Effect of Varying Incubation Days on Hatchlings of African Giant Land Snail <i>(Achachatinamarginata)</i>
Keywords:
Incubation day, viscousyolk fluid, weight gain, AchachatinamarginataAbstract
The study examines the effect of different incubation days on the growth rate and colour changes of hatchlings of African Giant Land Snail (Achachatinamarginata). A total of 100 eggs were incubated for the experiment, 10 eggs were hatched on each day from the 16th to 30th day of incubation, at an interval of 2 days, while those left to hatch naturally served as control for the experiment. The viscous yolk fluid of the eggs hatched on different incubation days were observed, the initial weight of hatchlings were taken while the weight gain and colour changes were monitored for two weeks. The result of the experiment revealed that the quantity of the viscous fluid reduced as the incubation days increased. Initial mean body weight of the hatchlings varied from 1.50g on the 16th day of incubation to 2.73g on the 30th day of incubation and the control weighed 3.90g. The colour of the shell ranged from light yellow to coffee brown while the head-foot changed from light yellow to black in hatchlings. Those hatched on the 16th died after five days when the viscous yolk fluid dried up. This implies that at this stage, the hatchlings cannot survive outside the egg’s shell. The incubation period of eggs of African giant land snail has great effect on the growth rate and colour changes of the hatchlings, especially those hatched below 22nd day of incubation. Since there is no significant difference in the growth rate of the snails hatched from the 22nd day of incubation, the incubation days of African giant land snails’ eggs can therefore be reduced to 22 days so as to be able to increase snail meat production in Nigeria.
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