Snail tends to mostly stay on tank's cover

[tbger]

Hello,

First message here as I'm new to rearing snails. Happy to see there's a place to raise questions and discuss, and to meet other snail lovers -- I'd honestly thought it isn't at all that common.

I've had my first snail for about two weeks. I didn't think it'll need anything big and because it was my first try, I bought a small tank, 7" on 4" (18 on 10 cm). I put some soil and small rocks inside, and two plants. As said on title, the snail stayed attached to the tank's cover most of the time, and didn't go down except for eating. I was worried there's something wrong with it so I returned it to the wild. I then decided to make some research on that, and found this website and forum. I figured what I was doing wrong was probably not supplying the snail anywhere to hide.

Long story short, I found another couple of snails, put them in the same (rather small) tank, this time I put in some leaves along some small rocks all of which, I thought, make for a good hiding place. Unfortunately, the new snails don't seem to explore anything too much, like the previous one did. Right at this moment I'm taking a few pictures and one of them is travelling along a leaf (PS it didn't stay there), which is a good sign, but I don't want to put my hopes on that and rather asking the experts.

Before I return them as well, or try to see whether they should get used to the new environment, I thought I should ask if that is a typical behavior of snails, whether it should take them time to adapt to the new home, and if I'm doing something wrong.

After all I don't want to hurt these cute creatures.

All snails are the Helix aspersa which is very common in my place. They all responded very well to being handled and haven't shown any signs of distress as far as I'm aware.


Thanks for any help

Roy


^^^ The shell resting on the ground is empty; I've put it in for calcium (though I'm not completely sure I did it right as they don't seem to even reach that place)











A picture of the first snail:

[pinkunicorn]

Heya and welcome to the forum and the slimy world!

H.aspersa seem to really like climbing as high as they can and sleeping attached to corners etc high places. Almost all of my aspersas of all ages do this. They come down to eat. Now that it's wintertime I usually encourage them to come and eat as they are a bit sleepy, yet not properly hibernating. I spray water on them and they wake up and start moving, and go eat. Your snailies sound normal in this regard, and if they eat well they are probably healthy.

[tsrebel]

I think it looks good. It would be a good idea to add another calcium source, like cuttlefish bone (sepia shell), a thermometer and a hygrometer (measures humidity in the air). It is not unusual that it takes a little time for the snails to settle in.
Welcome and good luck!

[tbger]

Hey,

Thank you both !

pinkunicorn: It's good to know other aspersas share the same habit. I'm wondering if other sorts of hiding places, like broken clay pot pieces, might change that.

tsrebel: I do indeed have to enhance their calcium supplies;
I considered putting in a cuttlefish bone but since I don't know how the animal was treated -- whether it was killed or just died -- I find it hard to use its bone. Since I have yet to explore pet shops for calcium supplies, the best thing I have in hand right now is egg shells. Though I was wondering where to put those, and how (powdered or large pieces ?).

P.S. Opened a new thread for the calcium supply issue.

[wibblywobblytimeywimey]

Expect this to happen, Koopa (my H.Aspersa) is like Spider snail or something.I usually worry, but that's not because he could fall, it's that sometimes I can't see him stuck to the ceiling!

[johananv]

Hi there,

And welcome. I'm still new to snails myself, but I can tell you this much. We have truckloads of aspersas here, and they are usually in the trees. We call our one tree the snail tree, because there's always at least one aspersa in it. I don't know about in captivity, but I've noticed that they like hiding in upside-down flowerpots in my garden, or flower pots that are half buried on their sides. It might be a good hiding place to look into for your snails?

All The Best,
JV

[tbger]

Hi there JV,

Thank you. I've read some more around the forum and it does look like a normal act of the aspersas. That's relaxing.

Having that said, every time I open up the lid, the snails (which usually are retracted and attached to it or nearby of it) suddenly wake up and kind of trying their way out. I'm not sure whether I'm interpreting it correctly -- but if I do, it really looks and feels bad to me.

Similar experience anyone ? Is that normal and does it indicate they were suffering ?

[pinkunicorn]

They may not yet have accustomed to the new home and that's why they look like they're escaping. Snails have a very strong homing instinct and usually settle on one living spot, a home. Yours will adjust in a few weeks and eventually you'll see them turn back if they slime too far along the edges of the terrarium.

Or they could simply be exploring. Snails sometimes do that even after they are established their new home in the terrarium.