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A Monaghan farmer has created an unusual way to help thousands of his Irish snails have a second chance at finding love. Dad-of-two Kieran Corley, the founder of Irish skincare company Bragan Skincare, harvests the key ingredient, snail mucin, directly from his Scotstown, Monaghan snail farm.
The snails, who mate for life, will not always find their partner on the first attempt – but matchmaker Kieran, 54, has come up with a solution to give lonely singles another chance to find “the one”.
“Snails are monogamous – and at the end of each breeding season I find a number of snails in each bed who have not paired up,” he said.
“I take all of these lonely hearts and transfer them into their own section of the farm to give them one more chance to find a partner. When they meet, their courtship lasts approximately 24 hours, during which time they will slither all over each other until they decide they are a match.”
Kieran started with 50,000 snails, and now has over a million on the farm thanks to his breeding programme.
The snails spend their life in enclosures called beds, with approximately 125,000 snails in each bed.
Up to 90% of the snails in these beds will find a mate in a given season, and Kieran collects the remaining 10% and places them in a special bed he has set aside for lonesome singles.
Many of the snails will find their partner at this point, and any that do not will then be placed into hibernation for the next season.
“We harvest mucin, which is snail slime, and we do it for a very good reason,” said Kieran.
“Mucin is natures answer to the skincare wish list of ingredients: hyaluronic acid, allantoin, retinol, vitamin E, glycolic acid, collogen, the list goes on and those in the skincare industry will recognise the wealth of benefits they bring.
“Initially I began raising the snails to sell as food due to a worldwide shortage in their production, but I noticed within months that the scars on my hands had disappeared, and knew I had to pivot into skincare.
“Locally I am known as the snail man, and I frequently have people arriving at my door looking for remedies – we have several cases locally, nationally and more recently internationally of our formula clearing eczema, psoriasis and dermatitis, including on a newborn baby, and we are so proud to have made that difference in people’s lives.
“Bragan Skincare is not a backyard remedy – our products follow strict EU regulations and internationally, snail mucin is recognised for its benefits, especially within Korean skincare which has its own place within the industry,” he adds.
“Snail mucin exists for a number of reasons which make it relevant to skincare – mainly healing damaged, inflammed, and infected cells, and creating an antibacterial layer between the snail and the ground, but it is also the mechanism by which snails smell out their perfect partner.”
The snail mating process involves the couple trying to fire a dart full of enzymes into the other, which can sometimes be fatal.
“The mother will carry up to 100 eggs immediately inside the shell for most protection, and when the babies hatch they eat the membrane of their egg, which gives them the calcium to build their first shell.”
Bragan Skincare develops two ranges – skincare which encompasses face, body, and hand cream, lip balm and face masks, and a healing range which includes creams for atopic skin, a scalp soothe and shampoo for sensitive scalps, and a balm for restless legs and feet.
Lead image: Kieran Corley, founder of Bragan Skincare. Image courtesy of Conor McCabe.