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Post by Liguus on Mar 21, 2020 2:22:31 GMT
Just FYI since I don't follow your posts and don't know if it's been brought up, but wanted to mention this: you are feeding it a high protein diet and other snails/slugs/worms right? This is a Haplotrema species and won't do well on a standard snail diet of fruit and veg. It must be supplemented.
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Post by Liguus on Mar 20, 2020 16:38:29 GMT
I would leave it. It's not really a problem and the darts are designed to stick around for a while. It will naturally fall out within a few days, and I fear that trying to remove it yourself may cause more damage to the snail if it starts retracting.
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Post by Liguus on Mar 20, 2020 16:35:52 GMT
For a young Cornu aspersum raised in captivity I would put it's life expectancy at about 3 years. Even 5 years is possible in optimal conditions. It shouldn't be near the end of it's life, likely just has it's shell worn down a bit. With a good diverse diet it should be fine.
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Post by Liguus on Mar 6, 2020 16:29:54 GMT
Helix pomatia are a bit different than other snails in that they prefer to have lots of room. I would aim for 3-5 gallons per pom. For 2 adult H. pomatia I would provide at least 10 gallons of room. 15 gallons would be perfect.
You don't need to clean very often at all. They need to have beneficial bacteria in the soil for their gut health so only do partial soil changes every few months. You can also just remove any waste you see on the top of the soil, then occasionally stir the soil layer around. The bacteria will break down the waste eventually. For the glass - you can just wipe it with some moist paper towel whenever you feel it's too dirty.
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Post by Liguus on Feb 24, 2020 2:27:19 GMT
Copper is toxic, but it will not kill them if they touch it. They would have to ingest copper for that to happen, and the copper tape barriers rely more on the electron properties of the tape to give the snails a shock as it tries to move across a copper barrier.
The pine mulch is about as safe and natural of a slug repellent that you can get. It's not going to kill them, but they will avoid interacting with it if it has a decent amount of volatile oils in it. Some say it may not even be enough to keep them away, but this is an observation of what a see naturally occurring and how pine forests have very little mollusk activity so in terms of a natural and safe solution this is probably one of your only options.
You could also set up an electrical fence perimeter if you don't mind shocking them. One guy on youtube made one with some wire and a 9V battery but you kind of have to have a raised bed where you can attach it firmly around the wooden walls and not just have wires uneven on the soil.
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Post by Liguus on Feb 23, 2020 18:46:26 GMT
Pine needles should work. Snails don't like the resins in them and its one reason why there aren't many snails found in forests with a lot of pine trees around. It's not something that I see available at stores, but if you find big pine trees in your area you can just rake up the fallen needles. They don't need to be green/fresh.
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Post by Liguus on Feb 21, 2020 16:29:25 GMT
I do have some crushed oyster shell that my snails love, but I was hesitant to add that to the distilled water because I thought that the snails wouldn't be able to regulate their intake of calcium then. But I may be wrong about that concern. The quantity it would take to neutralize the water shouldn't be too high, and a trace amount of calcium in the water shouldn't cause any issues with them taking in too much calcium. I like littlegoldsnail's comment though as well. The water conditioner should make the water safe and it's used on many aquariums that include snails.
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Post by Liguus on Feb 20, 2020 17:41:49 GMT
I have also started to use tap water just sent through a Brita jug.
Before I was using distilled water, but as you mention it can pose problems for the shell if it turns acidic. My original line of thinking was that rain water is essentially distilled water, so it should be fine, but not everything in nature is "perfect" or how we would want it to be and plenty of snails get old weathered shells.
Also if you did want to keep using the same water you could just simply buffer it by adding some calcium powder, perhaps even oyster grit. The ratios/time to get it back to neutral will vary, so if you chose to do this I would recommend getting a meter that can read the pH of the water.
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Post by Liguus on Feb 13, 2020 17:06:57 GMT
Hard to tell without more detailed pics but I think you are correct. It's not a young Monadenia, but definitely looks like a Vespericola.
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Post by Liguus on Jan 29, 2020 16:41:16 GMT
ok, it's not one of the "micro-snails" but still something that won't grow too big. I agree, it looks to be half grown, but also because of this hard to ID down to species with any certainty. It could be an juvenile Oxychilus, juv Patera, juv Triodopsis, maybe even a jug Mesodon.
It will grow bigger, but not much, about triple in size at most.
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Post by Liguus on Jan 28, 2020 22:32:27 GMT
Hard to tell for sure without a picture, but your description sounds like its a fully grown snail. There are quite a few tiny snails and they hitch rides on moss frequently. I have seen them before when I used to collect moss for terrarium and in plant groups who found them in their potted plants. The number of whorls is a good indicator if how old they are as you mention. If its only got 1 or two full whorls, its a juvenile, but if you are counting 5 or 6+ whorls it's a adult. I forgot all the names of the tiny species but a good example of fully grown snails that are still super tiny is Helicodiscus, about 4 to 5 mm when fully grown. I believe yours may be a different but also common "micro-snail" but I'm forgetting it's name right now...
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Post by Liguus on Jan 28, 2020 22:23:34 GMT
You just have to play with the setting until you get it to pump out the vapor so it's just enough to keep it moist, but not enough to flood the terrarium. Live plants help a lot since they will use the water in the substrate, but of course in that case you need to buy lights for the plants.
In my opinion, and in my experience, you can still regulate a humidifier/fogger to a perfectly acceptable level, as the plants are more of a side benefit than a necessary step to prevent flooding.
Often I will turn my dial to the lowest setting, and it works well enough to not flood anything. Of course the lid you have will make a big difference. If its a more open terrarium like an ExoTerra the airflow will help dry out the humidity from the soil. You may think this is counter productive (not having any kind of lid to keep humidity trapped), but the added air circulation is a big benefit for snails, and since the fogger is running anyways you don't need to worry about humidity loss. That's how I like to run my terrariums if I use a fogger. It stays on all night circulating through the tank along with the air flow coming in from the big top screen and side screen, and then it stays off for a large portion of the day for the tank to dry out a bit and for the plants to take up some water one the light are on, and while the snails wouldn't normally be active anyways.
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Post by Liguus on Jan 15, 2020 23:37:01 GMT
I would just mix it in. The limestone flour will work faster, but I have also used crushed oyster shells in my substrate mix.
The pH doesn't have to be anything crazy, just neutral or slightly above neutral. I would aim for a 7 or 8.
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Post by Liguus on Jan 10, 2020 20:01:09 GMT
Yeah, since this is on the older part of the shell it's a natural wearing away of the periostracum layer. Happens to older snails. There is nothing you can do to repair it, however you can possibly prevent it from getting any worse. In a lot of cases I suspect the substrates used can turn acidic and if they are neutralized with something like limestone flour or crushed oyster shell it will be less likely to wear away at the shell.
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Post by Liguus on Jan 8, 2020 16:07:43 GMT
If it's Helix asperse then releasing it would not be a big deal, however if my ID of cantareus aperta is correct (and I'm fairly confident in it) then there may be a problem releasing it in Tel Aviv. From what I see this species isn't native to that region, nor has there been much record of it there, so it could potentially be a risk in terms of invasive species.
I would say the risk is very low, considering it's just one snail and it would have to be an adult who mated recently to pose a problem...and all this is assuming it would have no problems surviving in the climate of Tel Aviv, however it could happen, and assuming there is probably some laws in Israel concerning invasive species, I can't just tell you to release it.
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Post by Liguus on Jan 7, 2020 21:30:38 GMT
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Post by Liguus on Dec 15, 2019 22:24:24 GMT
That may be fine for the temperature then. Another option for the humidity may be to plastic wrap a large fraction of the lid (assuming you would be using a standard glass terrarium with screen top). This reduces air flow but holds in humidity longer. To aid in some air flow you could put an aquarium airstone through the lid and down to the bottom of the terrarium.
There are quite a few snails that would do well indoors, however if you live in the USA you can't order snails as they can't cross state lines. Assuming you are in the pacific northwest another reasonable option would be Cepaea nemoralis if you can find them. Monadenia, Cepaea, and Cornu are at the forefront of my mind when I think of the PNW region, but I believe I have a book of PNW snails at home I'll check to refresh my memory if anything else relatively easy is around the area.
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Post by Liguus on Dec 15, 2019 19:10:29 GMT
Congrats on the indoor snail terrarium. I would pick to have the aspersas inside. They are an adaptable snail and very popular as pets, having no trouble living indoors their whole lives. The Pacific Sideband snails are a bit more picky, so you may experience some trouble unless you are well prepared. The biggest thing with Pac Sideband's is their need for a cooler temp. Ideally you should keep them no warmer than about 75*F and they would appreciate a temp drop at night. Constant even warm temperatures indoors seem to stress them out. If you have a basement that would be a good place to keep them cool, and if not your could get more complicated by installing a peltier cooler on the lid of the terrarium. If neither of those sound possible then I would leave them outside (assuming here that you live in their native range). Pacific sidebands also appreciate terrariums that are much more humid that a terrarium for an aspersa needs to be. Again, if I had sidebands I would put an ultrasonic fogger (aka ReptiFogger) tube into the terrarium to keep them humid, something running at a very low setting but still noticeable.
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Post by Liguus on Dec 11, 2019 20:29:14 GMT
I would just use some Dawn dish soap (regular blue kind) and then rinse well. That's how I clean all my tanks during their once-yearly wash.
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Post by Liguus on Dec 2, 2019 17:59:02 GMT
Is it an above ground terrarium? where is it located outside? You may want to put it in a garage or bring them into the basement since the soil layer in the terrarium can freeze. In the wild they can bury down into the earth, below the frost line, but in above ground terrariums the soil layer is more exposed to the weather and can make them experience temperatures much colder than they would during a natural hibernation. It would not be unusual for the soil to completely freeze solid in an outdoor terrarium in temperate regions far north.
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Post by Liguus on Nov 30, 2019 15:03:19 GMT
The original post said "I think she is a Cantareus Apertus, as when young her shell was green"
Helix aperta/Cantareus apertus refers to a different species commonly called the "Green garden snail". It isn't one of those though.
The first picture also falls well into the variation of young Cornu aspersum who can have more faint coloration on their shells in addition to the varied individual morphology.
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Post by Liguus on Nov 29, 2019 15:11:02 GMT
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Post by Liguus on Nov 28, 2019 21:23:33 GMT
They aren't the easiest in the world to keep and it would be best to mimic the habitat where you find them as closely as possible. I think the main issue is their diet, which is likely a combination of detritus, algae, fungal growths, bacterial films etc, so I would collect a bunch of leaf litter and sticks and set the terrarium up, keep it very moist under a light and wait for some algae to grow all over the terrarium which they could also eat. The soil shouldn't make a huge difference but the one they are found by is likely the best for them. You could bake it to disinfect it if you're worried about other critters coming along.
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Post by Liguus on Nov 21, 2019 15:15:18 GMT
What species is it? Many will sometimes try to hibernate in captivity, and some species like to bury more. In both cases it's not a huge deal to be concerned about if it's a snail from a temperate region. If no epiphragm (solid white "shield" of mucus protecting the shell opening) is present it can easily be moved into a new terrarium with no issues. I would say even if it does have an epiphragm it could still be moved and placed in a similar orientation and depth in soil.
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Post by Liguus on Nov 21, 2019 15:07:39 GMT
Yes, they will sometimes sit around like this if moisture is high since they don't need to hide in their shell. The puffy mantle indicates that this snail has mated recently so expect eggs.
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