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Post by Liguus on Jul 30, 2015 22:10:03 GMT
Oh man :,( I guess I didn't look hard enough while I was there lol. My mix is based off of the one Pete Krull wrote about in the Tentacle (blended broccoli, lettuce, buttermilk, sweet potato, apple, carrot, and beer).
Maybe they will eat the mango. I saw a few c. marginella eating one someone had discarded into the leaf litter. Maybe I'll add it to the smoothie mix as well.
I also have collected some bark with a lot of sooty mold, so I will start to blend the spores into the food, and some may grow in the terrarium this way. I could probably send you a few mold covered bark chips if you want.
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Post by Liguus on Jul 30, 2015 21:54:52 GMT
Wow what a great find!!! I was looking for these in Miami but came up empty handed. I think they are similar to most other tree snails in terms of diet. Have you tried to feed them a smoothie blend yet? My drymaeus seem to be responding well to it.
Since the host plants are trees I don't think any live version could be added to a terrarium unless it is a seedling, but ideally that wouldn't be needed.
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Post by Liguus on Jul 29, 2015 15:48:02 GMT
So glass holds more humidity then plastic? I don't think that there is much of a difference, and humidity should mainly be dependent on how much air is allowed to flow into the terrarium. I have a few glass terrariums, and prefer them since it looks nicer and is less likely to scratch. But with 8 different species and over 200 snails, I'm not always able to set everyone up in a glass aquarium, and plastic makes the cleaning a bit easier since the terrarium is lighter.
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Post by Liguus on Jul 25, 2015 2:08:23 GMT
Ahhhhhh they're beautiful! I'm pretty sure that you shouldn't take them, though, because Liguus seems to be getting very scarce. The Liguus are pictures only
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Post by Liguus on Jul 25, 2015 0:45:38 GMT
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Post by Liguus on Jul 24, 2015 14:33:43 GMT
You're right, It's M. fidelis. Very nice looking snails! Are you keeping any of them?
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Post by Liguus on Jul 24, 2015 14:27:12 GMT
I have not looked into many brands of fish flakes, but a lot of them seemed to have copper compounds like the conventional dog food brands. Snails need a reasonable amount of protein, but too much protein can cause the shell to grow unevenly. I only feed the dog food once a week, since any more that that will cause the shell to get uneven.
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Post by Liguus on Jul 24, 2015 3:49:13 GMT
For everyone above- What does the nutrient analysis on the dog food say about protein? The one I use has 20% crude protein.
I also go for organic dog food (well everything I feed my snails is organic anyhow) as the cheaper brands have a list of additives I don't want to begin analyzing for snail safety (cobalt chloride, copper sulfate, etc). I switch it up between peanut flavor and chicken flavor.
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Post by Liguus on Jul 24, 2015 3:42:53 GMT
C. Aspersum eggs take longer than a week to hatch, and I have seen fruit fly larvae eat eggs and young snails. Its a good idea to keep the terrarium as "fly free" as possible while the eggs are developing.
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Post by Liguus on Jul 24, 2015 3:37:29 GMT
The rosy wolfs are so adorable... it's a pity they're carnivorous (there's no way I could regularly supply them snails and slugs.) The helicina are very interesting. They really do look like sea snails.
How are you going to price them? Hopefully these wolfsnails will eat clam meat like the older one I have. I really wanted to find a breeding pair since my other wolfsnail seems to be very old. I might need more for a sustainable population, because if a single breeding pair isn't a genetic bottleneck then I don't know what is lol. The wolfsnails were also very close to where Liguus occurs, so I took them to prevent them from eating the Liguus. Not exactly "letting nature take its course" but Liguus is my favorite snail. I have no idea how I will price these. First i'll have to set everything up at home, make sure all the snails survive, and then once they start breeding I will have them available. The price will likely decrease as time goes on and i really have "extras" i can sell instead of something which can be used to breed more snails. I'm not 100% sure the helicina will breed, but I will give it a go. I likely will only have C. marginella for sale in august as I have enough for a "breeding program". But I expect them to be sold out soon. I also think I'll only ship May-Early Sept so that they don't freeze to death
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Post by Liguus on Jul 24, 2015 3:21:57 GMT
So you're keeping all the snails you find? Well...I left the melampus container open and all those escaped lol. -_- I'm super excited about the Helicina though, so that takes my mind off of it lol.
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Post by Liguus on Jul 23, 2015 21:10:41 GMT
Young pair of Euglandina rosea
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Post by Liguus on Jul 23, 2015 17:53:01 GMT
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Post by Liguus on Jul 23, 2015 0:25:37 GMT
(Auto-quote didn't include this for some reason) Evan: I am in the sciences, so I can conduct an experiment (such as the migration of "lower" species from one food source to another, which is an actual study). A permit for transporting land snails is usually only given to people who are qualified (researchers, professors, institutions, etc.). A student could possibly get a permit, but even then all snails have to be killed in an acceptable manner (such as freezing) when the experiment is complete. You will not be allowed to keep them as pets. The only snails that can be shipped across the USA with no worries are lichen and fungi feeders that are not endangered (Such as Orthalicus, Drymaeus, caracolus, chondropoma etc.). It's mostly florida species that can be shipped around, as other snails in the US will likely not fall into the "non-plant feeder" category. You probably will not be able to get snails imported into florida unless they are already a species that lives there. I also wonder about importing other tree snails from around the world, although I haven't brought this up with the USDA yet.
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Post by Liguus on Jul 23, 2015 0:05:08 GMT
I would stay away from canned food (preservatives). Tomatoes and oranges are generally too acidic for snails.
Never thought of feeding them dairy (cuttlebone is enough for calcium) but eggs are alright.
Spices will probably not be accepted by snails, and are not generally good for them.
Soaked and ground seeds work. Ive used soaked and blended oats before.
They do not care about sweetened foods. Instead I would just give them fresh fruit (Mine usually eat apples and berries).
Dog treats and algae wafers can also be soaked and added to the mix, but make sure there is no harmful ingredients (salt, copper products, etc.)
You can also toss in a few teaspoons of beer (depending on how large the volume of the mix is). This will attract them to the mix, although your species should not be too picky.
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Post by Liguus on Jul 22, 2015 21:39:58 GMT
lol, yeah, they're like mini-GALS. I was hoping to find at least 40, but I will have to breed these and sell them next year (there is not as many snails around here like previous years). I will do the best I can to find more before I leave on Saturday, but I'm unsure if I will be driving around sanibel again.
I also found one Helicina in the evergaldes, either clappi or orbiculata, but I dropped it in the leaf litter and it was lost -_-
The snails are slow to eat vegetables, but they are grazing a bit on blended veg paste. I will get some algae wafers and mushrooms soon, and hopefully they will like that paste better.
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Post by Liguus on Jul 22, 2015 2:33:44 GMT
Day 3: Sanibel- Only found 9 Drymaeus multilineatus (another legal US species). I might go back and look for more, but I'm unsure if I will drive all the way back to look for them again. I may have to rely on these to breed before I can give any away. The Everglades- very few snails, I saw a few Liguus but much less than in previous years. I think someone should start another breeding program (at least for the Collier-Seminole State Park) as I only saw three, and a few dead ones on the ground. The ones I pulled off of the trees were deeply retracted and seemed to appreciate being sprayed with some water before being placed back onto the tree. Lots of Melampus coffea were near the swamps. I can sell these, and I have a decent amount of them. At the hotel in Fort Myers- Zachrysia is relatively common here.
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Post by Liguus on Jul 20, 2015 23:52:45 GMT
As some of you may know from previous posts I'm in Florida this week and looking for land snails. Today I drove 2.5 hours to the Barnacle Historic State Park as well as to Matheson Hammock to look for Caracolus marginella and Orthalicus. I came up empty handed on the Orthalicus but I did manage to find C. marginella. I hope to still find Orthalicus tomorrow morning when I go to the everglades, but I'm doubtful that I will find them. I'm also going look around for drymaeus multilineatus tomorrow afternoon at a site where I have seen them previous years. I will sell a few of these snails next month (USA only). Wooded area around The Barnacle: Three color morphs of caracolus. Yellow was most common, Orange less common, and brown was very rare.
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Post by Liguus on Jul 18, 2015 11:49:41 GMT
Also, I know you live in the U.S..... meaning that it's very hard to 'buy' snails. Does that mean you found these guys? Where exactly did you find them? No eggs yet, and someone from Florida mailed these snails to me. No regulations against it since these are technically seen as saltwater snails.
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Post by Liguus on Jul 16, 2015 3:31:20 GMT
Since snails are not very popular pets in the USA, I don't think so. A forum user from the Pacific NW in Canada had some c. nemoralis for sale and they were a US/Canada shipper, but I am unaware if anyone received snails from them.
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Post by Liguus on Jul 16, 2015 3:21:05 GMT
Hi, I'm located in northern Alberta and I'm looking for some Cepaea nemoralis which seem unusually hard to find. I'm wondering if any one has any for sale and can ship them to me?? I'm looking for grove snails also, but I'm located in Florida. Anyone know any sales or places to find them? There are no Cepaea in Florida (they are mostly found in northern states/canada), and unfortunately no one publicly sells them in the US due to the regulation against pest species.
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Post by Liguus on Jul 16, 2015 2:31:58 GMT
Very nice! I was thinking of getting an apple snail recently, but I decided against it as I think I've got to many land snails (a combined 50 gallons of terrarium space between all my enclosures and nearly 100 snails).
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Post by Liguus on Jul 16, 2015 1:13:02 GMT
Same for me. I usually transfer egg cases into separate containers to hatch them. Some eggs fall off of the white raspberries, but they still hatch if kept in soil.
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Post by Liguus on Jul 15, 2015 2:57:59 GMT
Yes, I always soak my dog food in water for a few mintues before I give it to my snails. Ideally It should be fully expanded so their is no more dry pieces in it. I use only organic dog treats, as it is hard to find conventional dog food without salt, garlic, onion, or copper sulfate.
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Post by Liguus on Jul 15, 2015 0:50:34 GMT
Most common snails from North America & Europe are very easy to keep as pets. What kind of set up do you have? Caring for gastropods is fairly simple, but there are a few important aspects. First thing is to not change the substrate to frequently, and when you do, to mix in some of the old substrate so that there is still a culture of bacteria in it. Snails eat soil and need the bacteria for proper digestive functioning. Dumping all the substrate and doing a "deep clean" of a terrarium often will lead to unhealthy snails. Snails also need a source of calcium, and the best option is to have a cuttlebone constantly in the terrarium (slugs don't need much cuttlebone, if any at all, since they have to shell to build). Protein is also needed, so its best to offer organic dog food, eggs, or possibly chopped meat once a week. i personally use dog treat, as its more than enough protein and highly convenient.
I will likely have some legal snails to sell (USA only) in August. Fingers crossed that I find the snails I'm looking for (bulimulidae from florida + caracolus). They shouldn't be much harder to keep than average garden snails.
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