Age of Maturity In Slow-Growing Snails?

[etana]

Hey, 

I have a ~5 month old rodatzi called Tauno, whose shell is only a bit over 4 cm long. He's very active, curious, friendly, eats and poops a lot (and loves cuttlebone), and is respected and looked after by his bigger tankmates so I think it's just a genetic oddity that he's tiny for his age, not a sign of ill-being. 

Anyhow... yesterday I noticed a white spot on his cheek!   Could he possibly be getting close to sexual maturity at that size?! I mean I know 5 months is a pretty normal age for A. fulica to mature sexually, but his tankmate and fellow rodatzi Taavetti was twice his size when he started getting those bulgy lovesick moments!

I don't remember if Taavetti had a white spot on his cheek before he was mature, but I can tell my small ones don't have it at all before they're old enough, and my other, I guess younger but still bigger GALS don't have one at all either. 

I'm going to laugh if he starts showing off a mini little love organ, but I'm also a little worried if he and Taavetti attempt contact, because with that size difference it looks like it's, uh, going to be uncomfortable.   I'd rather have Tauno grow a little bit bigger in size before that happens.

Any comments on this? 

[Cashell]

Sounds like this might be one those couples where one partner is short and tiny while the other is tall and mighty?

[etana]

Goodness! I hope the snails will know what they're doing and nobody gets hurt! So far Tauno gets lots of gentle eye stalk strokes from everyone, but what happens as the spot becomes more and more visible and grows into a bulge... Oh gawd. I both do and don't want to see!

[muddydragon]

snails are somewhat masochists so i wouldn't worry about them getting hurt. i've literally seen them rasping on their own penis during mating. and don't forget those species with a love dart to stab at each other to make them more receptive to mating... Wierd things...

I remember reading somewhere that is there is a large size difference only the larger will carry eggs, so i wouldn't worry too much.

[etana]

Oh dear, yeah. The love darts. I've seen so many times how a small wild-caught snail of mine just snails around happily with a dart sticking out of him, after hours of sweet lovin'. Maybe you indeed have a point there.

That egg carrying thing sounds good and fair though, at least.

[etana]

Btw, does anyone know if slow growth genes are linked to other health problems?

Tauno is indeed most of the time the happy, lively snail I described at the top of this thread, but sometimes he's a little strange. Like yesterday he couldn't sleep all day. He'd run around the tank, stop to make weird faces and then run again, and he had lots of very wet slime on him (looked like he was 'sweating'). Eventually I took him, bathed him on my hand and handled him for a long time, and he fell asleep pretty much promptly when I returned him to the tank.

He still seems pre-pubescent so to say, the white spot ain't bulging yet, but I wonder what that kind of 'nervous' behaviour means.

[muddydragon]

well slow growers can sometimes end up dwarf (this is usually obvious and often has bad shell growth too) these tend to not live as long.

I don't know of any other problems with slower growing. i wouldn't worry too much about being out all day this happens from time to time with some of mine, even the 20cm shell in 6 months guys, (i don't see the wetter slime though). it seems to happen more in winter (more darkness i guess)

extra slime usually means they're trying to get rid of something on their skin that they don't like but that wouldnt make a lot of sense in this case

[etana]

Yeah my tank should be all right and comfortable for the snails, the only thing I can think of that Tauno wanted off his skin would be the creepy crawlies that were pretty big in numbers at the time, but I didn't see those on him either. And then he even fell asleep after his bath! Hm, I'll never know... But he's slept very well since that day.

Tauno doesn't have bad shell growth, though there is an odd little thing about it thay I could try and get a picture of.

Last night I caught Taavetti looking at Tauno from a close distance (as in, reaching out at him with a loooooonnnng eye stalk) and getting a gigantic love bulge while he was at it. Oh dear that still looks so wrong.

[starcrazy19]

This dwarf/stunted margie is at least a few years old despite her size, and has laid eggs - if a margie can do it with those whopping things, perhaps a tiny fulica could too!

[etana]

Aaawww! Thanks starcrazy. Now I truly have to post a size comparison pic of Mauno & Taavetti. I'll just be polite and wait till they wake up next time.

[starcrazy19]

I guess its probably best not to hatch any eggs from them though... you don't really want to pass on bad genes and stuff

[etana]

You may be right.   

As for the size comparison, I've been trying to get the two into the same photo without handling them, and this is the best I have thus far:

(I try not to handle Taavetti too much right now, because lately he always wraps around my finger, kisses and caresses it, and it takes forever to get him to let go. Would be sweet and all if I had nothing else to do, lol.) 


In case someone's wondering, I re-decorated the tank recently and re-positioned the plants and the root, but that's a story for a different thread  

Anyhow, Taavetti is awakening, pushing his head out from under his shell, with its tip buried in the soil, and little Tauno is hanging from the roof above him.