Megalobulimus information (habitat etc)

[copigeon]

(Information provided by Andrew Stephenson - might be of interest and some help in providing more specific environmental control for this species to encourage breeding/healthier growth.)

Snails are collected from Northern Mountain Range, Trinidad.

Average daily temperatue is 26.7C.
In the wet season, July - December, temperatures are slightly higher but day temperatures around the year vary by only 2C.
There can be up to 10C temperature drop at nights but I recommend a variation of only around 5C maximum.

Humidity approaches 100% during nighttime and drops to 60% during dry season daytime and 75%, wet season daytime.

Rainfall is lowest, Feb - May and highest Jul - September.

Snails are not seen above ground during dry daytime or dry night. They either burrow or seek shelter and can stay hidden in times of extreme drought for weeks. Although direct sun will kill them they must be adapted for drought conditions because there are periods of extreme dryness in Trinidad that will last up to 2 months. During this time the snails do not emerge.

The area these snails are collected in is densely foliated. There is ground cover to waist height and interspaced clear areas. The clear areas are bare sandy soil which crack in the dry season. The snails never climb trees. I have never seen juveniles. I am unsure if they feed on any particular crop or whether they are attracted to ploughed fields due to ease of burying themselved in the turned soil. The locals assume they eat their crops but there is much more damage done due to leaf cutter ants than snails.

My suggestion is a bunch of long green grass and other meadow plants, tied in a bunch and placed in a buried waterdish so that the neck of the dish is level with the soil surface. I suggest a substrate of garden soil (I think peat is too acidic and tends to stick to their body is a little too dry) If there are up to a dozed commonly found ground level plants in this bunch there is a good chance that the snails will select some or even a few. The soil should be up to 6" deep to facilitate burrowing and this should be dampened from once end to provide a gradient of moisture. A heat mat should be placed in the centre allowing a selection of areas: Cool/dry, cool/damp, warm/dry, warm/damp. I think the ground temperature should be 25C.

I had some success on my return feeding the snails on rabbit food. This was just on a whim but they did show some interest.

I am not a snail expert but the above observations would appear to be logical and sensible deductions from field observations. I also note that their shells seem heavier and thicker than the African snails of similar size. I wonder if this could be an indication (I'm stretching out on a limb here) that they, on occasion, eat roots from below the surface and as a result engorge a high level of mineral through eating soil and grit. If this is so then they may be attracted to such foods as sweet potato or cassava or even ginger root. This might be silly but if diet is a problem these observations may point in a direction you can exploit.

[Moracai]

Great stuff! very informative.

[gabi]

If they are probably eating roots - could that be a reason, why there are never found young megalobulimus? Do they probably live until adulthood underground and eat there the roots? Mmmh

Paul, stay your babies over- or underground most of the time?

[copigeon]

That conflicts with the fact they seem to prefer thinly sliced foodstuffs though... I still wonder what part those mouth "wiskers" play? Or whether that would indicate either way?

[gabi]

But where are then really the babies and young megalobulimus? They can only be somewhere burrowed.
Not sure yet, but hasn´t Paul said short time ago, that his babies eat on all and everything without a problem? Maybe only the adults are eating then leave-things?

Very interesting is that all!

[copigeon]

This is most true, hmm.

[Arno]

Since they seem to spend a lot of time under the soil,maybe they are been used for digging?

[gabi]

Just thought the same, Arno. Or maybe the babies (and adults) can eat better with those "tentacles" enclosing the roots? So no sandy substrate can "flow" back to the roots? Oh my, hard to explain in english, but hope someone is understanding what I am thinking...

[Val]

Mine have shown a liking for sweet potato, I have had quite a bit of orange poo to prove that they are definitely eating this, they also seem to like golden delicious apple which I chopped into small chunks.

Val

[Paul]

All my Megalobulimus now eat a wide range of stuff, including apple, pear, banana, mango, papaya, potato, sweet potato, cabbage, lettuce, plantain, dandelion, hemp and oats. It has taken some time to encourage the adults but the babies are much greedier and adventurous. They tend to leave large lumps nibbled, so I definitely recommend thin slices, I just don't think they have the rasping power of other snails. They tend to have a more conventional mouth, that seems to need get under and over food, as you can see in the following pic:



I slice by simply using a potato peeler and provide peelings. For fleshy fruit I mash it down and they have no problem with this.

At one point, I was worried about the adults limited diet so I withheld food for a few days, and then introduced them to new foods. Once sampled, they seem to more readily accept it and with time they adjust their palate I suppose. The other trick is not to feed favourites for every meal. At least not until they are "trained".

I really do believe snails become very set in their ways diet-wise by the time they reach adulthood.

My young snails eat well and they also rasp cuttlefish bones. My adults don't so I feed them powdered oyster shell, which they go mad for. It is amazing how much snails love oyster shell.

Regarding activity and burrowing behavior, all my snails are active, and it doesn't seem light triggered although activity, like most snails, is mainly at night. Not exclusively, I often see them awake and mooching around during daylight. However, during the day they mostly bury themselves, with the spire of their shell poking out from the top of the substrate. Occasionally they bury deeper but I have found this to be predominantly during periods of dormancy or egg laying. I'm not sure why this dormancy occurs from time to time; conditions haven't changed. I've even observed them drop body size and weight a little through lack of eating. It doesn't seem to last more than two weeks, and doesn't seem to be improved with encouragement or changes of conditions. I've only witnessed this in the WC ones so I put it down to routine, much like their eating habits. They've done this 3 times in the time I have owned them (18 months or so I think) and each time have gone back to normal with no problems.

Laying was totally consistent at one point, with 2 new eggs per snail every week, but again there have been periods of none at all. Recently I found 2 new eggs so I think they are back to laying again. I have tried everything to hatch them and out of probably 30 eggs, in various clutches I've hatched only 2. One in a warm cupboard, the other in the tank where they were laid. I've found a few tiny embryos also. Mostly though, they just remain fluid. I have tried everything imaginable but to no avail. I'm hoping someone will have success because they just happen to have perfect condtions. I think the viability is down to one of two things. The first I suspect is the need for constant and consistent conditions. They probably bury their eggs quite deep and ground temperatures would be more stable than tank conditions. The marginata paper lays tremendous stress on this point, that stablised lab conditions massively improved hatching. However I don't think this is entirely to blame, I would expect to see more embryos if this were solely the case. My WC snails could be very old for all I know, and fertility could well be flagging. I have now put my two babies in with the adults, as the older baby is nearly fully grown with the lip is developing, and the other baby is big enough to cope in the tank. I'm hoping this may spark some fertility. There's also a chance they won't be inbred, since the adults were WC and the babies may not be result of a direct coupling between them. The two babies certainly look quite different with the younger one having a dark head.

That's my observations anyway, I think I'll update the Megalobulimus page with this info, a lot has happened since I wrote it.

[Kevin]

So mega's should be constantly kept at around 25c and very humid? just like with tigers and margies then?

At the moment my ones are at room temperature and seem very active, some are moving around the sides of the container now, they arent only active at night. Ive been told to give them at least 30cm of substrate, for them to bury down into, im not sure if that will be nessasary though? theyre container isnt much taller than that. The snails I received yesterday were sent in very dry conditons, no moisture at all, and all were instantly active, none were retracted.

Has anyone's mega's from zoolab laid any eggs yet? if so, what conditons are you keeping them in?

[zirliz]

Fascinating snails It's odd that no young ones are found I wonder as some of you say if they buried themselves somewhere, I imagine when they're young they've have more predators other than man. I've also read that these are picky snails in terms of not been able to cut food as well as Achatinas, do those wierd featery projections have a purpose? You said they ate rabbit food was that the one with the dried lettuce bits in it?