Two questions about snails :)

[shaydeesnail]

Two rather random questions really.

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that snails can carry/give you pinworms/threadworms. Is this true? I would have thought that if they had them, you would be able to see them in the substrate. I always wash my hands after handling them, but it's something I'm a little paranoid about. My snails are wild caught British Cepaea nemoralis.

Also, is there a way you can tell the age of snails? I have 6, that I caught this year. 4 are quite small and look young while 2 look almost full grown. I just wondered if there was any way to tell

[axoloa]

Hi shaydeesnail,

Threadworms are quit an uncommon occurence realy in England as they prefer a warmer climate. certainly not a problem you should ever come across in England out of the summer time.

as for a snails age, their no way to be 100% sure of their aga, although their size usualy makes it very easy to estimate (obviously this varies depending on the species). When their fully grown however you cant realy tell how long they have been fully grown so then you have to find out at what age the species becomes fully grown and at what age they usualy die. This can be anything between a year and 8 years depending on the species. What species are you trying to determine the age of? I could probabaly help, and if not im sure someone else could

[coyote]

Snails can be an intermediate host for the rat lungworm, but I haven't heard about getting pinworms or threadworms from snails. Nevertheless, washing your hands after handling snails is a good idea. I wash my hands after merely touching the inside of the tank even if I don't touch any actual snails.

I suppose taking a close look at snail poop for worms would be the first place I'd look, before looking in the substrate.

I think the only way to tell for sure the age of a snail is to know when it hatched. Snails from the same clutch of eggs can grow at widely differing rates, and after a month or two some can be twice the size of others, making them look like they came from 2 different clutches that hatched at different times.