First snail.

[mutantboy]

Hi,

I recently got my first snail (fulica). The person I re-homed him from said that he was about five/six months old.

I upgraded him from the starter tank I was given him in to a storage tub, but I'd like to re-upgrade him (probably to a glass terrarium as browsing a couple of snail forums I've seen how nice they can look) so he has more space, I have more space to work with enrichment-wise, and so I can get him a friend (I'd like a white jade fulica).

I did research before I got him, but I'm autistic and have found all the different options for housing and substrate etc. a bit overwhelming so I'm still researching and learning and trying to make improvements to my set up and everything. At the moment he's on the soil his previous owner supplied, but I've noticed he doesn't seem to like to come off his cuttlefish much, and I wasn't sure whether it's because he doesn't like the soil (or whether he just really likes cuttlefish!). I bought some coir blocks to see whether he prefers that as a substrate (but I haven't switched him yet as I don't want to change things about too frequently/drastically and possibly stress him out as I read that a complete change of substrate can cause problems - any advice as to how to handle a substrate change?).

Here is my buddy, D'Artagnan:

[cepaeahelix]

Possibly mix the two substrates together. Then when it comes time to change the substrate again, put in only the coir. Mixing them will maybe help your snail to get used to the new substrate, while still feeling comfortable with the old one. Your snail is very cute by the way!

[mutantboy]

Ah, I thought that might be the case. I'll try that, then. Thanks for replying!

[mutantboy]

[cepaeahelix]

Your snail is adorable, and I love your habitat setup! He seems pretty happy to live in it.

[mutantboy]

Thanks! It's new. I was looking for a second hand terrarium for a while and finally got one.

[Cashell]

Great photos! The snail looks well cared for.

[tigersnail]

Great setup! And a nice snail too, that caramel colour near the lip of the shell is really pretty.

[mutantboy]

^^ Thanks! That's really nice to read.

^ Thanks! That's his new growth, so you can see in the top picture that he'd had a bit of a growth spurt!

[mikelikessnails]

Wow! His shell is really nice! I have the exact same breed! I like to mix both soils, and eventually take over with the new soil. That snail - very cute - but there is NO WAY that he is five/six months only. I keep babies, and my old babies are now around 5 months old, probably more, they are big, but not that big. They are more like 2=your snail's shell size. My big snail is the exact same, shell looks so similar, he is at least 2-3 years. I can't see it being younger. If I am wrong people do correct me, I am no expert, but I think I know this a bit.

Just a tip on the shell, what you feed them is the colour of the shell, like if their diet is mostly greens it will be lighter, if it is red things like red pepper it will be darker. I like your little variety of fruits & veg in his tank! I tend to cut my cucumber thicker for my snails so there is more for them.

Your snail is really nice - make sure to look after him, he is wonderful! I am sure you will be a great snail parent.

(I say he, but you know, s/he, hermaphrodites, yeah).

[mutantboy]

Someone else said that they thought he looked too big and that if he was 5/6 months then the person who gave them their 9 month old snails must have been lying. Having said that, my brother said that he thought the pictures made him look bigger than he really is so I'm not sure whether he does look much bigger to other people than he actually is.

When I tried to look up growth rates there didn't seem to be any definite numbers to suggest how big I should expect a snail to be at a certain age, but a lot of what I read suggested that they do their main growing in the first six months, then it slows down (and that it slows even more from a year onwards) so I thought that his shell being 4 inches in length at the age of about 6 months might be reasonable, and perhaps the other person's snails were just smaller (through genetics, or sharing resources, or care).

When I first got him (at supposedly 5/6 months) his shell was about 4 inches in length. I've had him for two months and now his shell is about 4.5 inches in length (and he would obviously supposedly be 7/8 months old).

It doesn't actually make much difference to me how old he is but I'd be interested to know how big other people's snails were/are at different ages?

The only thing that would bother me about finding out that he was significantly older than I'd been told would be that if his previous owners had lost track of time and he was a couple of months older than they said he was, that would be understandable, but if he was significantly older and they'd intentionally lied about his age, that would be quite disappointing (and confusing, as I don't see what they'd hope to gain from lying about his age - it's not like they wanted payment for him).


EDIT: He already had cucumber that week so I only gave him a little bit as a treat because it's not very nutritious and I know if I put too much cucumber in he'll only eat the cucumber and ignore everything else!

[mutantboy]

I now have a second snail.

This is Casper.

[Elesari]

Hello Casper! What a cutie pie.


Is he/she a achatina reticulata albino or an Albino Fulica? I'm not good at ID myself.

[mutantboy]

'He' is a fulica.

[Elesari]

He's beautiful. How is D'Artagnan getting along with him?

[mutantboy]

They seem to be getting on okay. I haven't seen them interact with each other as such, but they both spent some time sleeping in the same plastic flower pot.

[mutantboy]

Casper's about six months old now and is already a lot bigger than he was when I got him at five months of age.

Here they are eating snail mix with sweet potato and broccoli. 

[mutantboy]

I now have six snails. I found four babies in the tank. I was really careful about removing the eggs but I must have missed these ones, or perhaps I disturbed them before they'd finished laying and they laid more later on without me realising...

Here's one of them.