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Giant land snails?

Pet Corn Snake said:
Great pictures, yea the list of food would be good, Ive been trying to rep you lol but it just keeps saying spread some more around.. I donno how that system works lol.. but anyways I seriously do appreciate everyones comments etc!! :) I love the look of your snail! it's massive!
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Well thanks for the attempted rep George! ;) I'm glad my posts are helping you out here.

Here's your food list. Hope it helps! Remember to wash everything carefully and don't cook anything, always feed the stuff raw. (Btw - your snails probably won't eat everything on this list. They'll have their own preferences.)

Okay... this may take a while...



Safe Foods:
Lettuce - Lettuce is fine so long as you choose the type carefully. Do not buy Iceberg. I recommend Romaine - it's especially good for snails.
Cucumber - Snails adore slices of cucumber. They seem to prefer pieces sliced thinly.
Courgette - Same as cucumber really.
Cabbage - Mine won't eat it, but it's safe for them.
Carrot - ONLY the orange part. The green tops are unsafe. They seem to prefer the carrot in thin slices rather than big chunks.
Apple - Mine are especially partial to a type called Red Chief! Never feed the pips/core part, it's toxic.
Pear - Mine like Williams Pears. I'm not 100% sure about the core in pears, but I'd avoid it to be on the safe side.
Oranges - Reported to be safe in small moderations, but use with caution as it is rather acidic for snails.
Strawberry - They seem to love strawberry. Only give the red fruit, take the green tops off.
Tomato - Green tops are toxic, always take them off. Mine especially like cherry tomato more than the big ones.
Spinach - Okay in small moderations, but can be harmful (it contains something I can't remember the name of.)
Sweetcorn - Corn on the cob! They seem to like stripping this.
Cress - Cress is good, I especially recommend watercress (the type with larger leaves.)
Parsnip - Safe, although mine hate it.
Brussel Sprouts - It can be hard to get them to eat this, but some seem to like it.
Broccoli - You can use this, mine aren't keen on the hard stem part though.
Peach - Fine, remove the stone of course ;)
Plum - Again, fine.
Banana - Most peoples' snails seem to like this, so naturally mine hate it! It's quite safe though. Give the fruit, obviously not the skin.
Melon - I believe watermelon is safe. I khaven't tried it though.
Mango - Safe, although they're expensive to buy just for snails.

This list is nowhere near exhaustive; I just compiled it off the top of my head and I've run out for the moment. I suggest you buy more vegetables than fruit; fruit goes off much faster and won't feed your snails the whole week. I tend to use vegetables as the 'staple' during the week, and offer a selection of fruit over the weekend, when I've just bought it and it's nice and fresh.

Hope this will be of use to you. ;)
 
Whoa, I never knew snails would eat food like that. I guess I never thought about what they eat though.

Very Cool!
 
Plissken said:
Spinach - Okay in small moderations, but can be harmful (it contains something I can't remember the name of.)
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Calcium oxalate (oxalic acid). It renders the calcium in the spinach unusuable, and can bind calcium from other sources. It's fine in moderation, but make sure you balance it with another food source that contains lots of calcium (i.e. broccoli).

LOTS of vegetables contain oxalates, but spinach is the one that everyone knows about. Others include parsley, rhubarb (lethal to animals), chives, onions, lambsquarters (VERY high), and a few others I can't remember at the moment.

Sweet corn is good,but it contains high levels of phosphorous, which can interfere with calcium levels. Feed corn all you want, but feed lots of extra calcium with it.
 
Oxalates! That's it. :)

The calcium inbalance in sweet corn shouldn't be a problem as cuttelfish should always be available to the snails 24/7.

Oh - btw - keep some dry tortoise food in case of emergencies, George. Most snails will eat it, it's great if you can't get veg that week for whatever reason.
 
Dave123 said:
Whoa, I never knew snails would eat food like that. I guess I never thought about what they eat though.

Very Cool!
Click to expand...

I guess Dave's never had a garden!

This is making me want a snail...

Nanci
 
he he! thanks for all your help, that list has helped, is it okay if I copy some of this thread into a work document? then i can look back on it? your very good with your knowledge on snails, you should write a caresheet! :p
 
Plissken said:
I think it's illegal to keep them in America, or is it only certain parts?
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That rings a bell.

:-offtopic My patient just ran away without telling me- another tech spotted her at Wendy's!! (Hamburger place, for those of you not in the US.)

Nanci
 
Well dang :cry: just when my interest was peeked, I read not legal in US. I do have a few questions: I have a real fear of snails and slugs, but they seem fascinating. Do you have to handle them? I was afraid of holding mice before I had them and now I think they are really cool (much better than hamsters). Are there any giant varieties of snails available in US? thanks, susan
 
Pet Corn Snake said:
he he! thanks for all your help, that list has helped, is it okay if I copy some of this thread into a work document? then i can look back on it? your very good with your knowledge on snails, you should write a caresheet! :p
Click to expand...

Of course you can do that. I don't mind at all. :cheers:

Susang - no, you don't have to handle them. I pick mine up every so often to check up on them, get them out the way when I'm cleaning the tank, etc, but I pretty much never handle them. I just like to observe them.

I don't know if there are any giant snails avaiable in the USA. I know you can keep certain types of non-giants though; I think you can buy apple snails and that sort of thing.
 
Yeah bummer we can't have them in the U.S. I don't have to take a very long drive to find out why though. I'm surrounded by farms here... And I've seen what little snails can do!
 
Yeah, a lot of people were releasing them in to the wild and they became a pest - not only eating crops and so forth, but also threatened to become an invasive species for the native snails (a bit like grey squirrels vs red here in the UK.) So it's illegal to keep them now, and illegal to release them in to the wild. It's a shame that responsible people are stopped from having them too (fairly obvious they aren't native... given the name and all) but there you go :shrugs:
 
yea great looking snail there..^

Update:

I have chose not to get my land snails yet, I'm going to get them at the start of next year, meaning I have enough time to do full research on leopard geckos witch I'm going into around Christmas time, I still have a great interest in these unusual pets, they seem really gentle.


-George-

IF anyone has any tips on keeping Leo's Please Private message me, I want to research everything about them.
 
Sorry to dig out an old thread, but I am looking into keeping snails, I done a search on Achatina fulica and found this thread so. . .

I only really have one question, how big are the eggs, because most ebayers only sell them in pairs, and ~200 little snails is not what I need! Will the eggs be easy to find in a tank/tub? I should hopefully have my snail(s) in about two weeks. I'm stocking up on research (as I always do)

Cheers,
Connor
 
Snail eggs are tiny, Connor. Here's a pic for you.

You don't have to let the eggs hatch out - most people destroy the eggs. I know it sounds unkind but it's better than letting millions of unwated babies hatch when there aren't good homes for them. I do strongly recommend you keep snails together and not alone as they are social, and certainly more fun to watch in pairs!

The eggs can be hard to find if you keep your snails on loose substrate as snails bury their eggs underground. To get around this, you can keep snails on a flat substrate - capillary matting is excellent - and offer a bowl of digging material. This way all you have to do is check the bowl for eggs.
 

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