Decoration Ideas?

[Deleted]

My fish bowl is identical to the one in the picture. I have no idea on how I should decorate it and I feel like my snails are bored to death because other than dirt, there is nothing in it. I've tried putting in different things but nothing seems to work well or look good. I am normally creative but this is difficult for me since I don't have time to sit and come up with an idea on my own. Any insperational ideas?

Thank you!

[cliath]

Live plants always look great, there's at head on which ones are safe. If you look in the rodent section of pet shops you can get cute little houses.

[muddydragon]

plastic plant pots are good too. you can also use artificial plants with suckers than can stick to the walls.

[Deleted]

I am currently building a minature house out of wood glue and popsicle sticks. Would it be safe for my snails to play on? Or are wood decorations a good thing for snails? The wood glue says that its 'non-toxic' but I am sure it still has harmful things in it. Even the popsicle sticks seem processed and dangerous.

[Liguus]

Nov 14, 2014 2:24:27 GMT @missjuniper said:

I am currently building a minature house out of wood glue and popsicle sticks. Would it be safe for my snails to play on? Or are wood decorations a good thing for snails? The wood glue says that its 'non-toxic' but I am sure it still has harmful things in it. Even the popsicle sticks seem processed and dangerous.

Non-toxic to humans and non-toxic to snails are two different things. Personally I would not use glue, theres always a change they will eat it, or due to moisture it might seep out into the substrate.

I would go with a ficus "bonsai" they sometimes sell at hardware stores or nurseries. It might look nice in the center. Ferns are good as well but they will eventually grow into a jungle and will have to be trimmed regularly/propagations removed. 

[muddydragon]

i would agree not to use lolly sticks either. They'e usually pine or another confier, these tend to be quite resinous (although they usually dry & treat the wood to stop that) but fresh pine is almost certainly harmful to snails so i would avoid the processed stuff too.

[Deleted]

Could I make an ornament out of clay for my snails? Would that be safe?

[muddydragon]

I would worry about "normal" clays being too hard and a risk to the shells (like rocks). I would also worry about the more artifical clays and what they contain to help them "set"

[Deleted]

Nov 18, 2014 8:52:30 GMT muddydragon said:

I would worry about "normal" clays being too hard and a risk to the shells (like rocks). I would also worry about the more artifical clays and what they contain to help them "set"

Crayola air dry clay?

[morningcoffee]

Nov 18, 2014 11:06:55 GMT @missjuniper said:

Crayola air dry clay?

"Crayola® Air-Dry Clay is a natural earth clay which air-dries to a hard solid."

[Deleted]

Is it safe then? If it's natural earth clay?

[muddydragon]

the point MC is making is that it is rock hard. therefore it is akin to putting rocks in your tank - if snails land on it they could crack their shells

[Deleted]

My snail has fallen on bare ground from 4ft. I think they should be okay.

[morningcoffee]

Nov 18, 2014 13:14:09 GMT @missjuniper said:

My snail has fallen on bare ground from 4ft. I think they should be okay.

Bare ground and a solid chunk of something very hard are two different things.

If you want to risk it, it's up to you.

[Deleted]

Nov 18, 2014 13:29:39 GMT morningcoffee said:

Nov 18, 2014 13:14:09 GMT @missjuniper said:

My snail has fallen on bare ground from 4ft. I think they should be okay.

Bare ground and a solid chunk of something very hard are two different things.

If you want to risk it, it's up to you.

Could you please explain how they can hurt themselves? Is there a way to arrange the tank so that they don't get hurt?

[etana]

I can tell you my Cepaea snails have fallen from tank walls and lids many times. Mostly they fall in their sleep, when they for some reason detach their foot and hang by just dried slime, and it's not enough to support them. Sometimes they also simply miscalculate their climbing moves and as a result, fall down.

[Deleted]

Nov 18, 2014 16:59:24 GMT etana said:

I can tell you my Cepaea snails have fallen from tank walls and lids many times. Mostly they fall in their sleep, when they for some reason detach their foot and hang by just dried slime, and it's not enough to support them. Sometimes they also simply miscalculate their climbing moves and as a result, fall down.

Okay, I see. I would still like to make a little clay house or something for them to play on because I know they like that. Is there a special tank arrangement? I have a bigger 10 gallon tank, not the small round one. That small tank will be the babies new home. Adults will be moving to 10 gallon tank.

[morningcoffee]

As etana said, it's very easy for snails to fall from the walls or roof of their tank. Mine do it frequently. The idea is to minimise the chances of them falling onto a hard, solid surface and cracking or breaking their shells. If a snail's shell gets badly broken, they can die.

To prevent them from getting hurt, don't put anything heavy or particularly hard in the tank, which means nothing like rocks or pebbles, stone ornaments etc. Blocks of clay will dry to a very heavy solid object, which could damage a snail's shell if they fell on it (I would also be concerned about the chance of the snail rasping on the clay and ingesting it).
Appropriate tank decorations are things that are lighter or not hard, like plastic or silk plants (such as those intended for fish aquariums), live plants, plastic plant pots for snails to hide in, cork bark, rubber or plastic sticks (Exo Terra and Lucky Reptile both make bendable rubber sticks), and reptile tank ornaments made of light polyresin, although I wouldn't recommend these for very tall tanks as they could still be damaging as a solid surface if a snail were to fall a long way onto them. For regular or shallow tanks they're fine.

[etana]

There are some fantastic hamster houses available, they're made out of nice soft plastic, are very easy to wash if they get mucky, and they come in many shapes. I have the kind that look like a strawberry and pear, but I've seen ones that look like actual houses, for example. They're perfect size for Cepaea. I recommend you look into them.

[Deleted]

Nov 18, 2014 17:06:13 GMT morningcoffee said:

As etana said, it's very easy for snails to fall from the walls or roof of their tank. Mine do it frequently. The idea is to minimise the chances of them falling onto a hard, solid surface and cracking or breaking their shells. If a snail's shell gets badly broken, they can die.

To prevent them from getting hurt, don't put anything heavy or particularly hard in the tank, which means nothing like rocks or pebbles, stone ornaments etc. Blocks of clay will dry to a very heavy solid object, which could damage a snail's shell if they fell on it (I would also be concerned about the chance of the snail rasping on the clay and ingesting it).
Appropriate tank decorations are things that are lighter or not hard, like plastic or silk plants (such as those intended for fish aquariums), live plants, plastic plant pots for snails to hide in, cork bark, rubber or plastic sticks (Exo Terra and Lucky Reptile both make bendable rubber sticks), and reptile tank ornaments made of light polyresin, although I wouldn't recommend these for very tall tanks as they could still be damaging as a solid surface if a snail were to fall a long way onto them. For regular or shallow tanks they're fine.

Thank you. I am sorry for my ignorance. I change my mind about the clay, I'll buy something more appropriate.

[Deleted]

Nov 18, 2014 17:07:05 GMT etana said:

There are some fantastic hamster houses available, they're made out of nice soft plastic, are very easy to wash if they get mucky, and they come in many shapes. I have the kind that look like a strawberry and pear, but I've seen ones that look like actual houses, for example. They're perfect size for Cepaea. I recommend you look into them.

I will check a pet shop this Thursday. Hopefully I have enough cash. Thanks for the ideas!

[morningcoffee]

etana - a hamster house is a great idea! I bet it would look really cute in a tank, too

missjuniper - everyone was a beginner to snail-keeping once! If you don't ask questions, you won't learn, so you have nothing to apologise for Sometimes you can find cheap plastic aquarium plants in dollar stores and places like that (in the UK at least) so if you want to find some nice cheap things maybe try looking somewhere like that? eBay can also be great for finding bargains Small plastic plant pots lying on their sides with some substrate inside also make great hiding caves for snails - my baby Cepaea are always sleeping inside theirs - and of course they're very cheap! You can even cut a large water bottle in half at the middle, bury half of it under the substrate, and then put substrate on top of it to make a cheap dark cave for your snails.
(just make sure to wash and rinse anything thoroughly before putting it into your tank!)

[etana]

It is a great idea, I think it was Moon who inspired me to go look in the hamster section of a pet store for them.

[Deleted]

Are there any live plants I can use? Like, what kinds of live plants? It's winter time now so it might be difficult to find some types.

[Liguus]

Nov 19, 2014 1:23:10 GMT @missjuniper said:

Are there any live plants I can use? Like, what kinds of live plants? It's winter time now so it might be difficult to find some types.

Ferns are a good option and you have a wide range of fern species to choose from. Since plants might come from a local store or nursery its probably a good idea to bare-root the plant, put it in fresh soil and shower it thoroughly for a couple weeks to make sure any surface pesticides are removed. There's tons of different types of pesticides used, but the constant rinsing will eliminate anything topical. There maybe a type of pesticide absorbed into the leaves, but snails in my experience usually don't eat ferns. Also ferns are not really that susceptible to insect attacks so little pesticides are used on them in the first place. Other than typical ferns, polypodium ferns may be a good option as well.

Source: I work at a greenhouse.