Calcium- diluted milk?

[Dumbledore]

I got my snails from feelahthetigress. She gave them calcium pills for calcium, but I have cuttlebone and they don't really eat it much, usually only if I rub it with cucumber and put them on it. So would I be able to put, say, 1 part milk to 9 parts water in a spray bottle and spray the snails with it for calcium? Grinding cuttlebone isn't an option for me.

[malacophile]

I don't think milk would hurt your snails if you gave it to them occasionally. But it's not natural to their diet, so I'd recommend against it as a long-term calcium source. Mine love cuttle to the point where they obliterate it, but I read someplace that it's not the best calcium source out there. In fact, we don't even know how much of the calcium from cuttle is bioavailable to snails. I had some pharmaceutical grade calcium citrate powder (100% pure) laying around, and I decided to give them that instead of cuttle. They love it, and seem to be getting a lot more from it. Plus, it's a lot more cost effective. The stuff is dirt cheap. Here's where I got it:

www.iherb.com/Now-Foods-Calcium-Citrate-100-Pure-Powder-8-oz-227-g/481

For human beings, the citrate ester (form) of calcium is the one most efficiently absorbed by the body. I'm hoping the same principle applies to snails.

[muddydragon]

I can't imagine that snails have the necessary enzyme to digest milk so i would strongly advise against it. Just spraying it on to them would probably do very little good as they probably wouldn't absorb it. Also you know how milk goes off... i can't immagine it would smell too good after a few days if they were sprayed with it and i think it could possibly encourage infections....

Can you get limestone flour where you are? you can try ebay or Amazon or horse shops. I use NAF limestone flour. You can then mix it with water to make a paste, let it set and put it in the tank, they usually go crazy for it, if they dont you can sprinkle some on their food so they have to eat some to get their food

[shaydeesnail]

The amount of calcium in milk is not really that remarkable. Even less so when diluted, plus that would start to smell after a while.
The othed suggestions are good, and you could also researd the highest calcium containing vegetables as I think some of the dark leafy green veg contain quite a lot, I'm not sure it will be enough though.

[shivles]

You could also mix calcium powder with the substrate, they absorb it through their skin and also they eat some substrate

[latebloomer]

I use calcium powder mixed with a little water to a stiff paste in a little plastic bowl. They love it never go near the cuttlefish.

[malacophile]

Some pointers on limestone flour for US residents: Make sure you're using GROUND LIMESTONE and not agricultural/hydrated lime. They are two very, very different things! It'd be terrible to accidentally use garden lime on your snails, as the stuff is extremely corrosive. Limestone flour can probably be found in horse/farm supply stores, and possibly in some gardening shops.

[feelahthetigress]

Jul 29, 2013 12:58:13 GMT latebloomer said:

I use calcium powder mixed with a little water to a stiff paste in a little plastic bowl. They love it never go near the cuttlefish.

I use the same thing (although I have a few of those calcium pills left over...). I got my calcium powder on ebay for very cheap. It's pure calcium carbonate and I mix it with a bit of water then bake it in a candy mold to make fanciful shapes. If you don't have an oven safe mold, you can put it in a ice cube tray and let it air dry over a couple days. This makes a solid cube that will keep in the tank forever.