Long-time snail enthusiast, first time snail owner.

[eilisnail]

Hi there!

As a child I used to collect snails I found outside and keep them in a large lunchbox (much to my parents' disgust!). Back home in Ireland I used to find all kinds of cool-looking snails; lots of yellow ones and white and brown striped ones as well as run-of-the-mill brown snails (I moved to London seven years ago and I've only ever seen brown snails here). Despite my undoubtedly woeful care, one of the snails (a white and brown striped little dude I named Sylvia) somehow managed to live four years from the time I caught it. Now that I'm (supposedly) a grown-up, I want to do this whole snail thing properly. I've ordered four baby achatina fulica off a guy on ebay (all in different colours so as not to confuse myself!) and they should be arriving tomorrow morning. Today I set up their wee little home. I've attached a picture of the set-up (obviously I will be moving them into something bigger as time goes on!). Still waiting on the hydrometer and thermometer I've ordered to arrive. I kept a bunch of vegetable peelings and discarded leaves from my lunch today (carrots, courgettes and spinach) and I've thoroughly washed them and set them aside in a box. I've ordered limestone flour from amazon, that should arrive on Thursday. I have a spray bottle for misting the terrarium, and I am going to see how it goes without a heat mat for the moment as I live in a ridiculous warm building which is like a sauna all the time. I have two very mischievous cats, but the lid of the terrarium is difficult enough for me to open that I doubt they'll be able to get into it. In any case, I work from home so can keep an eye on it at all times (and I'll lock the snails in a separate room from the cats when I go out until I'm sure there won't be any shenanigans).

So, is there anything I'm forgetting? Does my terrarium look okay? Anything else they'll need/want? Anything I should be doing that I'm not?

Thanks for reading!

[crockatt]

Sorry, what's the limestone flour for?

[eilisnail]

May 10, 2016 19:34:35 GMT crockatt said:

Sorry, what's the limestone flour for?

Source of calcium, I hope... correct me if I'm wrong? :/

[eilisnail]

They're here!! Meet (l-r) Bill, Percy, Ron and Charlie. This photo was taken right after I unpacked them and put them into their tank. They've been there about half an hour now. So far, Ron is by far the most active, but they're all gently exploring and they seem quite happy.

[picklepies]

Gorgeous snails! The tank looks lovely, I use limestone powder fir calcium too, mine love it

[crockatt]

I use cuttlefish, that way they eat what they need and don't get overdose of calcium.

[morningcoffee]

May 11, 2016 14:04:45 GMT crockatt said:

I use cuttlefish, that way they eat what they need and don't get overdose of calcium.

Same with limestone flour - you just put it in a dish and moisten it for them to eat as they wish. Mine always seemed to significantly prefer it to cuttle which gets wet & smelly quickly.

[eilisnail]

Thanks picklepies! Yeah morningcoffee, having read up on calcium sources limestone flour seemed like a nice non-smelly one, so that's what I decided to go with. The snails are keeping me very entertained - Ron is currently going to town on a carrot while Charlie is nibbling some spinach. Bill's snoozing under some spagnum moss having had a very active day of exploring the tank, and Percy seems determined to dig himself a nice big hole. I <3 these little dudes!

[lindz]

Beautiful snail friends!!!

[lorisarvendu]

They are dead cute when they're little. I haven't seen small snails for about 3 years now, mine are so big. Yours will grow quite big if you have a warm house and plenty of food, and you will definitely need a bigger tank than that before the year is out.

I've had fulicas before, and when they get mature it seems like every other month you're fishing eggs out of the tank. They're very fecund.

[eilisnail]

Yeah, I'm already looking at tanks for when they grow up. I like the look of this one ( www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0052Y3KTC/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1F19X2Y3VVY1U ) and I have a space where it fits perfectly. They've all been super active, and they're munching through food at a great rate. Some pictures:

Percy sneaking some carrot away from the food bowl for himself:





Ron doing the 'King of Pride Rock' pose:





Bill sitting in my hand:




Intrigued cat:

[HazelSnail]

Adorable snails (and cat, too )! And that looks like a great tank to me!

[lorisarvendu]

I take it back. It is a big tank now you see it in relation to the snails. We have cats and their reaction to snails is amusing. I think the snails are just on the boundary between "you move fast enough for me to chase" and "you're just an object, I'll ignore you".

When I have my snails out, the cats can plainly see their slow movement, but it doesn't activate their chase reflex, so they just sit and stare at them, unable to decide what category to put them in, "prey" or "part of the furniture".

[eilisnail]

Yeah, I'm finding the whole cat/snail dynamic hilarious. Snape, the cat in the picture, has just watched them (generally with the air if someone in a seafood restaurant trying to decide on a lobster from the tank), but Lily, my other cat, started pawing furiously at the side of the tank when she realised there were living creatures in there (she's not the sharpest tack in the drawer and has yet to figure out that just because something is see-through it doesn't mean it's not there). I had to put the snails and cats in separate rooms for a while until she calmed down as I didn't want to freak out the snails. Hopefully she'll get over her excitement quickly enough.