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Post by kevin17 on Sept 6, 2020 11:12:19 GMT
Hello everyone! I'm new here, I'm from Sicily and I'm 19 years old. 3 years ago I bought 4 baby Achatina fulica, 2 albino and 2 ancestral, since then they are in a boring faunabox and now I would love to see them in a better place... Like a vivarium full of live plants (I hate fake plants), branches, stones and moss!
The only problem is that... I really don't know what kind of plants they doesn't eat...
Anyone could help me please?
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Post by morningcoffee on Sept 7, 2020 8:21:30 GMT
Hello everyone! I'm new here, I'm from Sicily and I'm 19 years old. 3 years ago I bought 4 baby Achatina fulica, 2 albino and 2 ancestral, since then they are in a boring faunabox and now I would love to see them in a better place... Like a vivarium full of live plants (I hate fake plants), branches, stones and moss! The only problem is that... I really don't know what kind of plants they doesn't eat... Anyone could help me please? Hello and welcome to the forum. Putting stones in a snail tank is not a good idea because if they fall from the wall or ceiling (which is common) they can easily damage their shells landing on a hard stone. Snails will eat quite a lot of live plants unfortunately, and the other problem is that the plants need to be happy in a low light, high humidity environment to stay healthy. It can also cause issues with thoroughly cleaning the tank or changing the substrate in the event of a problem, or removing eggs, if there are plants rooted in the substrate. Sometimes you can put plants in the tank inside their own pot which can help with this a little as they are easier to remove if necessary, however snails do seem to love laying their eggs in and around the roots of plants and they can be very difficult to safely remove without damaging the plant. Plants like ivy or ferns may be suitable for tank conditions, snails generally don't seem to eat ivy as it is toxic. There's a list of safe plants for snails here: petsnails.proboards.com/thread/7851/safe-plants-tanks |
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Post by kevin17 on Sept 7, 2020 9:03:35 GMT
Hello everyone! I'm new here, I'm from Sicily and I'm 19 years old. 3 years ago I bought 4 baby Achatina fulica, 2 albino and 2 ancestral, since then they are in a boring faunabox and now I would love to see them in a better place... Like a vivarium full of live plants (I hate fake plants), branches, stones and moss! The only problem is that... I really don't know what kind of plants they doesn't eat... Anyone could help me please? Hello and welcome to the forum. Putting stones in a snail tank is not a good idea because if they fall from the wall or ceiling (which is common) they can easily damage their shells landing on a hard stone. Snails will eat quite a lot of live plants unfortunately, and the other problem is that the plants need to be happy in a low light, high humidity environment to stay healthy. It can also cause issues with thoroughly cleaning the tank or changing the substrate in the event of a problem, or removing eggs, if there are plants rooted in the substrate. Sometimes you can put plants in the tank inside their own pot which can help with this a little as they are easier to remove if necessary, however snails do seem to love laying their eggs in and around the roots of plants and they can be very difficult to safely remove without damaging the plant. Plants like ivy or ferns may be suitable for tank conditions, snails generally don't seem to eat ivy as it is toxic. There's a list of safe plants for snails here: petsnails.proboards.com/thread/7851/safe-plants-tanksThanks for the reply. I hadn't thought about the fact that they often fall .... Maybe I solve the problem by putting moss on top of stones and branches? As substrate I would use expanded clay, in which they don't lay eggs, for laying I would put a container with a soft substrate such as coconut coir or compost. The plants will be planted in containers filled with expanded clay (semi-hydroponics) so they won't lay eggs there either. And then I will put leaves all over the place so that I can clean up easily (by removing the leaves). For the snails I'll create shaded areas so that the light for the plants will not disturb them. Thanks for the list but i don't understand why "Non-toxic plants" and "Edible plants" are in different lists. Snails don't eat the "Non-toxic plants" even if they are not toxic? By the way tonight I left a leaf of Boston fern and now there's no trace of her... I will try with Hedera helix. |
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Post by morningcoffee on Sept 8, 2020 8:19:37 GMT
Thanks for the reply. I hadn't thought about the fact that they often fall .... Maybe I solve the problem by putting moss on top of stones and branches? As substrate I would use expanded clay, in which they don't lay eggs, for laying I would put a container with a soft substrate such as coconut coir or compost. The plants will be planted in containers filled with expanded clay (semi-hydroponics) so they won't lay eggs there either. And then I will put leaves all over the place so that I can clean up easily (by removing the leaves). For the snails I'll create shaded areas so that the light for the plants will not disturb them. Thanks for the list but i don't understand why "Non-toxic plants" and "Edible plants" are in different lists. Snails don't eat the "Non-toxic plants" even if they are not toxic? By the way tonight I left a leaf of Boston fern and now there's no trace of her... I will try with Hedera helix. That sounds like a good terrarium for the plants, maybe not so much for the snails - they need a soil-type substrate to burrow and also to consume. Giving them an unsuitable substrate and only providing soil in a small container is a very unnatural environment for them and won't allow them to express their usual behaviours. They also need the flora and bacteria that build up in a soil-type substrate as they ingest this as part of their digestion cycle, which may not be possible with only a small container of soil, which could lead to serious health problems. It might be better to fill the tank with coir, and then place the plants in pots of expanded clay into the coir substrate. That way you can easily remove the plants as needed, but the snails also get a natural environment with a suitable substrate for their needs. The plants list I believe was originally intended for reptiles and then copied here, so I think "edible" means "plants reptiles will eat" and "non-toxic" means "plants reptiles won't eat, but aren't harmful" - there may be some differences with what snails will eat, so some experimentation may be required however I think generally anything on the non-toxic list would be fine to try. |
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Post by kevin17 on Sept 8, 2020 10:55:56 GMT
Thanks for the reply. I hadn't thought about the fact that they often fall .... Maybe I solve the problem by putting moss on top of stones and branches? As substrate I would use expanded clay, in which they don't lay eggs, for laying I would put a container with a soft substrate such as coconut coir or compost. The plants will be planted in containers filled with expanded clay (semi-hydroponics) so they won't lay eggs there either. And then I will put leaves all over the place so that I can clean up easily (by removing the leaves). For the snails I'll create shaded areas so that the light for the plants will not disturb them. Thanks for the list but i don't understand why "Non-toxic plants" and "Edible plants" are in different lists. Snails don't eat the "Non-toxic plants" even if they are not toxic? By the way tonight I left a leaf of Boston fern and now there's no trace of her... I will try with Hedera helix. That sounds like a good terrarium for the plants, maybe not so much for the snails - they need a soil-type substrate to burrow and also to consume. Giving them an unsuitable substrate and only providing soil in a small container is a very unnatural environment for them and won't allow them to express their usual behaviours. They also need the flora and bacteria that build up in a soil-type substrate as they ingest this as part of their digestion cycle, which may not be possible with only a small container of soil, which could lead to serious health problems. It might be better to fill the tank with coir, and then place the plants in pots of expanded clay into the coir substrate. That way you can easily remove the plants as needed, but the snails also get a natural environment with a suitable substrate for their needs. The plants list I believe was originally intended for reptiles and then copied here, so I think "edible" means "plants reptiles will eat" and "non-toxic" means "plants reptiles won't eat, but aren't harmful" - there may be some differences with what snails will eat, so some experimentation may be required however I think generally anything on the non-toxic list would be fine to try. You're right... I'll do as you told me, thank you very much! They don't eat even live moss... right? |
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Post by morningcoffee on Sept 10, 2020 14:56:26 GMT
They don't eat even live moss... right? No, snails don't eat moss  |
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Post by kevin17 on Sept 12, 2020 10:27:29 GMT
Hedera helix (common and variegata) and Arundo donax surpassed the test!! I'll try with almost all my tropical and subtropical plants.
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