Cepaea eggs! What should I do now?

[Evil Angel]

My cepaea sp. have finally laid a clutch of eggs! ;D

What should I do? Should I move them? The lid of the tank has holes that I think are large enough for baby snails to crawl through so am a bit worried about leaving them in there...

Any advice would be very much appriciated as these are actually my first ever clutch of eggs from any of my snails, so not experianced with this sort of thing

Thank you!

[vallery]

Hi ,

You can make a baby tank and move them into that making sure they have an exit hole to crawl out of after they hatch. I found that the ones I let hatch in the adult tank were much healthier then the ones I had in the baby tank though. You could get some window screening from a hardware store or mosquito netting so the little babies can't get out. all my little babies always go for the top so I use window screening and I also let them stay up there and feed them mushy food that sicks to the top until they are ready to come down and crawl around in the tank giving them a light mist at night as well. congrats!
vallery

[Evil Angel]

Thats a good idea, actually I might have some of that in the kitchen!

I'll put some on the tank tonight, and see how it goes, I did want to try and keep them in the tank so hopefully it'll be ok!

Thanks for the advice it was really helpful!

I hope they dont take too long to hatch, I can't wait to see what var. they are haha! ;D

[vallery]

Glad I could help a little. it usually takes my cepaea eggs three to four weeks to hatch. Some I have had to help get out of the earth because by then the little tunnel the parent made got covered up. Takes a while to know what variation you have. They are so tiny and basically no markings for a number of months. I keep my hortensis and nemoralis in separate tanks. My c nem breed like crazy but my hortensis have only had one clutch. I have hundreds of babies I will be keeping a few and setting the rest free soon.

[Evil Angel]

In the end I decided to move them into a smaller tub, and a good thing as I came across (what I assume to be) the other parent's clutch which was practically completely burried

So I moved the both, hoping I've not disturbed them too much or anything! I did what you said and made a little borrow and left a hole for them to crawl out. Just hope they'll be ok and will have lots of little babies soon! ;D

I keep my nems and horts together, so have no idea what's going to come out, so very excited lol! XD

Just praying they still hatch now I've moved them

[vallery]

Don't worry they will hatch. I've moved a lot of clutches and they have all hatched. What is great is when they lay a clutch up against the side of the tank and you can watch the process. leave a Little fish flakes and powdered egg shell by the little tunnels for them when they come out. I don't know why but all of my newborns always go to the top of the tank so I mash up cucumber and add powdered egg shell which I powder with a mortar and pestle and some fish flakes moisten it and stick it around the top for the little ones.

[Evil Angel]

Thanks so much for all your help!

Am so excited haha! ;D