Mixed babies in one clutch

[mazz]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum but have kept snails for several years now. Eight months ago I bought a new snail for my daughters birthday, meet Brian ....



"He" has been housed singly since he arrived but four months ago I found a clutch of eggs in his tank!!! I froze most of them but decided to keep a few to see what hatched and we now have 16 little Brians! The thing is I've no idea what they may be, I was told Brian is a Rodatzi but his babies are a mix, some very pale plain shelled with white bodies and no visible eye dots but others have mottled shells and dark striped skin with very clear eye dots. I've never hatched any before, is this normal from one clutch of eggs?



Also, the babies are four months old now and all have shells over 1cm long, will the mottled shells turn to stripes and will the plain ones stay plain now? I feel a bit daft not knowing having kept snails for years but these are the first tiny babies I've ever had so I've no idea how the change as they age.

thanks very much for any advice.
mazz xx

[muddydragon]

Hi,
From the offspring he had i can tell you that Brian is Achatina fulica construct jadatzi form rodatzi (most people leave out the construct part of the name). People often incorrectly sell these as Achatina fulica hamillei rodatzi (commonly called rodatzi) because they look the same - except that the foot tends to be lighter. He has been kept and bred with (before coming to you) some colour form of Achatina fulica jadatzi.

The white bodied yellow shelled snails are called Achatina fulica jadatzi form jadatzi (jadatzi for short). And the dark bodied individuals are probably like brian Achatina fulica jadatzi form rodatzi (unfortunately people tend to call these rodatzi too although i feel the distinction should be made that they are jadatzi form rodatzi). You will have to wait until the spotted shelled ones are a bit older the spots either fade leaving a yellow shell like brian or they can later develop dark markings like a standard Achatina fulica, to me however they look like they will develop a yellow shell.

[mazz]

That's a great help thank you :-) I'd been searching online for info about baby snail development but not found very much at all, they seem to be a bit of a mystery! It's also great to be able to give them a proper name too rather than just "gals", thank you.

The body colour started to show on the babies fairly quickly but the shell colour seems to change week by week on the dark bodied ones (the pale bodied ones never had any spots at all on heir shells right from the start), is there an approximate age by which the final colour will be set?

It's fascinating to see these babies grow, I have to say I will be sad when I have to see some of them go, I've got homes lined up for two already but know I can't let them all go after seeing them right through from eggs, my hubby thinks I'm a bit crazy!!