Are Blondes difficult to keep?

[felix93]

www.petsnails.proboards3.com/index.cgi?board=problems&action=display&n=1&thread=1713

I read the thread above, so are they hard to keep? I was given 2 "achatina dimidiata" this week from a friend. She has some babies and asked if I would like to have a couple from her. It just happened that when I was talking to her about the GALS that I got for my little one for his Christmas and she told me she has some baby dimidiatas.

I am pretty worried when I read the mentioned thread yesterday, and it seems there are lots of problems with these species. I am a bit lost as I don't know what to expect. My friend's adults seem healthy and pretty active when I saw them. I have not asked her where she got her GALS from as she has way too many different species. I did not even know she has that many until I mentioned that I got some. So do these dmimdiatas need different way to look after?

[section8angel]

Well there's some of us with no problems then others with lots of them. So we can't all really say, yes they are difficult to keep, but I think the majority might?
There are also more threads than that one if you want anymore info about the problems.

Kevin has some beautiful ones, and I'm sure someone else has some too (I can't remember lol).
Mine are "ok" - They're not growing as fast as my other snails, but they are eating and are active. They're shells also -look- slightly rough but are smooth to the touch and don't look like the "ill" ones that have been shown.

I've found my dimis like it really wet like my margies do, but apart from that I'm keeping them the same way as my others.

I don't really know what to advise. It's your choice if you do or don't get them obviously, but you should be prepared because you might lose them. On the other hand they could be fine and live to be healthy adults like their parents.

[LisaLQ]

I have fulicas, margies, dimis and a reticulata. My dimis have had problems since the word go, and haven't grown much at all (since September - my smallest is about the size of a 1p coin). I'm positive though that it's not all dimis that have problems, but they definitely do seem to be harder to keep, as there's a lot of folks having the same or similar problems with their dimis or immacs.

[Deleted]

i've had 9 immaculata (dimidiata) in my snail-keeping time and all have been difficult to keep. 6 have died, 1 i dunno about and the 2 ive got at the moment are ok but arent growing much. the ones that died just didnt grow, and werent very active...

[felix93]

The 2 baby dimis were given to me this week, so there's no turning back now. They seem pretty active, same as my fulicas but they live in a different tank. So will have to see.

Fingers crossed. I will take some pics of them soon.

*Preparing myself for the worst! *

[sezzy5889]

You still want the fulica don't you?

My dimi's stopped growing when they reached 3cm although i moved them into a much much warmer tank and a little damper and one of them has grown half a cm in 4 days.

My theory is that there aren't enough dimi's being kept in the UK from completely different bloodlines, people have bred them sold them out then they have been bred and sold out and that there are too many from the same families and inbreeding is taking place, it's different with tigers, margies, fulica because they are being imported all the time so are introducing new bloodline, but you never hear of dimidiata being imported do you?
Thats my theory anyway, not saying it's true.

[felix93]

sezzy5889 said:

You still want the fulica don't you?

Oh yes I still want your babies. ;D 2 hopefully they are slightly bigger and be able to come and live with me soon, and 2 from the lot you just have the black shell Daddy. I am still waiting patiently (getting impatient and praying for the weather to get warmer in fact!). Don't worry. ;D

I don't really talk to my friend about GALS in the past, I don't even know she has that many. We are closed but we usually just talk about anything but snails until I have mine and mentioned that to her. I think most of her GALS are from bought from websites. I know she does not use ebay, so that is for sure she did not have any snails from ebay sellers. Anyway, I will see how mine goes, just praying they will be okay.

[Val]

Well, I seem to be one of the lucky ones as I have had no problems at all with my dimis. They are growing really well, eat well are very active if I spray them or get them out. I find that they do like it fairly wet and also quite warm, I have their heat mat on all the time. I think it must depend to some extend on how healthy they are as babies. While they are tiny, wake them up to eat every day when you put the food in.

Val

[felix93]

Thanks Val

I wake all my snails up every afternoon, because I NEED to make sure (know) they are still alive. They can go back to sleep once I know they are okay. LOL. But I think when I wake them up, they tend to "claw" around and start to eat, not just bury themselves straight away. I have not put the heat mat on because I don't want to "roast" them alive. The house is pretty warm, so hopefully they are okay.

[snailywaily]

I have 3 Blondes and had them about 5 months now. Ive found them easy to keep, just as easy as the Fulica. Although one has began sealing its shell on and off recently (but then so is one of my Margies so that may not be Blonde specific!).

Mine dont seem to have grown that much, but they all seem pretty healthy and the other 2 are nice and active.

I bought mine from Virginia Cheeseman

[LisaLQ]

How big are yours now Snailywaily?

[Deleted]

sezzy5889 said:

My theory is that there aren't enough dimi's being kept in the UK from completely different bloodlines, people have bred them sold them out then they have been bred and sold out and that there are too many from the same families and inbreeding is taking place, it's different with tigers, margies, fulica because they are being imported all the time so are introducing new bloodline, but you never hear of dimidiata being imported do you?
Thats my theory anyway, not saying it's true.

I doubt it, the ones I had from anneth had the bad symptoms, and i think they were bred from wild-caught ones...