|
Post by vallery on Mar 6, 2013 17:21:12 GMT
Hi mamatroll , You know they did the exact same thing here. At the back fence of my yard. It use to be teeming with snails and other wildlife and the city came along and wiped out everything trees grass plants etc. right down to the ground. I was horrified. Now there is nothing there for the wildlife and everything is gone. I made a snail sanctuary in one of my gardens and it is thriving. I have posted some photos of it on this thread. Now if I go collecting snails I go to a side street by my place and find all kinds of snails. Hopefully they don't chop down the trees and grass there or use pesticides , here they consider the snails a pest. vallery
|
|
|
Post by vallery on Mar 15, 2013 20:17:03 GMT
Up date on little Dash the only surviving cepaea baby from my England cepaea. 1st photo of Dash in comparison to one of my last two surviving adult cepaea from England. vallery Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by vallery on Mar 15, 2013 20:18:05 GMT
2nd photo little Dash on his own. vallery Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by vallery on Mar 16, 2013 21:30:04 GMT
Hi , I just wanted to let Cepaea owners know that one of morningcoffees suggestions for a good calcium source for snails was dried apricot sliced. It turns out it is a big hit with the cepaea. vallery
|
|
|
Post by vallery on Apr 12, 2013 18:02:35 GMT
Here are some photos of some Cepaea I found in my back yard yesterday This first one is an Adult Cepaea nemoralis Rose/yellow Morph with 5 band some of the bands are fused. vallery Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by vallery on Apr 12, 2013 18:04:16 GMT
This next one is an Adult Cepaea nemoralis- Yellow Morph-4 bands. vallery Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by vallery on Apr 12, 2013 18:05:48 GMT
This one is a little blurry sorry. He is an adult Cepaea nemoralis-Brown Morph-5 Bands. vallery Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by vallery on Apr 12, 2013 18:07:49 GMT
This lovely is an adult Cepaea nemoralis- Yellow Morph-5 Band. vallery Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by vallery on Apr 12, 2013 18:10:04 GMT
And last but not least the only adult Cepaea hortensis I found yesterday - Yellow Morph-5 Bands. A lucky and lovely find as there are not many hortensis in my yard. vallery ;D Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by sparrow on Apr 13, 2013 0:11:43 GMT
Wow! What beautiful little snails everyone has! I went through every page and one is prettier (or more handsome) than the other! Took me a few days to find this thread, but now that we (Snagglepuss and me - Leah) found the thread, I thought it was time to ask the experts if Snaggle is definitely a Cepaea nemoralis and if possible to judge Snaggle's approximate age by his strands(?). I found him on a branch in September 2012 and he was just a little guy who has tripled in size in the past 7 months. I was worried about the little white bump on his neck, when one of the members explained it was quite normal and then I decided my biggest problem was finding a proper mate for my now mature Snaggle! I liked the two photos of the Shaydee's Cepaea Tips. That was quite helpful. I used to put his food on little branches when I had Snaggle in a vase rather than a 5 gallon terrarium and will go back to doing that again as Snaggle has become a little lazy these days! I find it easier to upload images to my website for full size: www.eagles-sparrow.net/Pages/Snagglepuss.aspxPlease scroll down to the end and look at the bark with moss photos. We had a good rain today and the moss was in bloom. This particular piece was up pretty high and peeled off easily. When I first got Snaggle, he would eat the bark and what appeared to be algae, but we had Superstorm Sandy devastate our city of Long Beach, NY, on 29 October and with four to five feet of ocean and bay water completely saturating (and destroying) all the fauna, I've been hesitant to take any branches or bark. It's now a little over five months since the storm and as mentioned, this piece was above where the salt ocean water would have hit, but is it possible there is still salt in the bark? That's my biggest concern at the moment. Many giant oaks, maples and pines of all sorts were killed or still in shock and may never be the same. Ironically, birch trees seemed to fair pretty well and it is birch branches that I normally put in Snaggle's tank for climbing. I think we both like them because they are nice a smooth. Also, today I added a small potted Romaine so Snaggle could have garden fresh Romaine! His favorites are broccoli, Romaine, cucumber, red cabbage and banana. In the beginning, he ate apple, but I've tried every variety I could find and he is snubbing all of them. I've tried melons, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, mushroom, but he snubs them all. I have a feeling if members here feel the bark is safe (presently soaking in bottled spring water to dilute the possibility of any excess salt in the bark), he will be a very little happy camper to have his mossy/algae wood back. I also feed him Rep-Cal Calcium - Phosphorous Free - No Vitamin D3 - scroll to last item on the page: www.repcal.com/supp.htm, which he absolutely adores and gobbles it up. Which leads me to one yet unanswered question: How much calcium should be fed? I use the very tip of a butter knife as a measuring tool and sprinkle it over all his veggies. For a few days, Snaggle's feces was completely white, so I backed off a couple days and it looks like it's returned to normal. Also, (lots of questions!) is it normal for cepaea nemoralis to take a couple days off from eating and just wander around the tank? Snaggle's nightly ritual begins just as I am getting ready for bed. He climbs out from his little burrow and does a complete round of the tank sides and top, then finds the tallest Romaine leaf or stick to survey his surroundings to see what mum left for supper. The last couple of nights, it doesn't look like he's touched any food (changed or at least washed daily) and there's no poop that I can see. OK, I guess that's enough for one post and again, ALL of your little snails are gorgeous! Regards, Leah Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by steve-d on Apr 20, 2013 1:48:58 GMT
thought it was just me that loves Cepaea spp. lol Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by steve-d on Apr 20, 2013 1:50:45 GMT
another lovely Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by anachronism on Apr 26, 2013 22:52:43 GMT
My cepaea ;D Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by starcrazy19 on May 1, 2013 16:59:06 GMT
Leah - it is totally normal for snails not to eat for a day or few. They wouldn't encounter as much food as they could possibly want to eat, every day, in the wild like we provide for them :) Lucky little scamps... he's probably also turning his nose up at new types of food because he's not really hungry, and knows he'll get his favourites again before long! It's really touching to think if you haddn't taken snaggle in, he might have been washed away in the storm. It's such a small thing in the face of so much damage but it feels important :) If you can find a mate for him, maybe you guys can help when the population starts to recover too.
|
|
|
Post by larschus on May 4, 2013 14:34:01 GMT
Yay! I think I've ID'd my little Lars with help from this thread! He def. looks like a Cepaea, most likely a Hortensis? I found him in a bag of spinach (!) and his shell seems to be quite frail, poor little one. It's almost seethrough, I can see his heart beating! I love him to bits, though! Here he is hanging around and soaking up some sun Your snails are all so beautiful! Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by tsrebel on May 4, 2013 14:59:58 GMT
It's impossible to determine if a snail is hortensis or nemoralis before ze is adult, but you are probably right. Cepaea hortensis is much more common in Norway than C. nemoralis. The former is regarded as a native specie, while the latter is considered a foreign one. It is normal for cepaeas to have a see-through shell while they are young. But ze would certainly appreciate some calcium
|
|
|
Post by larschus on May 4, 2013 15:08:31 GMT
I thought he (or correctly, ze) was full grown! Thank you, I didn't know about the see-through thing! I thought I could see a lip on the mouth of his shell as well, but then he started growing thin, thin bits so I thought perhaps he's not adult yet. The lip should be very visible (som i "tydelig"?) right? (I'm cheating because you're Norwegian as well ) I've fed him calcium, but he hasn't been very interested in it till now(it's for turtles, as well, but I don't think he fancies that type), so I've had a piece of the stone in his little tub he uses to drink and sometimes take a dip in so at least he gets some! Now I finally found some cuttlefish and he's reacting to it like it was a mix of coffeine and cocaine. I'm giving him all he wants, because he's hurt and needs to fix his shell. He also has a piece of cuttlefish in his container, but he seems to be much more interested in the shavings I give him. Bottomline: cuttle fish FTW!
|
|
|
Post by tsrebel on May 4, 2013 15:44:37 GMT
Haha, yes, they seem to prefer thin scarvings or powdered calcium carbonate (without D-vitamins). This also goes for food (thin slices of anything gets eaten faster than the same size in a dice-shape). In wild they eat mostly rotting vegetation, so I suspect that their teeth are quite weak. The lip they develop as adults is very visible (tydelig ).
|
|
|
Post by larschus on May 4, 2013 15:56:32 GMT
Thanks so much, tsrebel!
|
|
|
Post by tsrebel on May 8, 2013 22:58:03 GMT
I went snail "hunting" today (originaly for Helix pomatias, found none of them) and found lots of Cepaea hortensis (along with Fruticicola fruticum and Ariante arbustorum). They were pure yellow or with lots bands, but these two caught my eye: There were more like them, so I'll probably go back for more They are from another part of town than the one that won the Cepaea-competition, but they look similar. The shell colour changes with different lights and angles.
|
|
|
Post by vallery on May 21, 2013 2:00:49 GMT
What a great find tsrebel Beauties!
|
|
|
Post by anachronism on May 23, 2013 15:54:20 GMT
Hoping that these two will have me lots of lovely babies Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by starcrazy19 on May 28, 2013 11:01:29 GMT
I just got back from cornwall and there were LOADS of cepaea everywhere round where we were staying, we only have one colour type of nemoralis at home so I was a bit excited. I've definitely been bitten by the cepaea bug after meeting all these guys!
|
|
|
Post by vallery on May 29, 2013 18:41:54 GMT
Hoping that these two will have me lots of lovely babies It will be so interesting to find out what color morphs you get of your babies.
|
|
|
Post by vallery on May 29, 2013 18:43:22 GMT
I just got back from cornwall and there were LOADS of cepaea everywhere round where we were staying, we only have one colour type of nemoralis at home so I was a bit excited. I've definitely been bitten by the cepaea bug after meeting all these guys! Wow! What a wonderful collection you have there. So beautiful.
|
|