Eggs Incubation Period and Hatching Success of the African Giant Land Snail (Archachatina marginata) Swainson in Different Incubation Media

Abstract

Agbelusi, E.A. and Adeparusi, E.O. 1999. Eggs incubation period and hatching success of the African Giant land snail (Archachatina marginata) Swainson in different incubation media. J. Appl. Anim. Res., 15: 57–62. Incubation period and hatching success was investigated in the African giant land snail—Archachatina marginata. Four different media with varying moisture content were used for egg incubation. The results revealed that too much or too little moisture content in the incubation media either prolonged the incubation period or prevented hatching. Egg hatchability on the damp soil was 30% while it was highest in moist soil at 82% success. Eggs incubated in both the dry soil and the sawdust became crystallised. This shows that high ambient temperature coupled with little moisture content in the incubation media prevented the development of the embryo to maturity. The linear regression shows that there is an inverse relationship between moisture content of the soil and numbers of undeveloped eggs (r = −0.77) while there is a direct relationship between temperature and numbers of undeveloped eggs (r = +0.92). Incubation period ranged between 32 to 42 days in the damp soil while it was between 23 to 30 days in the moist soil. These results indicate that soil with optimum moisture contents should be chosen for snail rearing in order to ensure good snail yield and productivity.