Why Does My Snail Sleep So Much??

[snailpers0n]

Hello! first post here,

I was wondering why my (Cornu aspersum) snail has been sleeping 70% of the time?

I feed it cucumber and lettuce, and it has a decent sized terrarium (5 gallon) with lots of natural light.

What am I doing wrong?

Edit: I forgot to mention that it is the only snail living in the enclosure.

[Cashell]

"I forgot to mention that it is the only snail living in the enclosure."

You have answered your own question. 😅 You're supposed to keep no less than 2 snails ideally. A lone snail is a bored and unhappy snail. 2 - 6 snails depending on the species is best.

[snailpers0n]

Jun 27, 2022 15:27:23 GMT Cashell said:

"I forgot to mention that it is the only snail living in the enclosure."

You have answered your own question. 😅 You're supposed to keep no less than 2 snails ideally. A lone snail is a bored and unhappy snail. 2 - 6 snails depending on the species is best.

Im worried about them breeding, I dont have room for baby snails.

Do you know how to remove them (put them outside) without harming (them/the environment??)

[Cashell]

You have 4 options:

1. If it is a native species, you may safely release them in a forest, ravine bushes, or some other wild suitable area.

2. Crush the eggs when the snail is finished laying them. This option might sound cruel, but is truly apart of responsible snailship. Some species lay eggs like crazy, and is often the only option, especially for non-native species. When they are freshly laid, it is just water and no development at this stage.

3. Feed them to a reptile or chickens if you have animals that already eat snails and their eggs.

4. Give them away. Not always practical, but nevertheless an option.

[snailpers0n]

Jun 27, 2022 23:32:36 GMT Cashell said:

"If it is a native species, you may safely release them in a forest, ravine bushes, or some other wild suitable area."

This will be the best option as garden snails are native to my area, as they are everywhere!

I will try to find a good snail friend for him, thanks for the help.

[snailnewb4]

There’s a scientific word for it that I just forget at the moment, but a single snail has the ability to produce eggs! So it doesn’t hurt to get more than one for company.

Speaking for myself, I would have a hard time deliberately killing eggs or feeding surplus eggs snails to animals.

I’ve read that if you clean the habitat more often ( no longer than every two weeks) disposing of the substrate or soil will get rid of any potential babies. I usually put old substrate in the garden under some shrubbery so if there’s anything there living, they can live in the wild. Recently I just gently pulled out a batch of eggs and set them outside.

I clean parts of the habitat and replace the moss, but if I wait longer than that two week period to replace the substrate, especially in spring and early summer, that’s the only time I’ve ended up with babies. I think the older snails ate a lot of them, and some of them survived to become adults, but I took a lot of the remaining smaller ones (there were only about five) and put them in a separate habitat to avoid them getting eaten.

Also, they are largely nocturnal. Most of the time I see mine moving in the evening and overnight, and not much during the day.

[snailpers0n]

Jul 1, 2022 3:50:03 GMT snailnewb4 said:

" -they are largely nocturnal. Most of the time I see mine moving in the evening and overnight, and not much during the day."

I picked up on this early on, but many times he stays in the same spot overnight.

Also, regarding what you said about babies, I was already thinking about putting them outside.

Thank you for confirming that I should put them outside so they can be free.

---

[snailpers0n]

Too bad its summer, I cant find any wild snails.
It's fairly hot where I live, so I don't think I will be able to find any until late September.

Will he be fine until then,
Or should I seek sellers?

[SuspiciousBagel]

Jun 27, 2022 15:27:23 GMT Cashell said:

"I forgot to mention that it is the only snail living in the enclosure."

You have answered your own question. 😅 You're supposed to keep no less than 2 snails ideally. A lone snail is a bored and unhappy snail. 2 - 6 snails depending on the species is best.

Sorry to contradict, but snails don't get bored. They are not complex animals. The reason they are less active alone is because they have a natural drive to compete with other snails in their vicinity so will want to be awake more to get more stuff like food then who they view as 'competetors'. But they do just fine by themselves. I saw one study which said they may live shorter lives alone but I can't speak for its validity and especially if one doesn't have the means to care for potential snail babies its best to do what you're most comfortable with and keep just one. I only have snails by themselves for the same reason.

[SuspiciousBagel]

Jul 1, 2022 3:50:03 GMT snailnewb4 said:

There’s a scientific word for it that I just forget at the moment, but a single snail has the ability to produce eggs! So it doesn’t hurt to get more than one for company.

Speaking for myself, I would have a hard time deliberately killing eggs or feeding surplus eggs snails to animals.

I’ve read that if you clean the habitat more often ( no longer than every two weeks) disposing of the substrate or soil will get rid of any potential babies. I usually put old substrate in the garden under some shrubbery so if there’s anything there living, they can live in the wild. Recently I just gently pulled out a batch of eggs and set them outside.

I clean parts of the habitat and replace the moss, but if I wait longer than that two week period to replace the substrate, especially in spring and early summer, that’s the only time I’ve ended up with babies. I think the older snails ate a lot of them, and some of them survived to become adults, but I took a lot of the remaining smaller ones (there were only about five) and put them in a separate habitat to avoid them getting eaten.

Also, they are largely nocturnal. Most of the time I see mine moving in the evening and overnight, and not much during the day.

I wouldn't replace substrate as snails require the beneficial bacteria which cultures in the substrate overtime to aid digestion (something to do with gut flora, don't know the specifics lol) so snails don't thrive when their substrate is being replaced all the time. I'd think the best thing to do is just mix it all up every week or two to get some air in and stop stagnation which attracts pests and makes the tank smell pretty bad. During this time one could look for eggs or babies and dispose of them appropriately.


Check local laws before putting any snail eggs or babies outside though as some parts of the world have very strict laws on that stuff. Always good to make sure. In addition eggs and snails that have come from indoors will have had an advantage to those born outside and in the long run can weaken bloodlines as baby snails are super often runts (genetically weaker, sounds a bit cruel but they're really only born in the wild to be food for predators so that the genetically superior babies have a higher chance of survival. Runts aren't really made to survive to adulthood. For snails, babies are quantity > quality) and if you've been tending to those runts inside they'll be stronger where they might well have already died if outside and then you'd be giving them a chance to pass on weaker genetics.

[SuspiciousBagel]

Jun 27, 2022 3:21:12 GMT snailpers0n said:

Hello! first post here,

I was wondering why my (Cornu aspersum) snail has been sleeping 70% of the time?

I feed it cucumber and lettuce, and it has a decent sized terrarium (5 gallon) with lots of natural light.

What am I doing wrong?

Edit: I forgot to mention that it is the only snail living in the enclosure.

Inactivity can be from a whole lot of reasons. It could be something to do with the temperature and humidity of the tank, most often its a problem with too little humidity or too low temperatures. Is the tank airtight to keep humidity in? If not your snail would benefit from that as they ideally need a pretty consistent level of humidity- if its constantly escaping through holes the humidity will fluxuate leading to a snail that won't be doing as well as it could be. 

Another reason could be the diet. Lettuce and cucumber aren't great foods for snails as they have little to no nutritional value and do not give a snail the diet they need. this site is great as a guide for feeding. Its made for giant african land snails but adapts just fine to a garden snail.

Sorry for the bombardment of posts on this thread, I hope the advice helps!

[snailpers0n]

Jul 5, 2022 20:30:26 GMT SuspiciousBagel said:

Jun 27, 2022 3:21:12 GMT snailpers0n said:

Hello! first post here,

I was wondering why my (Cornu aspersum) snail has been sleeping 70% of the time?

I feed it cucumber and lettuce, and it has a decent sized terrarium (5 gallon) with lots of natural light.

What am I doing wrong?

Edit: I forgot to mention that it is the only snail living in the enclosure.

Inactivity can be from a whole lot of reasons. It could be something to do with the temperature and humidity of the tank, most often its a problem with too little humidity or too low temperatures. Is the tank airtight to keep humidity in? If not your snail would benefit from that as they ideally need a pretty consistent level of humidity- if its constantly escaping through holes the humidity will fluxuate leading to a snail that won't be doing as well as it could be. 

Another reason could be the diet. Lettuce and cucumber aren't great foods for snails as they have little to no nutritional value and do not give a snail the diet they need. this site is great as a guide for feeding. Its made for giant african land snails but adapts just fine to a garden snail.

Sorry for the bombardment of posts on this thread, I hope the advice helps!

I have a tank with many holes, but I mist it multiple times a day.

I read the top thread in the feeding section, and started feeding him banana and carrot with mealworm. (he loves carrot now, and I am planning on introducing more things to him.)

Thanks for the help though, I will do some more research.

[Cashell]

Jul 5, 2022 20:18:40 GMT SuspiciousBagel said:

Jun 27, 2022 15:27:23 GMT Cashell said:

"I forgot to mention that it is the only snail living in the enclosure."

You have answered your own question. 😅 You're supposed to keep no less than 2 snails ideally. A lone snail is a bored and unhappy snail. 2 - 6 snails depending on the species is best.

Sorry to contradict, but snails don't get bored. They are not complex animals. The reason they are less active alone is because they have a natural drive to compete with other snails in their vicinity so will want to be awake more to get more stuff like food then who they view as 'competetors'. But they do just fine by themselves. I saw one study which said they may live shorter lives alone but I can't speak for its validity and especially if one doesn't have the means to care for potential snail babies its best to do what you're most comfortable with and keep just one. I only have snails by themselves for the same reason.

No worries, you did a better job explaining than I did.

[snailpers0n]

Thanks for all of the help! I will take all of this into consideration and act accordingly.