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Post by kb.trekkie on Nov 23, 2013 18:54:11 GMT
Hi! I just got some Dumor poultry feed for my snails to eat, but I later checked the ingredients and salt was one of them. Is it okay for snails to consume small amounts of salt? I know salt can kill snails, but how much if at all can snails eat?
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Post by kb.trekkie on Nov 23, 2013 21:41:40 GMT
I am new to the forum (just joined yesterday)  . I got some Dumor chicken mash to feed to my snails. But before I fed it to them, I decided to find out what the ingredients were, and found out that it contained salt (I don't know how much, the list online simply said, "salt", with no reference to what amount.) Can snails consume small amounts of salt? I know it can kill them, but will small amounts harm them? By the way, I posted the same thing under "problems", but found out that I need to post in the general discussion. Sorry. |
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Post by kb.trekkie on Nov 23, 2013 22:21:02 GMT
By the way, my snails are tiny and were found in the garden. I was planning on doing a science fair on the diet and growth of land snails.
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Post by malacophile on Nov 23, 2013 23:59:47 GMT
You could always taste it to find out, as there's nothing in there that'll hurt you. That's what I usually do to see if something is too salty.
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inky
Achatina immaculata
Posts: 260
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Post by inky on Nov 24, 2013 2:16:26 GMT
I think they can't eat any as it pretty much melts them from half a grain of salt. I may be wrong but I wouldn't feed them it.
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Post by malacophile on Nov 24, 2013 4:52:24 GMT
Oh, that's not true at all. I've fed my snails Smucker's peanut butter, which contains 1% salt, or 90 grams per 2 tablespoons. My adult fulicas can easily put away that much in a night. So far, they haven't melted, or suffered from any other ill effects. I've also fed them canned tuna and mackerel, which also contain a bit of salt. Far from being harmed, they loved it. That's to say nothing of all the other people on here feeding their snails cat/dog biscuits and kibble, which certainly contains more than half a grain of salt.
The idea that snails' diets should be totally free of salt is erroneous. All living things require some level of sodium intake to live healthy lives. It's used in electrolyte production, production of gastric fluids (digestion) and electrical signaling throughout the body, among other things. Feed your snails that mash. It's not going to hurt them. I doubt it contain a ton of salt, because the chickens probably wouldn't enjoy it.
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Post by muddydragon on Nov 24, 2013 11:09:24 GMT
As malacophile says they can eat some salt and infact require it to a degree, lots of foods contain some salt. Could you give us the ingredients list then we can get an idea of how much is in there. Aslong as it isn't too high on the ingredients list and doesn't taste salty then it should be fine |
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Post by muddydragon on Nov 24, 2013 11:14:02 GMT
p.s. i know that old sticky post says otherwise but i think it's probably fine to post in the problems section (as it is not a reference section, those that are reference sections you can't post in even if you try anyway  ) It's probably a left over from the forum got changed around, i'll check with the mods who have been here longer and see if that sticky needs removing (also i've merged your threads together in the problems section anyway as to me that seems the best place for it to be ) |
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Post by kb.trekkie on Nov 24, 2013 14:36:38 GMT
Ingredients:
Wheat middlings, corn distillers dried grains with solubles, corn, soybean meal, L-Lysine, DL-Methionine, calcium carbonate, Sodium Bentonite, salt, ferrous carbonate, ferrous sulfate, copper sulfate, Manganous oxide, manganese sulfate, zinc oxide, zinc sulfate, Cobalt Carbonate, calcium iodate, sodium selenite, vitamin a supplement, vitamin d3 supplement, vitamin e supplement, menadione dimethylpyrimidinol bisulfite, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin supplement, niacin supplement, choline chloride, calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, biotin, vitamin b12 supplement, propionic acid (a preservative).
Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein (min.) 16.00%, Lysine (min.) .70%, Methionine (min.) .35%, Crude Fat (min.) 2.50%, Crude Fiber (max.) 7.00%, Calcium (Ca) (min.) 3.80%, Calcium (Ca) (max.) 4.80%, Phosphorus (P) (min.) .50%, Salt (NaCl) (min.) .25%, Salt (NaCl) (max.) .75%, Ruminant meat and bone meal free
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Post by kb.trekkie on Nov 24, 2013 14:37:03 GMT
Thanks for your help.
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Post by muddydragon on Nov 24, 2013 16:23:29 GMT
hi the guaranteed analysis says salt (NaCl - that's the one we are worried about there's other salts in there too) min 25% to a max of 75%! that sounds like an awful lot of salt to me anything from a quarter to three quarters!! that's a serious amount of salt! i would not risk it with such high levels of salt, theres a lot of other compounds in there too (an antifungal agent - copper sulphate) i'm not sure what the others are but the whole thing sounds rather suspcious to me (there's probably antiparasite stuff for the chickens too - which could harm snails)...
I personally wouldn't risk it with such high levels of salt.
I'm not sure what country you are from, but if you are in the UK i can recommend layers pellets from pets at home (the loose ones they have in big tubs) they are perfectly safe for snails and has a much lower salt content, much lower in other inorganic chemicals and much more veg, animal meal and other food stuffs.
Edit: As MC has pointed out its 0.25-0.75% (silly me pissing the points!!) which should be an ok concentration of salt
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Post by kb.trekkie on Nov 24, 2013 19:26:06 GMT
Sorry I could not reply right away. I had to go to church. I am actually from the U.S.A, but I might be able to find a brand with a lower salt content. I was planning on testing whether snails with a diet of raw fruits and veggies grew more than snails with a diet of chicken mash for a science fair project. Thanks again for your help. I'm kind of new at keeping snails.
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Post by morningcoffee on Nov 24, 2013 19:46:06 GMT
hi the guaranteed analysis says salt (NaCl - that's the one we are worried about there's other salts in there too) min 25% to a max of 75%! that sounds like an awful lot of salt to me anything from a quarter to three quarters!! that's a serious amount of salt! i would not risk it with such high levels of salt, theres a lot of other compounds in there too (an antifungal agent - copper sulphate) i'm not sure what the others are but the whole thing sounds rather suspcious to me (there's probably antiparasite stuff for the chickens too - which could harm snails)... I personally wouldn't risk it with such high levels of salt. ... isn't it .25 to .75? As in 0.25 to 0.75? |
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Post by muddydragon on Nov 24, 2013 19:59:42 GMT
hi the guaranteed analysis says salt (NaCl - that's the one we are worried about there's other salts in there too) min 25% to a max of 75%! that sounds like an awful lot of salt to me anything from a quarter to three quarters!! that's a serious amount of salt! i would not risk it with such high levels of salt, theres a lot of other compounds in there too (an antifungal agent - copper sulphate) i'm not sure what the others are but the whole thing sounds rather suspcious to me (there's probably antiparasite stuff for the chickens too - which could harm snails)... I personally wouldn't risk it with such high levels of salt. ... isn't it .25 to .75? As in 0.25 to 0.75? oh heck yes! i missed the points!! i thought that was insanely/impossibly high! (i even sat looking at it for a while thinking it couldn't be possible, trying to spot something i misread! ha don't i feel silly!) In which case that low a percentage should be fine , although i do not know about the other stuff listed further down the ingredients list however they are probably in sufficiently small quantities that they are of little to no threat |
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Post by muddydragon on Nov 24, 2013 20:05:50 GMT
p.s. your experiment sounds very exciting. make sure your fruit/veg group have a calcium source aswell as a lack of calcium could skew your results.
Let us know the results! (and sorry for the earlier confusion, well spotted MC!)
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Post by morningcoffee on Nov 24, 2013 20:16:14 GMT
... isn't it .25 to .75? As in 0.25 to 0.75? oh heck yes! i missed the points!! i thought that was insanely/impossibly high! (i even sat looking at it for a while thinking it couldn't be possible, trying to spot something i misread! ha don't i feel silly!) OK, I was wondering if I was just being incredibly thick and totally misunderstanding what I was reading XD Turns out you're just having vision problems  |
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Cashell
Archachatina puylaerti
Posts: 1,124
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Post by Cashell on Nov 24, 2013 20:16:40 GMT
Sorry I could not reply right away. I had to go to church. I am actually from the U.S.A, but I might be able to find a brand with a lower salt content. I was planning on testing whether snails with a diet of raw fruits and veggies grew more than snails with a diet of chicken mash for a science fair project. Thanks again for your help. I'm kind of new at keeping snails. What kind of snails do you keep? Post pictures if you're not sure. |
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Post by muddydragon on Nov 24, 2013 20:23:48 GMT
oh heck yes! i missed the points!! i thought that was insanely/impossibly high! (i even sat looking at it for a while thinking it couldn't be possible, trying to spot something i misread! ha don't i feel silly!) OK, I was wondering if I was just being incredibly thick and totally misunderstanding what I was reading XD Turns out you're just having vision problems haha sorry it was just me having one of those (far to frequent) moments. i even knew it sounded wrong and double checked and i still didn't spot it!  *feeling silly* |
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Post by kb.trekkie on Nov 25, 2013 3:20:54 GMT
I'll post pictures as soon as I can, I found them in my garden so I have no idea. |
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Post by kb.trekkie on Nov 26, 2013 19:10:57 GMT
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Post by kb.trekkie on Nov 26, 2013 19:29:27 GMT
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Post by morningcoffee on Nov 26, 2013 20:27:05 GMT
Hi kbanimallover13 - I can see what the problem is. On the photo pages that you've linked above, you need to click on the right where it says "direct" (under "Links to share this photo"). That will automatically copy the correct link to the clipboard. Then you can follow steps 10 onwards from the photo upload guide - clicking "insert image" on the forum and pasting the image link It looks like you have clicked "Link" instead which will only post a link to the photos, rather than the photos themselves. You need to always use the "direct" link to post photos directly onto the forum in this way Also I'm not 100% sure but I think your smaller snails could be Discus rotundatus. |
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Post by kb.trekkie on Nov 27, 2013 3:32:01 GMT
Just tried it out. Thanks so much for your assistance! At this point, I'm kind of clueless. |
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Post by vallery on Nov 27, 2013 9:10:15 GMT
Have no Idea what type of snails they are, oddly they look like my Pleurodonte isabella only P. isabella are Barbados snails, I am in Canada and have never found snails here that look like that. A lucky find. Hope someone can Identify them.
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Post by malacophile on Nov 27, 2013 15:31:37 GMT
Those look like Patera appressa, which are native to the US. I have several of them myself.
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. I got some Dumor chicken mash to feed to my snails. But before I fed it to them, I decided to find out what the ingredients were, and found out that it contained salt (I don't know how much, the list online simply said, "salt", with no reference to what amount.) Can snails consume small amounts of salt? I know it can kill them, but will small amounts harm them? By the way, I posted the same thing under "problems", but found out that I need to post in the general discussion. Sorry. 
) It's probably a left over from the forum got changed around, i'll check with the mods who have been here longer and see if that sticky needs removing (also i've merged your threads together in the problems section anyway as to me that seems the best place for it to be 
*feeling silly*