Oxychilus predatory?

[Paul]

Quick question...

I have a population of Oxychilus in my garden/yard. I placed 10 of my pomatia babies in the garden. I attempt to check on them each day and I have since found 3 empty pomatia shells within roughly a week of putting them out there. In 2 cases I found an Oxychilus near the shell, one of them actually having it's head inside the shell.

Helix aspersa and Cepaea nemoralis seem to do just fine. I don't find many of their empty shells so it could simply be natural deaths and they're scavenging. I know they are more detritus eaters than vegetation eaters, but it's made me wonder if they are sometimes predatory.

Does anyone know?

[slimeaddict]

I did find this link which does suggest so, but it doesn't mention other snails.

digilander.libero.it/enrlana/e_oxyc.htm

[Carolyne]

Yes, all snails of genus Oxychilus are predators (Are malacophagus landsnails, but also they can kill other invertebrates). Regards.

[Paul]

Thanks!

I moved some Helix aspersa out of the garden to another location to give the pomatia a chance. I guess I never noticed before when there were so many snails.

Luckily they are isolated to one particular corner where there is a flower bed built in and they tend to congregate under trailing alpines. I'm not gonna give up, other snails thrive in that particular place so I guess once a population is established they'll do the same. I'll keep them separate for now to give them chance to grow larger, which I guess would deter the Oxychilus.

My yard is such a prolific snail hatchery, my plan was to allow them to naturally breed and thrive in the garden. There aren't too many populations of pomatia bred in the UK and I thought it would allow me to do it on a larger scale than in a tank. Plus, with them being cited by DEFRA as a threatened species due to over-collection and non-invasive due to their longer breeding cycle and smaller egg clutches, I reckon it'd be nice to have a safe-haven for a little colony, even if they are isolated.

Maybe I'll move the Oxychilus to another location. It sounds from that link they'll survive anywhere damp and dark with plenty of insects around so it shouldn't be hard to find a suitable location. I was hoping to let them stay, they seem to be fairly hard to find in the north of England. I've certainly never come across them in the wild, and I spent my childhood rummaging around for inverts. I always figured they'd hitched a ride from down south on plants I buy from time to time. Snail populations have exploded up north over the last few years so maybe there are more than I think.

[Carolyne]

Is a good idea can you take a small population and you observe diary in a terrarium, because you will take notes for future references (I made this with Caracollina lenticula group).

[Paul]

Do you mean the Oxychilus, because I already keep Helix pomatia in tanks?

I did once attempt to keep some Oxychilus indoors, but I gave up and put them back because they didn't eat what I offered them.

[Carolyne]

I said that in a separate terrarium (specific Terrarium). Secure it didn't want to eat that you have offered to them? , You have testing with formulated dry food for snails (Flour for example) ?.

[donovanbyrd]

i keep adult snails the size of my thumb nail

[kamunyak]

but does the Oxychilus prey on other species of Oxychilus?

[coyote]

I've seen 2 of my adult garlic snails attack each other.

[whodoesntlovesnails]

May 24, 2008 19:45:56 GMT coyote said:

I've seen 2 of my adult garlic snails attack each other.

i had my biggest garlic snail eat my 2 baby garlic snails

[coyote]

I always wondered if the adults would eat young ones. I've been keeping my youngsters in a separate tank, as much as possible.

I've also wondered if adults would eat unhatched eggs, if they couldn't find anything else to eat.

[kamunyak]

actually I had been keeping my younguns in the same terrarium, they seem to be doing fine mingling with the adults.......but should I seperate them anyway?

[Rachel]

i would just in case

[kamunyak]

will do captain ; )