Heliciculture

The following is a list of books that I have seen mentioned either on sites or in bibliographies that I think might be of assistance to the snail farmer. Many seem to be unavailable or out of print but I mention them in the hope that you may find them in your library or a local second hand book shop.

English

• Raising Snails for Food by Jacques Baraton and Frances Herb
  June 1989. Illuminations Press.
• Farming Snails: Learning About Snails, Building a Pen, Food and Shelter Plants
  January 1986. Bernan Associates
• Farming Snails 2: Choosing Snails, Care and Harvesting, Further Improvement
  June 1988. Bernan Associates
• How to Care for Your Giant African Land Snail by Lucy Mann
  2002. Kingdom Books
  A slim volume, I purchased a copy of this from Amazon (UK). The information applies equally to snails of a more moderate size.
• Land Snails of the British Isles by A A Wardhaugh
  1989. Shire Natural History
  Another slim volume acquired from Amazon (UK). A few photographs, a section on anatomy (complete with drawn illustrations), more brief sections on classification, reproduction, diet, study and conservation and further reading. There are drawings of the most widespread species only, but this is not intended to be a comprehensive guide.
• A Field Guide to the Land Snails of Britain and North-west Europe by MP Kerney and R A D Cameron
  1979. Collins.
  A comprehensive volume with meticulous illustrations of all the species. Every snail is described and details given of habitat range and distribution. I consider myself fortunate to have acquired a second hand copy from Amazon (UK).
• Landsnails in the British Isles by by Robert Cameron with illustrations by Gordon Riley
  as mentioned on Field Studies Council website.
• Snail Farming by Various Authors - supervised by Giovanni Avagnina. An English version is available but the order form on the Istituto Elicicoltura site is insecure. They replied promptly to my completing a form on the site saying the book was still available but they don't tell me if there is an alternative way of paying - I have sent an e-mail reply but received no further information unfortunately.
• Snails from Garden to Table by Frances Herb with Coralie Castle and Carrie Domogalla
• Snail Farming in Australia by Sonya Begg. You have to deposit monies in an Australian bank account to obtain a copy. Dispatch is swift and takes around 10 days to arrive in the UK. Review to follow.
• Apparently there's a 17 page document you can obtain from this person who has raised snails for years, but you need to send $5 dollars to get it (plus postage to wherever you are, I imagine):
  Frances Herb
  1213 Stockton Street
  St. Helena, California, 94574 (so far I haven't done this myself)
• I have also seen reference to Snail Farming for Top Profits by Edward Difarn Border Business Bureau, London, 1984, 44 pages, but I can't find the Border Business Bureau on the internet.

Free Book, Success with a Small Food Business, available from MAFF, now DEFRA. I am going to get one of these, the telephone number is "not recognised" (it is dated 1998!), so I have e-mailed DEFRA to enquire whether they still do it. Several weeks later, there has been no response. I have an up to date telephone number, I will make contact when I get a few minutes during the week at work.

Foreign languages (to me!)

One of my e-mail correspondents has very kindly alerted me to the existence of Snail Farming: from hobby to professional by André De Grisse. The book is in Dutch but has an English summary. I have completed a feedback form on the more information page. I know a Dutch lady who may be able to give me assistance with translations. You have to deposit monies into a Dutch bank account to obtain a copy. Dispatch is swift and takes 4-5 days to arrive in the UK. I am attempting to obtain translations of this book.

The following are available from this Brazilian site (if you can speak/read Spanish or Portugese). There is an additional postal charge of US$30 to mail to UK:

• Video (US$ 70.00) (in Spanish and Portuguese)
• Handout "Breading Techniques" (US$ 20.00) (in Portuguese)
• Book "Escargot: Indoor Breeding & Marketing" (US$ 30.00) (in Portuguese)
• Our Cookbook (US$ 10.00) (in Portuguese)