C. Aspersa getting frisky.

[rubberman]

I awoke this morning to the wonderful sight of two of my C. Aspersa's "making out" and it appeared as though the process had just begun so I have attempted to capture it;

First contact




Circling the wagons; As you can see one of them is getting very (s)excited



Took a while but eventually Ripple reciprocated and decided being a sperm donor wasn't such a bad idea after all...



More circling but eventually they managed to align 



No love darts so far... hopefully it stays that way.



More tenderness ensued (Brain is the large one, Ripple is the one with paint on her shell (accident when painting!))




This could take some time...

[rubberman]

Over the course of those photographs they did break apart several times only to return and start over. 



In the photograph above they had already circled each other for several minutes before and indeed, I thought they had given up as they move several inches apart before returning to their dance.

I'm not sure if their selected location isn't part of the problem, balancing on what is left of last nights corn cob and unfortunately on top of another snail (Ross: Yes. We did have a Rachel but she decided to leave us through the window (our snails are not captive and can leave at any time))



Quite a while later and they still don't appear to have copulated fully. Between the 2 photo's in this post their is a considerable amount of time which, they move away from each other yet again only to return for another attempt.

Foreplay in C. Aspersa is an extremely long process and amazingly tender.

It's been over an hour now and Ripple looks like she's lost interest. No means no in the snail world to.




I shall continue to monitor the pair as this might just be another circling before returning for the next round of foreplay.

[rubberman]

As an intermission from the show I think I will put down my notes here (they're already on my blog of which is not public)

Over the past month I have experimented with food types to see if any particular food offering/ availability would encourage them to breed.

Findings; food types don't appear to effect the "horniness" (for want of a better word) of the species.

Raising the temperature in the room to 25C just made them lazy and made them aestivate, even with a damp environment.

Lowering the temperature to 15C brought them "back to life".
Spraying the snails themselves with a fine mist spray up to 10 times a day and keeping the room temperature at 20C or below made them the most active, hungry and I also noted that one of the snails, Brian, developed a state of readiness at all times with his penis extending slightly on a constant basis and fully extended when in close proximity to Ripple but not Ross.

This makes me think that snails could be attracted to particular individuals rather than having a "ready for anything" approach to their mating habits.
This could also mean that Darwen's theories have come into play and that Ripple is simply the best mate for the job and Ross may have some disease I can not see as Ross and Ripple are the same age so sexual maturity isn't the issue.

Getting low down and personal I would also take a wild guess that all these snails are in fact virgins (but might not be) as virgin snails tend not to use love darts and I have thus far recorded no sight of any being used. They don't always use them but C. Aspersa is well documented as being a prolific user so I'm either lucky or they are indeed virgins.




Again, after being apart for quite a while they have returned to the same place and initiated their courtship once again.

[rubberman]

Spoke too soon. Brain launches his dart at Ripple.

[rubberman]

And finally....and also perhaps the cutest photograph I've ever seen of a snails face......

In fact perhaps the cutest animal photograph I've ever taken.

[rubberman]

Is it me or does he not look happy in this one? I'm thinking Rygel from Farscape or as he just noticed he's being watched?

[rubberman]

Well. I think that's it. A full photographic record of the mating process of C. Aspersa. I think it's now time to leave them alone to enjoy the rest.

While "connected" they don't move a muscle (that is visible) and remain almost frozen in time. How long it will stay that way remains to be seen but I'm in for a wait of anything from 4-12 hours.



Update: 3 hours later and they're still locked and loaded. 

[babyozzy]

Omg! I freakin love these pics! Thank you for sharing. Their little lives are extremely fascinating!! Thank you again, I love these pics. 🐌❤🐌

[rubberman]

Thanks. Hopefully I can catch them laying as well

[edit] they were locked together for around 14 hours in all and emerged hungry. I treated them to some well earned cucumber (their favourite).

Now to await the eggs.

[babyozzy]

That's so awesome! 😀

[Love snails and slugs]

They are fell in love white togheter

[rubberman]

12 days after mating and no eggs

Snail cams are set yo ready and instead of catching them laying I caught one of them and another snail mating again!




This new snail cam gets up real close and personal.

[footloose]

Cue the love song soundtracks! Excellent photography. That one's expression seems to be saying "don't post this online!" Ha, eyestalks are ascew .

[rubberman]

Lol. I have that full shot as my desktop background and when I boot up it never fails to put a smile on my face. I've also used it in a few memes.