Does snails take care of it's offsprings?

[vikingsnail]

My two snails (a Fulica and an Iredalei) are trying to mate on a very regular basis - I guess that mean's they're happy and comfortable in their environment, which is good, but I was wondering if they'd get confused/disappointed or something like that as they obviously aren't having any babies?

It's probably a stupid question - but it's every animals instinct to mate and produce offspring - so if there isn't any, do they notice it as a problem?

Renamed - CroSSLeSS

[Gino]

Don't think so. Animals indeed have strong instincts when it comes to mating and protecting their offspring etc. but they surely won't get depressed or something when their mating efforts turn out to be fruitless. Snails in particular haven't the slightest idea of their own biology and what they're doing. They don't know how their mating relates to egg laying and how their egg laying relates to 'getting' young snail babies... which they won't consciously recognize as being theirs anyway.

[vikingsnail]

Hmm, I'd agree with you on the emotion thing - I can't imagine a snail would get an emotional bond with their children, but I'd be surprised if they didn't know the mating process leads to reproduction, or why would they do it? I guess there's gotta be some kind of instinct telling them that they need to mate to carry on their genes, so to speak.

But aslong as they're not getting sad about it...! Hehe

[coyote]

As far as I know, once the eggs are laid, the snail has no further interest in them. So I doubt they have any kind of parenting instincts, especially since the young are self-sufficient from the moment they hatch. They young don't need the parents to survive, so the parents just get on with their own lives -- which undoubtedly include making more baby snails. ;D

[kimikofairy]

lol poor snailies they seem happy enough to try and breed u must be doing something right.