Caz
Achatina fulica
Posts: 4
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Post by Caz on May 2, 2010 20:50:52 GMT
Has anyone ever painted their snails? With acrylic or similar. I've seen several pictures on the net. Do you think it would harm them? Here's some pictures I found - What do you think, forum?
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Post by crossless on May 2, 2010 23:11:22 GMT
I Think there's not point to paint. Example when snail is baby and starts to thicken up shell color might get stuck inside of shell when it starts to be thicker. When snail is smoothing it shell it might eat nail polish too. Nail polish should not be eaten so what happens to animal that it's really sensitive to chemicals? I have told many people that it's pointless to mark baby snails when their shell coloring progress is not even started. Like I have noticed that a. fulica babies get full color to shell after like 4 to 6months age at least. If you need really need mark like you have some kind of foster home and you have to keep snails with your own pet snails. I would color only tip of the shell or under the shell so that part that touches most on surfaces it would at the end make it vanish faster if you dont need to have markings for long time. I painted marks with "dry" brush of nail polish so not much paint would be even used so it will after time vanish so it would not be to permanent mark. It took for my snails like 2 to 3months when I stopped adding color to vanishing marks to get it off naturally with out more chemicals. If you would need to mark babies as you name them with names like most breeders do. I would just separate them to groups so that on different day of hatching would be different group in diffenrent baby tube. And names would go randomly based on reservations so like list of names some one says "aww so cute names.. Hmm.. ok I'll take Edward and Edna" and then I would just pick on posting day the biggest and strongest ones to packet and give some birth certificate with them. So there is no need for naming everyone based on bright screaming color markings just picking randomly nicest snails and send to who ever wants them and with names he/she has chosen. I like my snails to look natural not some stupid paint on them. And there's really no point of marking really small species that all of them looks the same and they live in huge groups that you would not even try to name them because there so many look a likes anyways like example Subulina Octona is only 1cm shell length as adult i think it would drown to if you even try to little bit give them some color. lol.
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Post by Bumblebee on May 3, 2010 7:01:35 GMT
I would personally never paint my snails due to the risks. As crossless said, the snails might want to clean their shells and then they ingest the color, even if it is dried I don't think it is very healthy. I also think it looks unatural and ugly I don't even understand why some people mark snails so they are easy to separate My Bailey and Smirnoff looks exactly the same but I don't really care much about me mixing up their names, i like them just as much as my two retics that I easily can tell apart due to there being a size difference between them.
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coyote
Archachatina papyracea
Cochleas ego amo
Posts: 2,955
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Post by coyote on May 3, 2010 19:19:42 GMT
The outer part of a snail's shell is a thin membrane-like organic layer called the periostracum. It is constantly growing as new shell is made. I would be very wary of putting any substance onto such a layer.
There are almost always subtle differences in shell patterning or coloration that can help distinguish one snail from another, if one can look closely enough.
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Post by glittersniffer on May 4, 2010 10:48:09 GMT
I would love if i could gem my snail up.
They would be BEAUTIFUL! But i wouldnt obviously because they would rasp on bits probably. The putting onto the shell i don't think would disturb the snail as long as you arent holding them with your fingers and painting it on. It wouldnt be that different to stroking them.
But its the fact that its they rasp their shell and a lot of dyes would be toxic
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aerliss
Achatina immaculata
Posts: 281
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Post by aerliss on May 9, 2010 18:47:21 GMT
I don't think there's anything wrong with a person wanting to a) make distinguishing each and every snail (even little groves and milk snails) easier and b) jazz up their snails' shells... some people like to personalise EVERYTHING. It's all just personal preference. The only problem is the toxicity issue; will it cause harm to the snail through the thin membrane that covers the shells and will they eat it? I've only ever seen my boys smoothing out the very edges of their shells near the aperture. Also, on his shell repair page, Paul recommends using nail varnish to give the plaster of Paris a water proof coating; www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/broken_shell.html#repairarticleSo er... *shrug*
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Post by crossless on May 9, 2010 22:21:50 GMT
Yeh, I have read some experiences of shell repairing I came to outcome that it's not wise many bacterias can go inside of shell while repairing it no matter how clean you try to be snail might get infection and die. So I decided that if sometime snail broke it shell I give it time to heal if don't heal and it gets worse it's better put it to sleep then. Then I have noticed some people marks snails really near to shell edge or so near that they can reach to it with radula. I have named my snails, but i don't mind if i sometimes little bit remember their names wrong it's not end of the world. One thing I notice too that some person marked snails a. aspersa with rubber band only though inmy head was if it gets stuck or breaks and if snails try to eat them..
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Post by graemepryce on Aug 15, 2012 19:08:48 GMT
If you really want to put some colour onto a snail shell I think I have a solution. If you use food colouring from a supermarket it will dye the shells and not harm them no matter how much they ingest. I wouldn't be surprised if you end up with snails with dyed skin, colouring all over their tank and tank furniture and on your hands though.
Colouring snails is like dressing up dogs. It's ok for a special occasion or a comedy photoshoot or something but in general I think they will be happier and more beautiful as nature intended them.
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Post by brunni on Aug 17, 2012 18:04:40 GMT
I agree with graemepryce : I think they will be happier and more beautiful as nature intended them. i.e. no artifical coloring. Shell : painting an entire shell is gross. Marking a shell with a small amount of color ( we discussed nail varnish on the Forum in the past ) is OK, if its for a good reason. Animal : There has been a fascination with albino animals, once a rare but natural phenomenon. But see what maggot breeders can achieve : They raise a host of different colored animals for sale as fishing bait by mixing feed with various pigments ! Lets just keep our snails with their natural colors !
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Post by pinkunicorn on Aug 17, 2012 19:18:06 GMT
Wow, is that done with artificial food dyes in the feed or how?
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Post by prowljazz on Aug 18, 2012 8:59:57 GMT
I Marked Ghost With Nail Varnish... But that Was on The Most End Part of the Shell and That was ONLY beacuse He Looked Slitely {Spelling?} Different from the others from the Get Go....
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Post by brunni on Aug 20, 2012 17:52:08 GMT
@ pinkunicorn : Guess the maggots receive massive amounts of pigment/dye ( no idea if natural or synthetic ) in their feed just b4 they're sold. @ prowljazz : yep, remember your post about the nail varnish mark at the tip of your snail's shell
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Post by vallery on Aug 21, 2012 8:25:00 GMT
There is a natural dye called procion dye which they use to find leaks in dams. That might be okay. vallery
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Post by wibblywobblytimeywimey on Nov 17, 2012 19:01:39 GMT
When I get my snails, I will mark them using some teensy bracelets. I'll use elastic and then put their names on the beads before actually placing it over the shell and tightening it ever so slightly, to make sure I don't crack the shell. See if it works with you, to mark your snails.
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Post by morningcoffee on Nov 18, 2012 15:29:27 GMT
When I get my snails, I will mark them using some teensy bracelets. I'll use elastic and then put their names on the beads before actually placing it over the shell and tightening it ever so slightly, to make sure I don't crack the shell. See if it works with you, to mark your snails. This is a sweet idea, but I'm not sure if it would work too well - the "bracelets" would be fairly likely to come off, especially if the elastic perished over time or due to the dampness/humidity of the tank. You could also cause damage to new shell growth depending on where you put the beads. Additionally, the snails are quite likely to try to rasp the beads/elastic which could be potentially harmful for them to ingest. Snails are lovely as they are, and often have unique markings or characteristics that let you identify them or tell them apart. They don't need jewellery
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Post by vallery on Jan 20, 2013 18:30:19 GMT
I agree, I don't think snails should be painted or jeweled up and I find they are beautiful just as they are. If someone has a difficult time identifying their snails because they look similar I did see a thread once were someone had just put a very tiny spot of color on the shells so they knew which one is which. I feel that would be okay if what they use is not harmful if that snail or another snail sliding on to the painted area ingests the paint that is used. I guess you would need to be very careful in what you pick to use to mark them. I have seen that people paint hermit crab shells I am not sure how this effects them.
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Post by orbiculariae on Aug 28, 2013 17:12:06 GMT
Vallery, with hermit crabs it's different because they aren't born with shells, they just salvage shells from other animals all the time. I don't believe they groom their shells like snails do either
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Post by vallery on Aug 29, 2013 3:04:19 GMT
Thank You orbiculoria , That's interesting . I saw a show on Telly once and a crab had actually used a coke can as a shell. vallery
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Dumbledore
Achatina immaculata
#heavily caffeinated
Posts: 251
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Post by Dumbledore on Sept 28, 2013 13:56:13 GMT
Weird... O.O You could offer a hermit crab a glass or clear plastic shell... that would be cool...
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Cashell
Archachatina puylaerti
Posts: 1,124
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Post by Cashell on Sept 28, 2013 19:43:03 GMT
I'd never paint my snails per se, but I do mark some of my snails with pencil crayons for identification purposes only.
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Dumbledore
Achatina immaculata
#heavily caffeinated
Posts: 251
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Post by Dumbledore on Sept 28, 2013 21:20:23 GMT
My snails don't care if they get mixed up.
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Post by muddydragon on Sept 29, 2013 8:31:28 GMT
I've found most snails have sufficient differences in shell pattern to be told apart without the need for making any identifying marks on their shells
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Post by malacophile on Sept 30, 2013 0:14:15 GMT
I still can't tell mine apart most of the time because they're always covered in dirt.
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