Achatina balteata

[etana]

I recently got a lovely young Achatina balteata, whom my boyfriend named Mauno. Mostly things are great - Mauno lives with my two A. fulica, they all get along all right, Mauno eats a lot (and poops a lot), his shell is growing smooth and shiny. 

[Edit: I removed a section of this post. It was tl;dr on how the snail had trouble sleeping, but that problem has completely solved itself as he got used to living here.]

Does anyone know if wild A. balteata actually spend a lot of time up trees or something? If so, I'll take it into consideration when I next get a bigger tank, and build him sturdy places to climb out of wood. 

(My baby fulica is still tiny enough to climb up and down the plants I have in the tank, and my big one seems to find the most joy in altitude differences in the soil that he can explore by digging lots and lots, so I currently don't have separate climbing wood for them.)

[etana]

I've decided to give them wood to climb/nibble on with my next tank update, regardless of whether it's Mauno's special requirement or not; I suppose I'll just see him on it a lot if he likes it.

My understanding is that A. balteata is rare as a pet even on a big snail forum like this, and it'd benefit from more observations and specie specific care instructions. Am I correct?

[muddydragon]

Yes observations would be great, very few people own this species as far as i'm aware. Also pretty photos would be nice

[etana]

Oh, he's very photogenic, when removed from the tank he starts dancing, so I can definitely post pretty pictures. Will do so later today!

[etana]

He's still quite small, that's my thumb on the left, he's sitting on a cauliflower stem piece. 

I'll have to put up some better lighting and take pics that show his back, it's quite special!

[cliath]

Ah he's lovely. I wish my gals were are friendly!

[etana]

Yes Cliath he is.

I'm sure yours will eventually be friendly. I too am still training my Gals that getting picked up means good things (special food, bathes) each and every time, and slowly Taavetti, the big Rodatzi, is becoming less afraid of getting carried around. It's also very hard to not pet him gently when he's out of his shell, he's so darn cute! Well, at first he would pull his face inwards when getting petted (with wet fingers of course) but now he's started to like it, maybe even a bit disproportionally as his cheek sometimes starts bulging.
2 days ago was the very first time Taavetti climbed up on my hand all by himself, though it was to escape a plateful of green tea that may not have been dilute enough. Hm.

Baby Tauno is a little shy, but that's understandable as he's still a baby. <3 I'll just keep handling him too, now that he's grown a little bigger and I don't have such a fear of hurting him.

Mauno is funny, he hesitates in front of new things a lot even though he also dances a lot. I fed all my Gals ground beef yesterday, and Mauno took the longest time just sitting there completely retracted, staring at it with one eye that he'd pushed out from under his shell. It was his first time having it with me after all. They all ate lots and lots of it in the end, though!

[Zorst]

They are funny with new things I have to say, and the more they are handled the friendlier they get. We've 2 more young GALS due to arrive later this week and will get them used to being handled over time so that they are happy and comfortable with it.

It'll be interesting to see what they think of some cooked meat when I do introduce it to them, hopefully they will just copy the other snails and decide to tuck in.

Zorst

[etana]

Hope things will go well with your new young ones, Zorst.

Hmm, there won't be new pics of Mauno tonight after all, he's still sleeping off yesterday's ground beef dinner. He's even decided to do it in the flower pot that wasn't getting used enough, so I'm definitely not going to teach him that if he sleeps in it, he'll be disturbed.

[malacophile]

Oct 20, 2014 16:29:31 GMT etana said:

Well, at first he would pull his face inwards when getting petted (with wet fingers of course) but now he's started to like it, maybe even a bit disproportionally as his cheek sometimes starts bulging.

I'm glad I'm not the only one whose snails really like being petted. I swear, it sometimes makes me feel dirty to pet my GALS. Do yours also react that way when you stroke their shells?

[Cashell]

I don't see Achatina balteata pictures around here very often, so this is something different.

[bronwen]

lol @ malacophile

My old A. fulica, Doug, gets fairly aroused by a lot of things... fresh food, the water dish, me rubbing his shell, petting his body and face, his new friend Brian who is definitely too small to contemplate such things (too small in my mind although little Brian has been starting to show his little mini love dart a bit in the last week or two!) lol

Gotta love snails

[etana]

Here are some pictures, I finally got the lighting right!

I will respond to the other questions later.


What a pretty pose!


I hope he'll still have the lovely, innocent look in his eyes when he grows up.

Note that Mauno is kind of angular! That's what I meant by his special back. All my other snails are rounder and softer. Also, his shell looks plastic coated, and it has a ridge(?) on it.



The next thing I knew, he tried to eat my hand.

[cliath]

Awh he's lovely! Such a poser!

[muddydragon]

what a gorgeous 'fella' and doesn't he know it

[Cashell]

Now those photos are much better! Such a nice shell pattern.

[etana]

Oct 22, 2014 20:16:56 GMT malacophile said:

Oct 20, 2014 16:29:31 GMT etana said:

Well, at first he would pull his face inwards when getting petted (with wet fingers of course) but now he's started to like it, maybe even a bit disproportionally as his cheek sometimes starts bulging.

I'm glad I'm not the only one whose snails really like being petted. I swear, it sometimes makes me feel dirty to pet my GALS. Do yours also react that way when you stroke their shells?

I didn't recall anything on this, so I had to wait for Taavetti to be awake at the same time with me so I could stroke his shell. Last night this finally happened. He had the "alert" face when I stroked his shell (he'd just woken up, maybe that's why he was a bit weird), and he retracted partly, but when he came back out again, there was a bulge. Lol.  

[etana]

Also, thanks for the comments, everyone!

I'm finally getting the hang of why my camera behaves so differently on different times. So many times I've had my photos completely burnt up by the flash; yesterday I figured out exactly what kind of extra light it needs to produce good photos.

And yes Mauno totally appears aware of his good looks.

[etana]

Yesterday I moved all my GALS into a proper glass tank that has a large tree root thing in it, a very sturdy and heavy one in case very big snails decide to climb it some day. Hopefully it's so heavy that even a group of bulldozing snails can't tip it over. I got it from a pet store, they promised it was chemical-free and thus safe for terrariums and aquariums.

Mauno still enjoys living in the little flower pot. He was sleeping in it yesterday too, so I moved him with the pot, hehe. He did come out to eat at night, and then went back in for today's sleep.
One of the first things Taavetti, the big A. fulica rodatzi, did was try and move the flower pot, of course, lol. I didn't let him, though.

I'll be looking forward to seeing whether Mauno likes to climb over the tree root thing once he gets used to the new place. I'll take pictures if he does! 

[etana]

Sure enough, there he was all day today.

First he investigated the root with many minutes of staring and patting with all tentacles, then decided it was okay to touch, and sat on it.

In the room's fairly dim lighing conditions the wood and his shell appeared very alike, much more so than in this photo, and from afar it looked like he could hide in plain sight if there was slightly more vegetation or scatterred light & shadow.

I'm glad I made a good choice, but I'm sure Mauno has surprises for me still! His sleeping pattern for one certainly isn't the same as the Rodatzis's (who wake up a bit before 11 pm and will be sleeping by 7 am most days), but I don't know what else to say yet.

[cliath]

Awh, glad he likes his tank, and his root!

[etana]

Thanks, me too!

He's now found a way to get behind the root and has snailed into a space there. I didn't even find him till I followed his snail trail. Looks very nice, like his very own room, and it's so natural too. I won't be surprised if he starts to spend time there instead of the flower pot. I think I'll throw him a little cuttlefish bone and sweet potato.

Maybe he likes to have peace away from the digging crazy Taavetti, who by the way bulldozed all around the flower pot the night before.

[Zorst]

Great photo's of Mauno and his tree root n glad he found his own quiet space from the Bulldozer, I have to keep the Margies in there own tank as none of the other snails enjoy there bulldozing habits at least not to the extent they go to lol! When I get the chance I'll pick up a couple of big glass tanks for my snails Ive been given some smaller one's but a couple of big ones would be great.

Zorst

[saskia1982]

What a nice snail

[etana]

Blurry pic but there he is, looking so comfortable in the little cave. <3 I put food and cuttlebone near him so he can spend time in the peaceful place behind the root if he wants to. I think the tank is getting ready for me to take a photo of the whole thing so you all can see.

Haha yes Zorst, I wonder if I too have to eventually separate the Rodatzis into a tank with just lots and lots of soil to turn over and some plants to uproot. Tauno digs holes too, but he's still so small, he can't do much yet.