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Post by Paul on Jul 1, 2009 0:39:14 GMT
ta, I'll update the link on the site.
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Post by Paul on Jun 30, 2009 21:41:12 GMT
I was just looking on ebay for someone who sells snail mix when I came across the following seller: myworld.ebay.co.uk/ukbugsclub/Now, I'm sure the mixes are good but the following: It ssound pretty outrageous and I'd be very suspicious of claims like that. It seems to be similar to the snail mix you'll find details of on this forum from quite a while ago which stemmed from a discussion between Fredrik and myself, and with input from the owner of Achatinidae.com. The information about better shells was theorised based on nutrients and studies done with various sources of calcium which is published here: www.cipav.org.co/lrrd/lrrd15/5/eben155.htmand the 12% ratio was obtained from Dai Herberts book on Eastern South African snails. Other bits came from information on commercial snail farms and suggestions and discussion here with the deworming and health pumpkin seeds ingredient inspired by all the discussion of worms ages ago. It was an, organic process with inputs from lots of people and it's there for everyone to use or develop further. The 15 year bit also sounds like lies to me. The may have done a mix years ago but I doubt it was similar and I know for certain that you couldn't buy stuff like that on ebay not too long ago though I guess they could be new to ebay rather than snail food. Now, it is possible this person's mixes are very different and have been tested by zoos and snail farms but all I'm saying is, be careful when buying from people who make pretty large claims... it looks to me like lying and underhand methods to sell.
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Post by Paul on Aug 5, 2008 14:48:59 GMT
Hi,
A lady called Sarah contacted me, saying her snail (Achatina fulica), which she kept in isolation from the size of 5 pence piece (and never had contact with another snail) had laid eggs and that the theory of self-fertilsation was correct. I asked her if she was keeping any, because until they hatch we don't know if they are fertile. Unfortunately she hasn't kept them....
Well, it turns out she missed a few and they have hatched. Proof positive that self-fertilisation can and does occur. That's the first time that I have heard of real unequivocable proof.
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Post by Paul on Jul 18, 2008 23:41:55 GMT
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Post by Paul on Jun 28, 2008 14:33:44 GMT
It's my understanding that self-fertilisation is possible, though very rare, for most if not all pulmonate snails.
Until that is determined or proven conclusively one way or another I think it's safer to assume it's possible.
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Post by Paul on Jun 18, 2008 17:49:17 GMT
For those that bear live young, are the eggshells the same as those that are laid in the soil? If so, what happens to the eggshells inside the parent snail when the babies hatch? Do the eggshells get expelled or reabsorbed? I would think that in the interests of conserving calcium, the eggshells would get reabsorbed, but I'm just guessing. I have no idea, but it seems to me that if baby snails eat the egg albumen and shell when they've been laid, they'd do the same inside the parent.
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Post by Paul on Jun 17, 2008 3:01:25 GMT
Achatina iredalei also wouldnt be able to hybridise with any other Achatina species, as they are livebearers. I just wanted to clarify that I don't think this is the case, in that I don't think the feature of livebearing would be a biological barrier. Snails can hold eggs internally and wait for the best time to lay. We see this with hatching times in some cases being as low as 24 hours. The eggs have developed for longer internally. Achatina zebra, also known for their ovoviparity can also lay the eggs, further indicating the lack of major biological difference. If iredalei did manage to hybridise I think some of the resulting offspring would have a predisposition to lay and some would have a predisposition to hatch internally depending on what genes they inherit. It would be interesting to see some actual results in this crossbreeding area. The trouble is with self-fertilisation being a possibility the only way to know for sure that offspring were hybrids would be through dissection and study of the vans deferens unless... two physically distinct specimens were bred, so the resulting offspring would be obviously sporting characterstics of both. As the specimens would have to be separated from other snails and kept together from a young age, any experiment of this nature would be a slow one. Determining the result of a fulica x immaculata pairing would be much more difficult than a reticulata x immaculata pairing but unfortunately probably more likely because of similarity (I'm guessing here based on outward appearance, it could well be the case that reticulata are more similar sexually. Either way, you get the point). I was once told of a clutch of A. achatina x A. fulica crossbreeds but based on my subsequent discovery that beyond forums like this one most people easily mistake one species for the other, I have no faith that there was any truth in it. I've been kind of hoping that someone would happen on this accidently through keeping one each of two or more species of snails together. But so far, although we've seen mating, we've been told by malacologists that it's perfectly possible for some combinations and we've heard some anecdotal evidence of hybridising, I think it's fair to say we've not seen any concrete evidence, although it's possible I've missed or forgotten some cases.
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Post by Paul on Jun 9, 2008 23:04:10 GMT
I'm in the middle of writing about my experiences with tank plants, I've been doing some experimentation. Watch this space...
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Post by Paul on Jun 6, 2008 12:20:18 GMT
We have another new moderator.... Kevin
Thanks for agreeing to come onboard!
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Post by Paul on Jun 5, 2008 16:23:01 GMT
A lot of people say that thin layers of substrate help prevent laying. There is some logic to that, in that snails can wait until conditions are right to lay. Whether that delay is before the eggs are formed or after is debatable. Also, some snails don't even burrow to lay. I don't think it's reason enough to withhold deep substrate.
Snails like to burrow to hide and probably to stay away from the sun. Not all do though, I've had snails that prefer to hide in a plant pot rather than burrow. Snails are pretty adaptable and it depends on the species I guess. African snails definitely do like to burrow more than European ones.
So, if you can, provide enough for them to bury themselves completely. At the very least it will make them feel safe. If for some reason that isn't doable you could provide more depth at one end in sort of a slope.
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Post by Paul on Jun 5, 2008 1:39:53 GMT
I've been sorting a few things out since my hiatus, and we've decided to appoint Erica, known to everyone as Coyote as a new moderator.
So, I'd like to welcome her to the team and thank her for agreeing to join.
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Post by Paul on Jun 5, 2008 1:34:51 GMT
I guess it would diminish the calcium. There are two issues here I suppose. The first is these "test" eggs and the second is laying a sterile clutch. Speaking to the former, I've seen snails lay a solitary egg or a few before laying properly. In fact, 4 or 5 days ago one of my Helix pomatia laid 3 eggs on the surface of the soil. They seemed slightly baggy. I covered them but I doubt they will hatch. Today I've noticed the same snail burrowing to lay eggs. I've heard other reports of it but I have no idea why it happens. It may be a biological necessity to prepare the body for egg creation and laying. Perhaps by sacrificing a few sterile or incomplete eggs, it stops otherwise fertile eggs from being damaged by the body. Perhaps the eggs help open up the pathway for the eggs.
As for sterile clutches, we have many reports of snails laying clutches that don't hatch. That could be mistaken for situations where conditions prevent hatching but the same people report hatching clutches weeks or months later. And we also know that old snails still lay eggs but the viability drops.
As we know, snails are vigorous breeders and I wonder if their hormones are so strong they literally make the snail try without fertilising or even by self-fertilising in rare cases. It's documented that snails can take and store sperm from multiple partners and then choose which to fertilise the eggs with so there is a certain amount of a "conscious" process to it. By that I mean, snails seem to have more control over this than other animals. I wonder if it's this fact that allows them to try if you like, rather than it being a completely automatic process like it would be for a female mammal who's just been fertilised.
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Post by Paul on Jun 5, 2008 1:21:14 GMT
yep, that's basically it
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Post by Paul on Jun 4, 2008 18:39:50 GMT
Increased humidity does increase activity, I just think it allows bacteria to flourish. Allowing it to dry should kill some of them off. That's the theory anyway. You can always cover the top of the tank at night, to help increase humidity temporarily so they have a full night of activity. Allowing the tank to dry periodically should also help inhibit the worms.
This is what I'm doing anyway and so far so good...
I just used worms from the garden. Just put them in a bucket of cold water to clean them and then pick them out. You don't need that many I wouldn't have thought, unless you are prepared to account for them in your food amounts.
I have maybe 20-25 small to medium sized ones (3-5 inches) in a 3 foot tank that has 4 inches of soil in it. It's hard to advise how many is the correct amount, just don't put loads and loads in or your food dish will be swamped with them after dark.
Also, when you remove old food, just check your dish for worms, I usually find 1 or 2 under some food. Otherwise you'll end up throwing them out.
if you can't find any at this time of year, go to a fishing shop. I've also bought them from there, at about £1.50 a tub.
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Post by Paul on Jun 4, 2008 18:03:49 GMT
I wanted to add that I don't see my ventilation/humidity comments as a cure, but rather a preventative measure.
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Post by Paul on Jun 4, 2008 17:20:16 GMT
Snails can self-fertilise...
Also, they can store sperm for 18 months or even longer so if it's been near another snail a while back that may explain it.
Sometimes they lay "test" eggs (usually sterile) before they lay a full clutch so what has happened isn't unusual.
It may proceed to lay a clutch that could either be sterile or fertile.
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Post by Paul on Jun 4, 2008 16:53:17 GMT
Further to that, mixing subgenera should be ok. So you can mix Achatina achatina with Achatina fulica, because the former is subgenus achatina and the latter is subgenus lissachatina.
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Post by Paul on Jun 4, 2008 16:41:23 GMT
you may have missed this earlier in the thread, it doesn't exactly answer your question but... petsnails.proboards3.com/index.cgi?board=habitat&action=display&n=1&thread=4769The only way to guarantee no crossbreeding is to keep snails of differemt genera together such as Archachatina with Achatina. The problem is that optimal conditions for one may not be for the other. West African Achatinas like Achatina achatina do well with Archachatina, probably because they come from the same region. East african Achatina like fulica and immaculata MAY need slightly drier, cooler conditions than West African Archachatina. I emphasise may because fulica for example are considered invasive and seem to manage to survive all over Africa.
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Post by Paul on Jun 4, 2008 12:03:08 GMT
They look like Achatina fulica to me. It'll be easier to tell when they are older and bigger.
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Post by Paul on Jun 3, 2008 16:07:58 GMT
It's been taken off, and so has a post of mine about the same problem.
There was an electrical fault, possibly a fire at one of their data centres. This and other forums were restored from backups 5-6 weeks old so posts and new members were temporarily deleted. They said they'd have everything working in the next few days which they seems to have managed.
The only problem is that I've noticed my post about this subject has been clobbered with the new backup restoration, so there may be other posts missing also.
Hopefully normal service has been restored.
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Post by Paul on Jun 3, 2008 14:12:18 GMT
The worms sound like nematodes. They are present everywhere and seem to get trapped in the mucus of the snail. I think a lot can bother snails but I doubt they are parasitic. You can get parasitic nematodes but whenever I've seen them in relation to snails they are usually in the food dish eating the food. Nematodes don't have segmented bodies like grindal and earthworms etc. They are probably impossible to get rid of completely. You can lower their numbers by doing the following: Lower humidity. keep food in a food dish. Change food regularly. Put food in in the evening, remove in the morning. Try to keep one end of the tank slightly drier and place your food dish there. Keep earthworms in your tank. These compete with nematodes. Hypoaspis miles predatory mites will eat nematodes. They would keep number down slightly and hopefully would pick them off your snails' bodies. I don't think the illness is related directly to nematodes. I have seen this illness a number of times and for all I know each time could have a completely different cause. I'm sorry to say, I have never seen a cure but... My latest thinking is that it is caused/aggravated by too consistently high humidity. I think you need fluctuations in the tank. I've recently overhauled my set up and what I've done is to create a lid using a wooden frame with chiffon stretched over it. Apart from keeping out flies it has the effect of having no lid. I spray in the evening quite heavily and during the course of the day this evaporates quite quickly. I miss a day's spraying every so often to allow it to dry out further. It is too early to tell but I'm hoping this approach will prevent this deep retraction problem. Humidity and heat breeds bugs, particularly without good ventilation. We don't have wind in our tanks so it's hard to maintain freshness. I think the illness is a bit like a cold or flu. Dryness will kill some of these bugs off. It also simulates wild conditions better. We assume that tank conditions are better because you can maintain an optimal environment without all the fluctuations that force snails to aestivate etc. I currently believe these fluctuations are beneficial. I hope that is some food for thought...
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Post by Paul on Jun 3, 2008 14:00:08 GMT
I always go off adult size, but if you're willing to keep moving up in size of tanks as they grow or split them into more tanks your philosophy sounds fine. I wrote a calculator to attempt to answer the question: www.petsnails.co.uk/snail_calc.php
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Post by Paul on May 31, 2008 3:18:37 GMT
Basically, I completely submerged the woodlice for a few seconds.
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Post by Paul on May 31, 2008 3:17:41 GMT
I hadn't noticed the search facilities had stopped working.
proboards stopped the same search running twice so I had to generate a random number and search for a e i o u or the number to get it working.
Apparently, they now filter out words less than 4 characters so it stopped working.
Luckily you can now search for nothing and duplicate searches seem to be allowed so I've fixed it. Let me know if there are any problems.
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Post by Paul on May 31, 2008 3:06:05 GMT
Try crushed oyster shell. My snails seem to instinctively know what it is far more than cuttlefish and make a beeline for it when I put it in the tank. They will lie in it and ingest it. Every species I've kept prefers it over cuttlefish and limestone.
Snails in the wild probably do get by with just getting calcium from plants, although the probably encounter skeletal remains and get extra from bones. But the thing is, snails in the wild often have shells that are up to 4 times thinner than captive snails. Having plenty of calcium on hand can only be a good thing.
Sometimes snails need training. The idea of sprinkling it on food is a good one, that may make them realise what it is.
You can mix it up with porridge, hemp etc. but if you do be sure not to mix too much up. 10-15% is about right. Any more and it can cause calcium deposits internally, a little like gallstones or kidney stones in humans.
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