Babies Hatching!!!

[fran]

Hello Everyone...

some of you might remember i posted here recently asking your advice when i noticed my Albino Achatina Reticulata snail was carrying eggs.

The eggs were layed under the coir on 26th October. I decided to leave them well alone hoping for baby snails.

over the past 2 or 3 days one of the adult snails has been acting so strange. she keeps brushing her shell over the nest, forcing coir out of the way like she is digging the eggs up.. i wonder if anyone can shed any light on this behaviour? coincidence? a way to help them hatch? or trying to harm them?

earlier today i was feeding them and i noticed a tiny little head poking through the coir, i do not know how many have hatched, but i9 know there are lots of eggs still in tact (they were layed against the side wall and i have been watching closely)...

with the adult behaving so strange i am considering moving the young and the unhatched eggs into a seperate container (i have another large tank though it is plastic unlike the glass one they are in now) i would move the adults out, but the plastic tank is smaller and i worry there is not enough room for the adults...

is it a good idea to move them at this stage or shall i leave them alone??

thanks in advance, fran...

[coyote]

Do you think the adult brushing the shell over the nest is on purpose or just a coincidence? I've never heard of that behavior before, so I'm not sure what to say. Most of the time with my snails the adults ignore the nest once the eggs have been laid.

I don't know if moving the hatchlings and remaining eggs now is a good idea or not. Would your other container be big enough for just the one snail that was disturbing the nest?

[fran]

hi coyote,

having sat and watched the behaviour it seems the snail is going out of it's way to brush it's shell over the nest, it then turns and repeats the behaviour again and again and has been at it for a few days now. being new to snail keeping i have no idea why it is doing this or if it is normal..

the container is about 3 foot long by 2 foot wide by 2 foot tall.. my other concern is heating it, there is a heat mat on the glass tank... i do not know what to do for the best...

[fran]

i got up this morning and the adults are both camping out on the nest, i really need advise if it is safe to move them at this late stage?

if it is safe to move the eggs and newly hatched snails do i supply coir and food?

thanks, fran

[axoloa]

Personaly I would consider moving the paretns rather than the eggs/hatchlngs. I usualy do this with most of my snail species on the day the ova is discoverd. always has good results As for food, I would get some cuttle fish and just scrape a few shavings around the nest. Hatchlings always go for calcium before they even attempt to eat any vegitation. when they start venturing out of their nest then this is a good stage to maybe put a slice of cucumber, letuce, sweet potato what have you a few cm away from the nest

[fran]

whoopps..

within the 5 hours between me asking and recieving a reply i decided to try and move the nest..

i really hope and pray i have not harmed them...

i did not know what else to do for the best, the adults seemed to be completely fascinated with the nest... i literally picked the adults up and moved them away and within moments they were making a bee line back to the young... i found one dead baby crushed against the glass

i set up the large plastic container with coir and moved the little ones and surrounding coir into the new set up... there are several hatched yet they do not seem active so far.... i hope they are ok....

[axoloa]

Hi, im sure they will be fine Fulica, Reticulata and most Achatina species are very hardy to new conditions, so as long as you were gentle with the eggs and hatchlings im sure this move wont have to bigger affect on them They dont realy become active untill about a 3-4 weeks of age, though you may find some of them venturing out of the nest after only 1 week

[fran]

thank you so much axoloa...

your help and knowledge is very much appreciated..

i will keep my fingers crossed they are ok....

[coyote]

I have never heard of a snail being so obsessed with a nest. I would not consider such behavior normal, so it's probably a good thing you moved it.

[fran]

fantastic news guys & gals....



also, the strange behaviour issues... i have discovered more eggs inside the shell cavity, i am assuming it is the other snail (not the one that already layed)

a quick question.... do you think she has survived the stresses of laying that Achatina Reticulata encounter? it has been several weeks now and she is eating and acting quite normal... lets hope the 2nd batch are as successful...

many thanks for everyones help in bringing my little ones through this.... ;D

[Greta]

AWWWW that are gorgeous little things congratulations so cute and adorable I wish you luck with them and the second clutch are planning on selling them?

[coyote]

Those little snailets are so cute! ;D

[saki114]

Your baby snailies are STUNNING... I'll bet the parents are just as impressive, eh??? Good luck with all your snails!!!

[rosiesnail2]

I purchased some of them yesterday, saki114, I was peticularly stunned by them I'm sure they will be as cute as the photos! You'll have to check out my thread ' the tiny and the huge snails' I think it was called...

[fran]

they sure are a beautiful species... ;D

[ness]

Congratulations, they are absolutely gorgeous!

It does look hopeful for the adult, as in it sounds like it will survive. They generally don't die immediately but after all this time and still eating well and behaving normally it seems hopeful

Have those other eggs been laid yet?

[fran]

Hi ness,

this thread was a while ago and yes, the other eggs were layed and hatched successfully.

both snails survived and one is again carrying eggs..

she has not eaten much the past few days and seems rather quiet... i am hoping she is just reserving energy ready to lay and nothing more sinister..

they are lovely snails and i have had them since hatchlings...

fingers crossed she will be fine again

[ness]

Ooops sorry I didn't notice when you made the post!

Good lusk with this brood and hope she's back to normal soon x

[fran]

Thank you, i will do all i can to help her through x

[vallery]

Hi Fran,
When my cepaeas had their first batch of eggs someone on the forum helped me a great deal and it worked. The information I got was to put a clear plastic container over the clutch of eggs (clear container so you could observe what was going on inside) and to also provide what they needed in there throughout the stages of hatching then once they hatched they could be safely removed to another tank. one thing this ensures is that when they do hatch in the upside down container over the clutch they don't end up all over the tank. It may have been Greta that helped me out with this but not sure. It worked well though.
vallery:)

[saki114]

Jan 22, 2012 20:57:32 GMT rosiesnail2 said:

I purchased some of them yesterday, saki114, I was peticularly stunned by them I'm sure they will be as cute as the photos! You'll have to check out my thread ' the tiny and the huge snails' I think it was called...

awesome! ;D