Do snails eat wood?

[ohlyuv]

Hello! I recently adopted a field snail who was about to get flattened on the bike path. It was a bout of nostalgia for my childhood days when I had a pet garden snail (the only pet I was allowed to have besides fish). I set him up in an empty fish tank and he's been doing well for the past couple of months. 

However, to my astonishment, I noticed that all he ever eats is tree bark!!!!!! I give him all kinds of greenery from my yard, plus fruit, and a cuttle bone, but he never touches any of that and instead rasps away at the bark of a broken tree branch I put in the tank for decoration and more crawling surface... He also eats the young bark on shrub twigs. Just bark of all kinds. And then... one day... I saw him gnawing away at the dry, bare wood on that branch where some of the bark had fallen off!!!! Like, yellow hard real wood without the bark on it!!! Is this normal? I'm used to snails destroying vegetation like leaves and fruit, I've never seen them eat wood before   He's alive and pooping, so I'm guessing it's okay for now, but... is it sustainable long-term?

The mystery has a second chapter. While clearing out room for a chicken coop in my yard, I found another snail - this one is a common garden snail. I thought it would be cool to symbolically save his life from the upcoming chickens who would've made a nice meal out of him. Plus, maybe my original friend would want a buddy/date/roommate. So I put the second snail in the tank with the first. I don't know if the first showed him the ways of the tank while I wasn't looking, but the next day I saw the new snail EATING WOOD just like the first!!!! Not even bark, that same stick of mature exposed wood! Are they colluding to totally confuse me? Is wood-eating contagious? The internet is strangely silent on the matter. Please, snail experts, shed some light on this mystery!


Here's snail #1 chewing on his favorite stick:




And here's snail #2 chewing the branch with the bark:



I can actually hear them crunching, so I definitely know they're eating it...

[morningcoffee]

In my experience, Cepaea LOVE to eat lichens and rasp on sticks/wood. Other species I've kept had a slight interest, but as you've noticed too, Cepaea even seem to prefer it over other food. Bark and lichens are a normal part of their diet in the wild, but if you're concerned they are eating too much of it, you can remove the sticks for a while to encourage them to eat other foods.

[tony]

It's nice to come across people who care about the little lives out there that typically go unnoticed and unappreciated.

That's pretty interesting to see them rasping on wood. Occasional rasping would be normal, but if it's a consistent rasping at the wood, I'm a bit concerned that this may indicate some kind of nutrient deficiency. If you are feeding them random greenery from your yard and fruits, this may or may not be enough for them to be consuming what they need to satisfy their nutritional needs. I'm 99% sure if you put some corn or peas in there, they'd ignore the wood completely. Also, from my experience snails enjoy veggies more than fruits. In the wild they scavenge and eat pretty much anything, including soil. This opportunistic feeding is what allows them to get the nutrients they need from their natural habitat. But in a fish tank, they can no longer take advantage of opportunistic feeding and now they're relying on you to provide them with the proper diet. It's hard to say without knowing what kind of plants they're eating, but I'd venture to say that random greenery from your yard, fruits, and cuttle bone are not going to be sustainable long term. There needs to be a certain level of caution when it comes to feeding them what they need to be 100% healthy. Personally, I'd start trying to feed them moistened fish food or some blanched veggies. Blanching their vegetables is important because 5 minutes of boiling water is enough to remove pesticide residue from veggies. Grocery store bought produce is smothered in pesticides.

Also, thank you for being an awesome person and saving snails. The world needs more people like you.