Post by horrr0r on Dec 3, 2015 23:31:21 GMT
I need somewhere to put wild caught GALS that I pickup/save, but I want it close enough to sometimes visit. The weather is not an issue, I live in Hawaii it's very warm and rains every night. GALS are ok in the wild, our native snails are all endangered and only live in restricted areas in the mountains.
LOCATIONS
1) My deceased neighbors garden, where I got most of my GALS, used to have 100s of Asian Trampsnails, slugs, GALS of all ages, and a few tiny snail species. Now, the only life I saw last night was a few Hammerhead & New Guinea Flatworms - apparently they eat snails and slugs. Perhaps they caused this "ghost town"? Maybe they're here due to the excessive NIGHTLY rainfall?
2) Two houses down from mine there's a little walkway to this brackish lake. On one side of the walkway is a green, grassy area semi-shaded by a coconut tree, with a bunch of sago palms surrounded by some large rocks and thick mounds of creeping daisies. On the other side of the walkway there's bare dirt I can plant something in. GALS, slugs, and cockroaches live in the stumps of cut sago palms, the rocks, and under the daisies. There were tons of GALS, but lately, I only see a few snails a night... idk if they're hiding/dead/left thr area, and idk if it's due to the less rain, or due to someone mowing one area of the daisies (though it's growing back), or what. Issues: I read that sago palms are extremely toxic if eaten (but wild GALS chose to live there?), small crabs may come up from the marina, if the daisies get mowed again they might get hurt, it's right next to someone's driveway (but they only drive seldomly.
3) An blank 5x9 foot area on my property that i plan to turn into a garden. Currently covered in tall grass, woodsorrel, weeds, etc; un-level soil, a couple tree stumps, a monstera deliciosa plant; I could plant or put some potted plants as food sources. Issues: RIGHT next to our driveway (would making a 2 foot high stacked cinder block wall help keep them in?), very sunny/could get quite hot (needs shade added).
4) A larger, shadier, cooler area behind my stonewall, lots of weeds/grass, a few bushes for shelter, no one goes back here! Issues: one side is close to a sorta busy sidewalk, a few Lantana bushes around (the flowers are "noxious", make some animals sick), it's technically not my property so I can't remove them (but I can add small plants), if they go in the bushes i can't see them.
5) A west - facing wall planter that is currently dirt & gravel. I'm going to plant in it. I found a colony of GALS down the road in a planter just like this (except theirs is filled much lower and is east-facing). Issues: some from that colony ventured on the ground - some were alive in the dirt, but a few were stepped on (what could I do to prevent that?), it's quite sunny and surrounded by concrete so could get dry and hot, very close to busy street and sidewalk.
The other areas in my property are either paved over or accessible by a pet chicken and 3 pet dogs. I don't want them in any enclosed tank... wild but still nearby. Like a reservation vs a zoo.
I'll try to post photos of these areas in a bit.
LOCATIONS
1) My deceased neighbors garden, where I got most of my GALS, used to have 100s of Asian Trampsnails, slugs, GALS of all ages, and a few tiny snail species. Now, the only life I saw last night was a few Hammerhead & New Guinea Flatworms - apparently they eat snails and slugs. Perhaps they caused this "ghost town"? Maybe they're here due to the excessive NIGHTLY rainfall?
2) Two houses down from mine there's a little walkway to this brackish lake. On one side of the walkway is a green, grassy area semi-shaded by a coconut tree, with a bunch of sago palms surrounded by some large rocks and thick mounds of creeping daisies. On the other side of the walkway there's bare dirt I can plant something in. GALS, slugs, and cockroaches live in the stumps of cut sago palms, the rocks, and under the daisies. There were tons of GALS, but lately, I only see a few snails a night... idk if they're hiding/dead/left thr area, and idk if it's due to the less rain, or due to someone mowing one area of the daisies (though it's growing back), or what. Issues: I read that sago palms are extremely toxic if eaten (but wild GALS chose to live there?), small crabs may come up from the marina, if the daisies get mowed again they might get hurt, it's right next to someone's driveway (but they only drive seldomly.
3) An blank 5x9 foot area on my property that i plan to turn into a garden. Currently covered in tall grass, woodsorrel, weeds, etc; un-level soil, a couple tree stumps, a monstera deliciosa plant; I could plant or put some potted plants as food sources. Issues: RIGHT next to our driveway (would making a 2 foot high stacked cinder block wall help keep them in?), very sunny/could get quite hot (needs shade added).
4) A larger, shadier, cooler area behind my stonewall, lots of weeds/grass, a few bushes for shelter, no one goes back here! Issues: one side is close to a sorta busy sidewalk, a few Lantana bushes around (the flowers are "noxious", make some animals sick), it's technically not my property so I can't remove them (but I can add small plants), if they go in the bushes i can't see them.
5) A west - facing wall planter that is currently dirt & gravel. I'm going to plant in it. I found a colony of GALS down the road in a planter just like this (except theirs is filled much lower and is east-facing). Issues: some from that colony ventured on the ground - some were alive in the dirt, but a few were stepped on (what could I do to prevent that?), it's quite sunny and surrounded by concrete so could get dry and hot, very close to busy street and sidewalk.
The other areas in my property are either paved over or accessible by a pet chicken and 3 pet dogs. I don't want them in any enclosed tank... wild but still nearby. Like a reservation vs a zoo.
I'll try to post photos of these areas in a bit.