foghog
Achatina immaculata
Posts: 235
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Post by foghog on Aug 31, 2011 2:47:30 GMT
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Post by crossless on Aug 31, 2011 23:57:51 GMT
Lovely, but why they have so many rocks in tank?  |
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foghog
Achatina immaculata
Posts: 235
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Post by foghog on Sept 1, 2011 6:19:18 GMT
According the this persons blog, if I remember correctly.....As can be seen in the pictures, they love them. for one thing they are limestone, so there is the calcium, but I think it has a lot to do with body and temperature control, as well as for lack of better term mucus management. Aspersa and others like to climb, They'll climb all sorts of things. in the wild trees/etc. but a trees bark is porous and absorbent, rocks like limestone are not so much (even though the acidic mucus does dissolve the calcium in a reaction for absorption I think.). He points out that when these are not eating, which lately due to the temp and time of year isn't often, they will cluster on the rocks, the 'pillars' above the food being a favorite spot for them and the rocks to the bottom left. (particularly on the bottom face, which is on the shade side of the grow light(you can see four of them there right now.) on it but also the rocks are arranged with a little 'cave'/indention as well which capture humidity and they hang out in.) the rock holds dampness well also.
The moss is there for when they feel like digging or burying themselves, evidently....and the cuttlebones will not be so prevalent shortly, and are not always there.
In my opinion, it is all about the micro climates. we cannot 'sense' micro-climates as well as small creatures living in them, imo. the difference to a snail though or many other small creatures is huge. they look for tiny areas where the barometric pressure is slightly different, or the moisture levels, heat, light,etc,etc. I'm sure they'd be fine if the rocks were not there....but it is clear they enjoy them. and from looking at many many many pictures and observing, there is one thing I notice....see in the last picture put up there, you can see a reflection of light on the bottom of the picture, as well as up a the top a reflection of the lip of a grow light.....so that picture is taken through the glass of the habitat.....what you do not see is important though......and that is....no snails on the side of the glass or on the top (You'd see their flattened undersides.).....even though they are Aspersa, they like it down there and are staying. Do you think rocks are a bad idea with this species?
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coyote
Archachatina papyracea
Cochleas ego amo
Posts: 2,955
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Post by coyote on Sept 1, 2011 15:56:39 GMT
Anything hard in the tank poses a danger of a snail cracking its shell if it falls from higher up onto the rock (or other hard object).
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foghog
Achatina immaculata
Posts: 235
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Post by foghog on Sept 1, 2011 17:03:04 GMT
lol....true......whoever owns these must just be a big jerk meanie who doesn't care at all about life! poor snails.....
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Post by tillyachatina123 on Sept 1, 2011 17:25:24 GMT
This is beautiful, and an awful lot of effort for such tiny snails! I'd be scared of losing 'em xD
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foghog
Achatina immaculata
Posts: 235
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Post by foghog on Sept 1, 2011 20:31:20 GMT
ya, they all start off sorta small.....I believe those are about a month old, and of course they do not grow like a Syrinx aruanus (a huge sea snail that can get up to 90 cm and 40 lbs) but they do alright in a year or two. they'll do up to 35 mm in two years. at first they are easily lost, that is why the young containers should be made differently than adult habitats. I think. some people actually just keep young in clean containers without much but a little substrate if anything. I'm not one of them though, because I think hatchlings require good starting nutrients or their growth will be stunted, and they eat algae which grows up the substraight if conditions are proper.
This is common in many snail varieties actually, in fact there have been studies where mosses have been wiped out, which have caused colony collapse in snails in the area, but it isn't because they eat the moss it is because they've eaten the algae off the moss and beat the moss up in the process. and when the moss fails, the algae that grows on it fails and the colonies suffer.
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