|
Post by pinkunicorn on May 19, 2012 9:56:48 GMT
I like the setup with the sticks and the bark! I will steal the bark idea.... I already use plenty of sticks in my boxes. What kind of plants are those? The purplish one looks like a plastic plant, but what is the green one?
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on May 19, 2012 9:25:42 GMT
Oh my. Looks like Mr. Maximus arrived with a few hidden passengers! So far I've found three of them: chocolate brown tiny sluglets. They're about the size of the smaller (but not the smallest) Deroceras sluglets in the picture above, only dark brown. I wonder if they are L. maximus or some Deroceras species! And I dearly hope I didn't damage one... I accidentally squished the second I spotted as I was trying to catch it to move into the baby yoghurt box. It seemed somewhat distressed but moved after. Now there's one choccy sluggy on a piece of spinach that is not putting out eyestalks when prodded... I will check it in a little while again. Sometimes the babes behave like that even if nothing is wrong and I am not sure if this is the one that got almost squished. Maybe it's just in a shock from the transfer and being handled at all. I hope so. In that case it should recover soon.
I will add a photo later, when them choccy sluglets have settled in to their new accommodation.
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on May 18, 2012 20:02:18 GMT
I like your style! Welcome to the world of snails, to.
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on May 18, 2012 19:58:19 GMT
Lovely slimies!
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on May 18, 2012 19:32:02 GMT
A friend brought me a gift. I offered him a tasty dinner of fish food to welcome him to his new home. He seemed to enjoy it, given just how much he ate. Four or five pellets AND a shrimpy thingy! After dinner he explored my hand a bit. Now, he's got a belly full and he's done his post-dinner brisk slime-about, so it's time to find a nice place on the box wall and settle for the night. I put some strawberry, blueberry, tomato and spinach for him to munch on when he wakes up. Blueberries are all the rage in the other slug tank right now, so maybe this little Limax maximus will fancy blueberries as well. He's somewhere between 6 and 8 cm long when not extended, and my friend said that she's seen some HUGE (20cm) slugs in her garden as well... so I assume this individual is still a juvenile, and not a smallish adult. Hopefully he'll grow into a big boy. Just need to find a mate for him. Hmm... looks like he woke up and zoomed for the extra pellets I just put in five minutes ago. He didn't eat all the shrimpy things, but oh yes, there's room for more fish pellets! All my slugs go mental when they just smell these pellets! I also have the third generation of Deroceras invadens hatching now. Sooooo cute! And there's one with a single eyestalk again.
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on May 10, 2012 11:04:21 GMT
Haha, that is funny!
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on May 2, 2012 17:25:39 GMT
I think you should throw a welcome/housewarming party for them. Serve beer and cake (pureed seeds, sweet potato and carrot formed into a cake, layered and decorated preferably).
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on May 2, 2012 8:15:19 GMT
They also secrete several different slimes for different purposes! There's slime to keep moisture locked in, slime to ... well, slime around (which is the thick slime) and slime to make ropes out of, to get down to the ground from a tree branch (super-thick slime). I've also noticed different glue-like slime when the slug is holding on to something and clearly avoiding being removed from that something. I call it panic slime, and it usually ends up in an almost unwashable blob on my finger.
I also think there is a slime for mating, enhanced with special pheromones and used for tracking the prospective mate on the romantic slime-around slugs take before settling for a nice location. It also ends up in a somewhat more watersoluble blob on the terrarium wall when they are done.
Life's a slime when you're a slug.
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on May 2, 2012 7:55:26 GMT
It's about 1cm long, sharp little needle like thing. I've plucked some out after matings from my aspersas. It's made of calcium so usually it dissolves inside the snail's skin after a day or so. It's not fully understood what it is for but the best hypothesis says it has some chemical in it that ensures the sperm from the original owner of the dart will get a preference for fertilising the eggs of the receiver. Apparently the snails try to avoid being hit by the love dart, instead trying to make sure their partner gets a dart. Both (or all, sometimes snails have threesomes) shoot a dart during the courting. I've plucked a dart out of a snail's head often, and I've never seen it cause damage. I guess the risk does exist, but considering just how much these little creatures mate and how succesful they are at growing populations it sounds like leathal damage from a love dart is a freak accident, one in several million matings. Helix aspersa lives for years and breeds several times a year. You can keep them together, it's such a small risk that they get injured. Just remember to freeze/cook the eggs you don't want to grow into babies... else there will be hundreds of hungry little mouths eager to rasp cucumber!
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on May 1, 2012 11:21:14 GMT
Hi! Whilst most talk is about land snails there's folks who keep aquatic snails on the forum, too, so maybe one of them can help you. And, aquatic snails are still snails... why not talk about them too? I get the impression PetSnails gets a bit more traffic than the forum dedicated to aquatics in particular, so it's good you asked here as well.
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on Apr 30, 2012 10:49:37 GMT
If he's not moved at all last night then he most likely slept away. I'm sorry. It makes me think that perhaps his eyes were not eaten but simply had no strenght to put them out. I've seen this happen with my slugs when they die: they might seem normal in the evening but then they slow down and don't put out their eyes anymore, so they look like stumps. Then they die within the day. I just had a very old (for his species) slug pass away yesterday displaying what I described here. It died of old age, but it sounds like your snail was displaying the same "symptoms". It's always hard to know what is wrong with gastropods as we know so little of their illnesses, but it's safe to assume they have health problems equivalent to what humans are known to have.
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on Apr 29, 2012 23:18:26 GMT
That shop sells this species? I need to abuse gTranslate.... I've been drooling at that sluggy, too. Gorgeous. I wonder how it does in captivity?
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on Apr 29, 2012 23:10:34 GMT
SLost eyes normally grow back. I'd suggest separate her for now and monitor her. Give a variety of foods to choose from, especially favourite foods to tempt her to eat. Also good quality fish food for extra protein to help the eye grow back. Could you post a picture of her so we get a better view on the situation? That would help to give more specified advice. Or him... for some reason I read her. Not that it matters tecnically.
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on Apr 27, 2012 21:40:44 GMT
Snails don't have blood like we do, but a fluid that flows freely between cells and tissues instead of blood vessels, carrying nutrients and oxygen to cells. This also reminded me of a blog entry I read a while ago about two slug species fighting! Very interesting (and nice blog too). I can't find theexact post now, my phone's browser is driving me nuts with slowness but the blog is www.mypetslug.com . I thimk there was a link to the fightvideo on page two.
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on Apr 27, 2012 21:31:37 GMT
What's this show in Holland you mention? Sounds relevant to my interests!
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on Apr 26, 2012 22:43:31 GMT
I'd guess it is courting. The only fighting I've seen always results with the attacked animal retreating, thus ending the "fight" in one bite. This with my slugs, Deroceras invadens, which has the most violent courting I've heard of. When courting they bite back, otherwise it's a warning bite which results in the other running always, unless obstructed somehow. With other species that do not hunt their own kind for dinner, never heard of proper fights outside mating.
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on Apr 26, 2012 15:28:38 GMT
Even better if you get a pair after IDing it, but I was thinking if it has some sperm stored from its last mating in the wild... lucky surprise eggs sometimes happen I hear!
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on Apr 26, 2012 14:22:27 GMT
There's runts among all animals, it's part of the natural progress. I've got many little sluglets that probably wouldn't have made it in the wild due to growing slower, but as pets they manage just fine. Glad to hear there's some progress. What's the latest news?
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on Apr 26, 2012 14:07:20 GMT
Not sure of the species, sorry, but it is a lovely slug! I hope it has mated at some point so you maybe get some babies!
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on Apr 26, 2012 13:59:52 GMT
Hello! Hahah, that sounds like me getting into snails again last fall... suddenly there's a few snails in a box and then you're hooked again. I saw your cepeas, cute little things!
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on Apr 26, 2012 13:51:00 GMT
Hello! Lots of Dutch folks all of sudden! I'm an import model, though, don't speak so good Dutch yet.
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on Apr 22, 2012 19:42:04 GMT
I'd suggest give him a wide variety of foods to choose from right now. Lettuce, cucumber, carrot, sweet potato (it keeps well in the fridge so you can keep slicing bits off for a week or even more)... I always give the cores or pits of the fruits I eat to my slimies, which is a bit cheaper in the end and they don't mind one bit as long as there's some fruit flesh to munch. Apples, pears, plums, peaches... And I do the same with whatever veggie bits is left from my cooking: washed potato peels, the ends of haricot vertes and other stringy beans, sugar snap peas, broccoli, cauliflower, anything I eat usually. Very cheap and ensures the slimies get a varied diet and they can choose what they want to eat.
The high-protein fish food is the best option, yeah. The last jar I bought was almost 5 euros for the smallest jar, but I chose it based on the protein content. It's ... I forgot the brand name but the product is Gold Japan, for exotic gold fish in particular. My slugs go absolutely mental over it and even my otherwise very picky aspersas will eat it. I raised about 70 healthy slub babes on this diet and they grew into bigger adults than their parents, and have the next generation incubating already, so it seems to be good.
You could also try raising the temperature of the enclosure a little, by heatmat or putting it in a warmer place until the little guy is in better spirits. Keep humidity at good levels, too. Sometimes this gets them activated.
The eye will grow back, if it was lost in an accident. If he was born with one eye then he'll remain one-eyed. But it shouldn't bother him, especially as a pet when there's no predators around.
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on Apr 22, 2012 18:50:33 GMT
I was also wondering if they're all sold out already? I assume there's no estimate on when the first captive bred generation is going to be available?
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on Apr 20, 2012 22:37:09 GMT
So my itty bitties have grown up to bigger bitties and got their teenage slug hormones whirring like crazy. I've found some ten egg caches so far, from about 70 slugs. Which is great! But one bitty has a problem: his peen is hanging out all the time, it seems he's unable to pull it back in. It's been like this for a few days now, though I really started paying attention yesterday when I saw clearly that no mating was happening. Poor bitty seems able to sleep, as he can pull his head under the mantle somewhat, but I worry it's maybe painful. I'm not sure of eating status, I will offer some favourite food tomorrow and see how he reacts. He is able to move the peen in what appears normal for this species. Has anyone seen this happen and what could be done about it, if anything? (I feel like I'm a mother sending a letter on behalf of her son to a teen magazine's doctor's column... )
|
|
|
Post by pinkunicorn on Apr 16, 2012 14:33:22 GMT
Oh gosh that doesn't sound good. I've a bit of a similar problem with my slug tank. Ever since moving to this house we've had a problem with some type of fruit fly, that doesn't actually come from fruits. But now they have found my tanks and they go in to lay eggs so I've found some maggots (transparent with a black stripe down the body and a dot in the head). I've found one an hour after changing substrate. I actually suspect it hitchhiked along with slug eggs or a piece of lettuce.
I would suggest baking the substrate at 200C for 30mins. Wash any sticks or pots with hot water and a brush/sponge. That gets rid of spores and most bacteria. When it's cool you can moisten it again suitable for the snails.
|
|