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Post by astana on Aug 24, 2015 2:59:36 GMT
This thread will be updated as I progress with this species.... or not progress, depending on the success of the various foods I have offered. 
This year, I visited Florida. Upon the wall of the hotel that I was staying I found many shells of Bulimulus guadalupensis, most empty, but some alive. I collected the live ones that I could find. Of the original eleven, nine are accounted for, as one was discovered to be dead while the other mysteriously vanished from a sealed coffee cup.
I took them with me to my home state, where they became rather lethargic- perhaps from the sudden change in humidity/temperature. It also may have to do that many of them were half-starved, presumably because of the same reason they were aestivating on a wall and not foraging for food.
Another user on this site, HelixPomatia, has kindly offered his recipe on growing sooty mold on bark, which may appeal to the Bulimulus guadalupensis in my care. I have not yet tried his recipe, half because I do not have a well-stocked fridge as of now and half because I just arrived yesterday and am jet lagged as hell. So I offered some mashed and wetted cooked sweet potato to them, because I had observed them rasping on the wet tissue paper that I had put in the coffee cup they were staying in, and the mashed sweet potato had a similar consistency. I believe that the Vespericola Columbiana that is also in the same container as they ate some, but the Bulimulus showed no interest aside from the occasional nibble.
Next I collected some various lichens from out back, straight off a tree (three species of lichen, to be exact.) I also chipped off some bark pieces that had a sort of dusty and flat greenish lichen growing on them and offered them to the Bulimulus as well. I can not tell yet if they are rasping at it.
UPDATE ONE: They did not even nibble at any of the lichens. It looks like I'll have to try the smoothie blend soon. For some reason, they are nibbling at this branch that has some blackish mold-like.... thing growing on it.
UPDATE TWO: UPDATE: I tried giving them a piece of tree bark that I had found that was covered in sap, which seemed to have sooty mold growing on the sap. They didn't eat it. At all.
**TO BE CONTINUED** |
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Post by astana on Aug 24, 2015 21:59:30 GMT
UPDATE: I tried giving them a piece of tree bark that I had found that was covered in sap, which seemed to have sooty mold growing on the sap. They didn't eat it. At all.
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Post by Liguus on Aug 24, 2015 22:27:19 GMT
I still place all of my drymaeus onto the food-covered bark pieces to make sure they all eat, training takes a while and can be a bit frustrating. Mine do not eat lichen at all, even native lichens I collected from florida. I didn't see any lichens in the habitat I caught mine in either, so it almost seems like a simplified "myth" of what tree snails eat. The sooty mold is more preferred, but mine have shown to prefer the smoothie more now and barely care if mold is present or not in the terrarium.
Mine surprise me as well. I put some branches from outside in the terrarium for decoration, and they started rasping at it. I'm not sure what exactly they were eating, but I guess it may be a small, barely visible fungus similar to the sooty mold.
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Post by astana on Aug 27, 2015 18:25:31 GMT
UPDATE: I heard that sooty mold grows on leaves that have dripped over with sugary honeydew secreted by creatures such as ants and aphids. And so I went out to my backyard and smeared some organic honey over some thick leaves in hopes of growing some. I have not yet seen any results.
I also smeared the honey over some bark pieces which I left to dry in the sun.
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Post by astana on Sept 3, 2015 22:54:47 GMT
UPDATE: The leaves and bark experiment failed because immediately afterward a heavy downpour washed it all away.
The snails are happy and well fed. They have scraped off a sort of black mold that grew all over a branch that I put in. To feed them, I simply have to collect such branches from my backyard. I see waste all over the tank lol. This morning I observed two of them mating, so hopefully eggs soon.
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Post by Liguus on Sept 4, 2015 1:12:15 GMT
Glad to hear your Bulimulus is doing well! Unfortunately my Drymaeus are dropping dead despite eating well. Quite strange. I have a theory that the Bulimulus is easier to keep than Drymaeus although I haven't had a chance to keep them yet.
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Post by Tilly's Dragon on Sept 4, 2015 7:12:59 GMT
Astana I'm following this thread as I have another difficult species that I am currently studying & I'm hoping this will help. Helix Pomatia - I did read somewhere last year that Amphidromus & Drymaeus need uv light.. not sure if this will help?
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Post by Liguus on Sept 4, 2015 13:28:10 GMT
Yes, I did set up a UV light as well.
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Post by astana on Sept 4, 2015 23:31:05 GMT
tilly'sDragon- It is very nice to hear that someone has found mild interest in my, er, little experiments. Liguus - I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe you should fool around a bit with the ingredients in the smoothie...? It is possible that something in it does not agree with them. I really don't know, so I'm just tossing out suggestions lol. In your vid, they seemed to be quite healthy and happy.... If my bulimulus do lay eggs, I could possibly start selling them.
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mangoandlemon
Achatina tincta
Animals are not a choice for me. They are a lifestyle!
Posts: 671 
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Post by mangoandlemon on Sept 5, 2015 23:28:06 GMT
I brought 7 bulimulus sporadicus and 3 amber snails back from Tampa and they are not doing great. My cuban brown snails are fine but the bulimulus are inactive. I am going to try a heat mat for them and try growing "sooty mold" for them. Ive had a bit of luck with lettuce though.  |
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Post by astana on Sept 7, 2015 5:00:01 GMT
Bulimulus sporadicus sounds quite cool. Well, depending on where you live, the bulimulus may take some time to adapt to the climate. My own bulimulus were inactive for about a week after I brought them here, which I believe may because of the sudden humidity/temperature/environment change. They were fine after that.
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gigas
Achatina achatina
Posts: 95 
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Post by gigas on Sept 8, 2015 21:05:32 GMT
Mine surprising eat lettuce just fine. I find if they don't have super high humidity, they die fast, though. Mine have laid eggs and they hatched. They hatch out about 1 mm long. I'm still experimenting, but so far most have lived in the month or so I've had them. I have about 8 Ivory, 20 dark phase, and 2 hypo-looking ones. My first batch did terribly, but the ones from the second batch (in terms of collecting, that is) are doing well. I think around 5 have died. None have so far since on the lettuce.
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gigas
Achatina achatina
Posts: 95
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Post by gigas on Sept 8, 2015 21:10:16 GMT
I'm not totally sure I'd treat them like a tree snail. I guess technically they are, but I have found them at the base of bushes and such, not in trees. I'd imagine they eat the same as any non-tree snail. But again, I'm still experimenting. I'm definitely no expert.
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gigas
Achatina achatina
Posts: 95
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Post by gigas on Sept 8, 2015 23:45:46 GMT
 All the ones I could find in their enclosure. |
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Post by astana on Sept 9, 2015 0:27:30 GMT
They eat lettuce?! I didn't know that! I'll try feeding mine lettuce. Thank you for the info! And your snails have beautiful patterns. It's also very interesting to see all these morphs.
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Post by Liguus on Sept 9, 2015 1:13:59 GMT
Mine surprising eat lettuce just fine. I find if they don't have super high humidity, they die fast, though. Mine have laid eggs and they hatched. They hatch out about 1 mm long. I'm still experimenting, but so far most have lived in the month or so I've had them. I have about 8 Ivory, 20 dark phase, and 2 hypo-looking ones. My first batch did terribly, but the ones from the second batch (in terms of collecting, that is) are doing well. I think around 5 have died. None have so far since on the lettuce. Maybe this was the issue with drymaeus, I just thought (based on pete krull's method) that tree snails like to dry out between sprayings. Maybe only liguus do though...and other smaller tree snails like the humidity. I will bump up the humidity for my last remaining drymaeus and see how they like it. Thanks! |
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Post by sonyasun on Sept 9, 2015 22:54:27 GMT
Yes, I did set up a UV light as well. I noticed you said something about UV light what's that about? I can see your post but not who ever you are answering in your post so they don't make sense. LOL thanks |
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gigas
Achatina achatina
Posts: 95
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Post by gigas on Sept 10, 2015 1:42:18 GMT
I never spray mine down. The tubs I have mine in stay at 80% humidity, and range between 80 to 85 degrees or so.
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gigas
Achatina achatina
Posts: 95
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Post by gigas on Sept 10, 2015 1:48:26 GMT
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Post by Liguus on Sept 11, 2015 2:06:18 GMT
Yes, I did set up a UV light as well. I noticed you said something about UV light what's that about? I can see your post but not who ever you are answering in your post so they don't make sense. LOL thanks Someone who kept Liguus as pets in the 80's recommended it, but it's uncertain at this point if the drymaeus need the UV light or not. I still use it since they would get UV in nature anyways. |
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Post by Liguus on Sept 11, 2015 2:10:23 GMT
Gigas, Those bulimulus look very promising! It's interesting how two similar bulimulids react differently to captivity.
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mangoandlemon
Achatina tincta
Animals are not a choice for me. They are a lifestyle!
Posts: 671
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Post by mangoandlemon on Sept 15, 2015 16:28:02 GMT
Mine seem to like high humidity. Have you tried cilantro? They seem to kinda like it.
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Post by Liguus on Sept 15, 2015 17:30:44 GMT
The drymaeus have responded extremely well to 90% humidity. How "strange" lol -_- seems like an easy fix for the health issues.
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mangoandlemon
Achatina tincta
Animals are not a choice for me. They are a lifestyle!
Posts: 671
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Post by mangoandlemon on Sept 15, 2015 18:40:37 GMT
Well Im glad they are doing well.
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Post by snailnation on Sept 16, 2015 0:34:22 GMT
Beauties  I wish I lived in Florida , my house would be lined with tanks! |
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I wish I lived in Florida , my house would be lined with tanks!