⑥ field snail is most suitable for growth in the range of 20-26 ℃. When the water temperature is lower than 15 degrees or higher than 30 degrees, there is no need to bait.