Snail Newbie! Help!

[FluffyTheSnail]

Hey guys! I'm a newbie to this whole snail thing! I have 2, approx 3month old albino african land snails. I picked them up today and they have been kept in a little plastic container. I'm not sure how long they have been kept in there but when I got them out to put them in their new home I found a small, maggot like bug on 'Fluffys' shell and then a small, worm like thing on 'Brains' shell.. I washed them off and haven't seen anything since. Is there anything to worry about or keep an eye out for or am I just being an over protective mum?

Any replies will surely put me as ease!

[Bumblebee]

Odd to find worms on captive born snails =/ (at least I hope they are captive bred xD Think its so stupid to take snails directly from the wild due the risk of extinction )


You could always try and feed them pumpkin seeds, that works a bit like a deworming agent, and try and keep the tank and the snails clean for a couple of days and see if you get rid of the worms.

[lee2211]

Keep an eye on it.
Give them a bath for a couple of days, but don't keep the tank too clean.

Bumblebee, I totaly agree with you, however Fulica are hardly in risk of extinction in the wild. There are actually nogotiations going on to make it ilegal for indeginous tribes to eat Tiger snails due to the risk of exctintion, they're trying to make them eat Fulica instead, saying they have the same nutritional value. Not something I think the tribes worry about.

[coyote]

I agree with the pumpkin seed advice. And I think it's a good thing to keep an eye on your new snails for anything out of the ordinary, just in case. It's better to spot something right away and nip it in the bud, rather than let it get a foothold and become harder to eradicate.

[kanin]

I would agree with the advice you've allready got. As an attempt to put you to ease, I say that you have little reason to worry though.

I would doubt the snails you got would be wild caught as you describe them as very young. And if they where wild caught the seller would most probably announce it as a reason for a higher price.

What you describe seem to me as fruit fly larvae and young earth worms which are quite common in many substrates.
Smaller earth worms and fruit fly larvae living in the substrate has a tendency of hiding underneath or next to the snails shell, like when you turn a rock outdoors.
It's always wise however to deworm and demite newly bought snails as a precaution, especially if you have other snails since earlier.

Hope I've been of help
emil

[FluffyTheSnail]

Thank you all for the advise, it has put me a little more to ease.

I bought them from a highly recommended reptile shop of which they were the eggs of 2 mature ablinos that had previously been bought from the same place.

I have bathed them and kept a close eye and have not seen anymore worm or maggot like things altough I did spot 2 tiny white mite like things which I squished (hope that was the right thing to do) but other then that nothing else.

One more question, for now.. They don't seem to be eating any cuttlefish. I have scrapped some off and sprinkled it on some mango and lettuce and they had a very small amount of it and then left! How much and how often do they eat cuttlefish and everything else for that matter?

[lee2211]

They eat cuttlefish when they need it. And the same with food.
Try different foods with them and sprinkle fish flakes on top, that usually gets them to eat something.
Don't worry about the worms, snails live happily with worms and they keep the compost turned over and aerated, usually tropical worms do better though. There's also a thread on how to get rid of flies. You might want to give that a look. petsnails.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=habitat&action=display&thread=8077

[coyote]

Snails can absorb calcium directly through their foot, so sometimes they sit on the cuttle instead of rasping on it. You could try using liquid calcium or powdered limestone on the substrate and food, just to make sure they cannot avoid coming in contact with it.