Spring Is Baby Making Time (for Snails)

[lindsay]

So, for those of you who do not know, I have 7 pet land snails (which I picked up off the sidewalk last year in November/December).....

I have kept them in an aquarium for about 6 months now, and well, Ray Peat was correct about spring and fertility. Major Tom (is the name of the particular snail) is currently laying eggs in the tank (hermaphrodites they are), and I just caught two more snails in the action of mating.

If anyone is interested in pet snails (and if I can ship them- probably not - maybe to RP himself?) I will likely have a lot of eggs and baby snails in the coming months and have no idea what to do with them (other than terminate some of the eggs - if they come to fruition). Two are latched on currently and conditions in the tank need to be good for the snails to mate and the eggs to hatch, but I haven't had time to read up on such things. They just began happening as soon as the tank got warmed by the afternoon sun. Go figure :) I haven't paid attention to them much, other than feeding them and cleaning the tank and giving them water, and taking occasional photos. But they are really cool

Anyhoo, I don't want to kill the eggs, but would be willing to experiment with them if they hatch. I emailed RP about snails and he said they are good problem solvers and it would be interesting to see their food choices - they currently only eat calcium carbonate (for their shells), green leaves and fish food. Sometimes mushrooms and beets.

This is a crap shoot of a thread, but if anyone wants pet snails in the coming months, I may have some. Especially if you reside in the Northeast US. They are rare and hard to come across, so they likely cannot be shipped easily. If you live in the UK, you can find garden snails aplenty. Here in CT, they are a rarity and I have no idea where the ones I have came from (I rescued them from the sidewalk months ago), other than they look like French food - and no, I will not eat them. I actually found them on the sidewalk in front of a French woman's garden. They come out occasionally when it rains.

Just putting this out there before I go to sleep. If interested in running a study or picking up baby snails, let me know. Will post pictures of any babies that survive.....

 

[lvysaur]

Especially if you reside in the Northeast US.

So half the forum?

I can find them by the dozen whenever it rains, lol.

The sex thing is definitely true; lots of animals obviously going at it. The animals also seem very unafraid of humans in the spring; I'm not sure whether this is due to better metabolism, or sex hormones, or just a higher preponderance of bold immature animals.

 

[lindsay]

I can find them by the dozen whenever it rains, lol.

Are you in the Northeastern United States? I never see them here. Except the ones I've found, which have interesting shells. At our summer place in Estonia, there are THOUSANDS of them, but it rains a lot there. Plus, they are plain brown shells. The ones I have are striped and I've never seen them here (except in front of this one French woman's garden).

or just a higher preponderance of bold immature animals.

LOL I never thought I would keep the snails this long, but they are so adorable - and very fascinating. They love crawling on human hands. And since I am terrible at keeping plants alive, I figured that keeping creatures which devour plants was much more my thing