(2.1) Diet preparation: Garden snails were collected from vegetation around the experimental area. The shells were cracked and the soft parts removed. The viscera mass were cut off, leaving the foot and the mantle. They were washed with alum in several changes of clean water to remove slime. They were boiled for 15 minutes with plant protein (Lim and Dominy 1990, Shiau et al 1990) and other animal sources have also been attempted, mussels (Guerrero 1982), crabs and frogs (Smith et al 1988), lizard (Fagbenro 1993, Faleye 1992), periwinkle (Akegbejo 1999) and blended poultry meat meal (Sadiku and Jauncey 1995). Limicolaria sp. is a gastropod mollusc which is very
common during the rainy season and can be reared in large quantity for the purpose of incorporating it in feed. Snail meal was found to be comparable to fish
meal as supplemental protein source in poultry layer
diets. Chick growth trial showed that weight gain was
similar to fish meal. Odaibo (1997) reported that
boiling snails for 10 to 15 minutes or drying
improves performance. This study was conducted to
investigate the level of utilization, growth and
acceptability of garden snails in C. gariepinus diets.