Is this suitable housing?

[starcrazy19]

I recently found this website in my travels.
www.small-life.co.uk/page9.html
I'm new to keeping snails, but this 'professional snail centre' seems totally unsuitable to keeping any kind of snails. It has no substrate, is really tall, and so small! There isn't even room for stuff to hide under.
Does anyone use these, or think they are acceptable housing?

[ultrapoi]

i looked at those the other day too. decided against it for the same reasons. i also didnt realise my girls shouldnt have supermarket lettuce or cucumber (according to the blog on that page). i always wash it - but its their favourite!
i also considered the price of the housing and figured i could make that myself alot cheaper if it was suitable.

[pinkunicorn]

That's not designed with a snail's preferences in mind. Snails like to dig and roam in the soil, it's natural behaviour to most landsnails. The height seems ok but there's a lot of empty space which could be filled with sticks and branches. Empty space is wasted space as far as snails are concerned: they only care about the amount of surface they can slime over. Even a small container with lots of sliming surface is better.

[muddydragon]

i would really advise against this. i think a simialr thing turned up a few years ago. it's really not right for them and they'll be a lot messier and unhealthy in there rather than a nice big tank with lots of soil to dig in. also i never trust anything that starts with "professional" or "exclusive"

[shaydeesnail]

I fully agree, I remember seeing these last year when I started keeping snails. I think they are simply designed for people that don't like having anything outdoorsy looking in the house.

[latebloomer]

I looked at these when first starting out, I dont like them at all. They might well be easy to clean but dont give snails a chance to express normal behaviour like burrowing. I believe snails have spatial awareness and they make full use of their substrate, moss and hides. Everything needs an environment with stimulation, even if it looks as if its been hit by a tornado every morning lol.

[morningcoffee]

Nov 8, 2012 16:00:36 GMT ultrapoi said:

i looked at those the other day too. decided against it for the same reasons. i also didnt realise my girls shouldnt have supermarket lettuce or cucumber (according to the blog on that page). i always wash it - but its their favourite!
i also considered the price of the housing and figured i could make that myself alot cheaper if it was suitable.

If it's washed well, there's no reason why they can't have supermarket veg - I've never had a problem with it for any of my snails over the years at all. I wouldn't worry about it as long as you are giving the veg a good wash before letting the snails have it

The only time I've kept snails in a bare tank like that is when they've been very recently rescued and I need to keep a close eye on them, or when I've been having problems with mites or flies in the tank - and I've always tried to get the snails back onto proper substrate as soon as possible. You guys are completely right, it's totally unsuitable housing conditions for snails long-term. I'm actually not even convinced that it would be easier to clean - rather than just being able to remove a small scoop of substrate here and there with the bits of poop or moulding veg in it, the poop and food will be absolutely everywhere and it would probably require far more maintenance to keep the tank looking nice.
The height would be OK for some types of snail, like Pleurodonte isabella who like to climb, if things like branches or plants were added, but I would be worried about a tank that tall for larger and heavier snails, especially with only a thin layer of "soft liner" (which looks like it might just be capillary matting given a fancy name) to protect them from fall damage. Definitely a set-up to avoid I think!

[Evil Angel]

I've bought things from them before (for stick insects), and while it looks good in their pictures, it is normally way over priced for what it actually is, and you could defo make something more suitable yourself for £10! The height is too high and the lengthxwidth is too small, if kept on its side it would be better, but I can't see any way at all of modifying it!
Something like Helix or Cepaea may be ok, you could always put a tub of soil in for them (it would easier to destroy/remove eggs that way). But I defo wouldn't put GALS in it.
It's really not hard to make a large RUB for them, and they go the distance, whereas I think this would start to fall apart after a couple of years use as most of their stuff does!

P.S I use supermarket stuff too, as my snails get through 2 whole romain lettuces in one feeding, it would work out very pricey! So I use the supermarket's range of veg and make sure I wash it all throughly, and had no problems using it in all the years I've kept snails!

[pinkunicorn]

I use the rough side of an unused (with any kind of soap, that is; I do reuse for washing veg) dish sponge to scrub the peels and skins of veg and fruit, if it's not organic (which is most often). Especially now that I peel off cuke skins for the leatherleaf slugs which only ever eat the green of cucumbers... good thing the seeds and the flesh are eaten by others lol!

And yeah, agreed about the substrate/lack of it. There are situations when it's better to go without. If I have a snaily patient I use kitchen paper or clean kitchen wipe. But for normal healthy snails... substrate is the way to go.

[starcrazy19]

I do worry a bit about giving them fruit+veg (washed, ofc) from the market/supermarket. Especially because they love to eat the skin and peel off everything and leave the rest, and this is the part that would be most exposed to chemicals.
Living in the city, though, I don't really know where else I could get a good variety of food for them! And they seem fine with it so far. Glad you guys think it's okay The scrubbing sponge just for food cleaning is a really good idea though - I will definitely do that!