Habitat question from a noob

[greyphoenix]

Hey guys! I apologize for posting this here - apparently I'm still too new to be able to post in the habitats forum. I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my first snails - two aspersas - in just a few days. Tonight the rest of the materials for the habitat came in (most of them, anyway). If you read my introduction post, you'll know that I needed a pet I could keep by my bed, for health reasons, and am eagerly looking forward to doing everything in my power to keep my little guys happy. However, space next to my bed is limited (one reason I made sure to go with a smaller snail). I used the calculator on the PetSnails website, and found a habitat that is supposed to be okay for up to 7 aspersas that will also fit next to my bed (I would never keep seven in here - the most I would ever want at once is four snails, and only so I have a decent chance at keeping the population going without buying more). I had a hard time finding decorations, etc that would fit, and now that everything is here, I'm worried the space is too small. 

If it helps, I absolutely plan on taking the snails out every single day and allowing them to explore a "playground" set up on an overturned large tupperware lid with various objects on it. I also plan to handle them quite a bit (especially hand feeding to earn trust). So they will get stimulation outside of their habitat every day. That said, here are two pics of the current setup. I apologize for the lighting - I have to keep my room fairly dark (the snails and I like similar habitats, lol). This is my first time posting pics - hope they work! 

www.flickr.com/photos/aroundwiththehound/10808681096/



www.flickr.com/photos/aroundwiththehound/10808819824/



The soil isn't moist yet because, of course, there are no snails. I'm desperately hoping my snails can be happy here. Any input from those familiar with aspersas would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! 

ETA: It doesn't show well in the pics, but there's a flatter food/water dish in the back, which I ordered another of. I am debating whether to use the deeper one for food, or use the second shallow one for it. I want to use one shallow dish for water, for safety and fun/access reasons for the snails. Input? 

[Dumbledore]

Nobody can post in the Habitats forum.
I can't see the pictures, but I would advise shallow dish for water, deep for food. That might be just me though...

[muddydragon]

any topic in the section labelled reference cannot be posted in as it is a reference section, mods will move useful posts there that may help others. The idea is the reference section can therefore be more eaasily browsed for answers to problems


The picture links need to be based on image location (so the link has .jpg at the end for example) see here and notice the flickr problem: petsnails.proboards.com/thread/13168/adding-images-posts-pictures-show (edit: although for soem reason i cannot get this to work for your photos...)

edit i've also edited your post so people can clikc the links to see the photos atleast

[muddydragon]

in answer to your question that setup looks lovely! There's pleanty of space for them. they love climbing infact i sometimes wonder if they have any sort of concept of right way yup and upside down, so having objects they can climb over doesn't really take up space, and they spend just as much time on the lid as on the ground! They will love it. i suspect they will spend a lot of their time in the cork bark hide they LOVE that sort of thing to hide in

[greyphoenix]

Dumbledore: Ahhh, I see. That makes perfect sense about the reference section. I've spent a lot of time there recently, so the idea of having that is great! Thanks for the input on the bowls, too. I suppose having the deeper dish for food might help keep excess moisture from seeping in, since it would do a better job keeping the food from touching the ground at the edges. I'll give it a shot and see how they like it!

muddydragon (cool name, btw!): Thank you for editing my post. I've used other forums and posted pics there, so I tried to find the jpg link but couldn't. I do almost all of my posting from mobile, so it was a little difficult. I'll look again for it next time, or maybe use a different hosting site. Thank you also for the input on the tank! It's only about a foot long, but I did my best within that space to include everything I'd read would make a snail happy. I also made sure to include plenty of substrate for the aspersas' burrowing - a little over 2". I do have another, longer wood piece that is just a bit too long for the tank. If I can find a way to cut it, I may place it in diagonally based on what you said to give them another place to climb. Thank you *so* much! You definitely set my mind at ease.

[greyphoenix]

I did some more searching, and finally found the jpg link. The pictures should show up now, yay! Since I'm on my tablet, I had to long press the photo I wanted, select a size I wanted to view from the pop-up window (using mobile chrome), then long press *that* pic and choose "view picture" from the pop-up, which finally loaded a page with a jpg at the end in the address bar. Phew! Let me know if for some reason you still can't see them - I left the links there just in case...

[wreckoning]

Welcome to the forum, your setup looks great

I recommend adding some moss to your terrarium, it will help it to retain moisture and a hygrometer to measure the humidity if you do not already have one.

I'm not sure how mobile you are, but if you find, in the future, that it's difficult to access snails from the top of the tank, there are front-entry tank designs by ExoTerra and ZooMed which are perfectly safe for your snails and come in all manner of sizes (ZooMeds have different sizes, and the ExoTerras have the same sizes+different heights for each size). They make cleaning, observation, and access of the snails much easier. All of my terrariums are front-opening. They are more $$ but can be found cheaper on Craigslist.

This is what I personally keep near my tanks, you may find it useful to have on hand --

• hand mister, for the tank and, wetting my hands to make it more comfortable for the snails
• antibacterial gel for afterward isn't a bad idea either, for posthandling
• snail activity log + pen - where I note, with the time and date, who's out and about, who's mating, who's stuffing their face, etc
• a roll of toilet paper for spot-cleaning poo
  
• non-scented baby wipes - for light scrubbing of tank walls (this + my hand mister is mainly how I clean my tank, every couple days)
  
• small wire brush/sponge - for tougher scrubbing - just a plain brush, no chemicals in it to leave behind a weird residue
• small garbage bin to put the tissues in

And, I hope this isn't too morbid but... I think it would be a good idea to ensure that there is a carpet or rug in the space between your bed and the snailstand. Reason being their shells can become badly damaged when accidentally dropped if you have a hardwood or laminate floor.

[greyphoenix]

Thank you for the info and suggestions! I did strongly consider some of the front opening tanks you mentioned. I ended up going with this because I can easily lift the whole thing and set it on my lap if need be, without leaving the bed. It's pretty light. Money is a tad tight, but if I do decide the front opening tanks would work better, I'll definitely make that switch.

I actually have almost everything you mentioned by the tank already (also, there's carpet between the tank and my bed, so we're safe there, but good thought!). I also have cuttlebone I haven't put in yet. The substrate is peat, but supposedly has some spaghnum as well? I'm new to messing with substrates like this, but here's a link to what I have: amzn.com/B0000CBITW Do you think that's okay on its own, or should I add some separate spaghnum on top?

Also, I just came up with a question about water. For drinking and misting, is regular tap water okay, or should I use spring water like we do in our aquariums (we have two apple snails along with our fish)? I was going to use tap, but it just hit me that might not be okay. Thanks again to everyone who has taken time to answer my questions. I really appreciate the help!