Effects of the Inclusion of Chicken Egg Shells in the Meals of Captive Archachatina marginata (Giant West African Snail) on the Growth and Fecundity of the Species

Abstract

Eighteen giant West African land snails (Archachatina marginata) were collected and identified. The snails  were put in a single cage and allowed to acclimatize. The snails were then randomly selected and put in two cages, each containing 9 snails. The experimental samples  and control were both fed with the same food. To the experimental samples however, egg shell was added to test for its effect on growth and fecundity of snails. Measurements of weight, shell length and shell width were taken for a period of seven weeks. These readings were subjected to One-way Analysis of Variance (One-way ANOVA). The difference in shell length gained was not statistically significant (P>0.05) between the control and the experimental samples. Shell width gain however, was significantly different (P<0.05) between the control and the experimental samples. Snail weight gain was similar to that of shell length and the difference in shell length gained by the control and experimental samples was not statistically significant (P>0.05). Snails in the experimental group laid five clutches of eggs with a total of 27eggs, 3 eggs hatched. However, those in the control did not lay any eggs. The result obtained from the experimental group shows that the chicken egg shells had positive influence on the fecundity of the snails. This result has implication for snail farmers and for snails as intermediate hosts where they can have access to chicken egg shells in their environment.

Keywords: Archachatina marginata, Fecundity, Egg shell, Inclusion, Congo meat