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Post by HazelSnail on Jan 19, 2017 23:01:22 GMT
They are gorgeous!
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Post by HazelSnail on Jan 14, 2017 14:58:17 GMT
1. I would release them sometime after their shells have hardened and thickened more, so they are less vulnerable. The rate of growth can vary a lot, so I don't know exactly when this would be, so I would just go based on observation.
2. I don't know a recipe, sorry!
3. Similar to the answer for #1, when their shells have become more like the adults in hardness, and they are no longer so small that there is risk of the adult snails smushing them.
4. It should be fine, I think.
5. I would say a forest. A garden may have pesticides, even if you don't use pesticides, the soil may have runoff from a garden that does. The same goes for a park, depending on what sort of park it is.
6. You certainly can, but in my experience snails are pretty good at finding food, even when raised in captivity.
Hope this helps!
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Post by HazelSnail on Jan 3, 2017 15:18:10 GMT
Hi there, welcome to the forum!
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Post by HazelSnail on Dec 16, 2016 16:13:21 GMT
Mites are annoyingly hard to get rid of. Like you have seen, they can crawl into the pneumostome and keep reproducing, no matter if you sterilize the tank. I had a mite problem a while ago, and (thanks to the suggestions of people on here) I found that pretty much the only way to fully get rid of them is to order predatory Phytoseiulus mites, because they are small enough to follow the other mites into the pneumostome and kill them, without much discomfort to the snail. Good luck getting rid of them!
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Post by HazelSnail on Dec 1, 2016 20:31:42 GMT
Hello!
First off, sorry for not being very active on here! I have been very busy recently. However, today I went to a local art museum, and found something unexpected on the way in; an empty snail shell! The shell was unlike any I have ever seen here in Cincinnati, but it reminded me of some Mediterranean species. After some research, I believe the shell to be that of a Cernuella virgata! After more researching into the species, I can't find any mention of it (or any other similar) being found in Cincinnati. But, I do know that in the same area I found the shell, there is a small population of lizards native to Italy, that were brought over by someone who went on vacation and then released them into their garden, if I remember the story correctly. I'm guessing something similar happened with these snails, although it was likely accidental.
The only thing is, I have no idea if anyone is even aware of these snails being found here. I'm not even sure how to tell, or who to ask about them. If anyone happens to know anything about these snails being found in Cincinnati, let me know! I will definitely be researching even more about it, as well as trying to find live individuals as soon as the weather warms up!
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Post by HazelSnail on Oct 1, 2016 20:18:57 GMT
Hello! First off, I would like to apologize for not being very active recently, with classes starting and all. Secondly, I would like to talk about some observations and research I have done, involving land snails. I'll start by saying that I live in a suburban area, only 30 minutes from a large city. Very near my house is a 139 acre park, that is considered and old growth forest. Overall, the area I live in is very forested, and my yard itself is a small forest. However, I have lived here my entire life and never found a single snail, besides a single species of microsnail. But apparently, it was not always so barren of snail activity. According to my mom, who has also lived here her entire life, used to find (what I can only estimate to be mesodon thyroidus, or some other mesodon sp, based on her descriptions) snails, right in our yard. But as more and more houses were build around our small, one acre property, the snails began to dwindle, until neither of us have seen them again. In fact, it wasn't until around 8 years ago did I see my first snail, and this snail (who is surprisingly still alive) was found at the park I mentioned earlier. So, for 8 years I have been going back and forth, from my neighborhood, to the park, trying to find snails. I have still never seen any other species of snail in my area, but this park is a snail paradise. I have found Mesodon normalis, M. thyroidus, trochulus striolatus, and many more snail species at this park. But even then, specific species could only be found in small areas of the park. For example, trochulus snails have only been found near a dried creek bed, and mesodon thyroidus have only been found in the heart of the park, where the largest trees can be found. For a long time, I was very confused as to why these snails were at this park mere minutes from my house, but not a single of them could be found in my backyard. I researched the park's history, and it was then I realized that it had almost no human disturbances, besides the occasional hiker (it's not a well known park, I am usually the only one there). While the area around it had become a sprawling suburb, that relatively tiny area had remained almost completely unchanged. I began to branch out, exploring dozens (if not more) of parks as I traveled. I researched every park I went to, and began to notice a pattern; The parks with little to no human disturbances were the most populated with snails. This is incredibly obvious, of course, but doing the research about the parks, and that research confirming the theory I have had for years was very rewarding. So, snails like old growth forests. It only makes sense that snails are susceptible to habitat fragmentation; they're not exactly good at migrating, or moving in general. In fact, after doing more research I found a study that actually found out the average distance different snail species move in a day. Needles to say, they hardly made progress, and larger species moved larger distances than microsnails. Habitat fragmentation seems to be epically prevalent in suburban areas, like the one I live in. I have even found areas where a species may be found on one side of a road, but not the other. But it made me wonder, how many species have been lost already? Especially with microsnails, it seems that even building a singe house could destroy an entire population in that area, if not wipe out an entire species. Anyway, I wondered if anyone else had come to this same conclusion. It didn't take long to find a thesis paper by Daniel Dourson/Douglas, who is a biologist/naturalist. Here is the link to that paper: encompass.eku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1031&context=etd (written in 2011) The paper includes tables listing species and number of individuals found in old growth, VS second growth forest, and the difference is incredible. It also demonstrated how land snails are an excellent indicator of an undisturbed forest.
I think that the saddest thing about this, was this basically the only paper I could find that talked about the relationship between snails and undisturbed forests. Sure, other articles might have mentioned that snails can indicate if a forest is undisturbed, but this seemed to be the only one that really focused on snails. So many people are so oblivious to these amazing animals that have become such a huge part of my life, and are a huge part of the ecosystem. Even when I went to the WI park with helix pomatia, while I stared at the beautiful snails in shock, hardly able to contain my excitement, people in the park just walked right by them, not seeing or simply not caring.
Sorry for such a long, and probably rambling, post. If someone actually read this far, I applaud you, and hopefully you found this interesting.
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Post by HazelSnail on Aug 8, 2016 15:50:34 GMT
Very glad to hear the little guy healed! It really is amazing how quickly they can recover!
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Post by HazelSnail on Aug 6, 2016 15:10:22 GMT
I agree, glass is much better for keeping in humidity and head.
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Post by HazelSnail on Jul 31, 2016 18:31:31 GMT
That's actually very interesting!
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Post by HazelSnail on Jul 31, 2016 18:28:47 GMT
As Wolf said, pictures are helpful. I use a site like Imgur to upload pictures, and then link it in a forum post. Just from the description, it does sound like some species of ambersnail. Ambersnails are very similar to pond snails, and are often found near water, although they can't swim. They also lay their eggs in sticky, clear to yellowish blobs, like aquatic snails. I have 11 adult ambers, and hundreds of nearly microscopic babies. They are very cute, but sadly they have a fairly short life span.
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Post by HazelSnail on Jul 31, 2016 18:23:31 GMT
To me it sounds like the soil has definitely had some natural fertilizer added to it, even if it wasn't labeled as such. I don't think that it would harm the snails if it is just manure (not positive on that, someone correct me if I am wrong), but I personally wouldn't want to deal with the smell. For my snails I use EcoEarth substrate, which comes in solid blocks and can be ordered online for a fairly cheap price.
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Post by HazelSnail on Jul 31, 2016 18:17:33 GMT
Some very useful information! Fortunately none of my snails have had mantle collapse (yet), but I will definitely keep this in mind for future reference!
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Post by HazelSnail on Jul 28, 2016 16:34:45 GMT
Wow, they are very pretty snails! They remind me a bit of my oreohelix sp, with the bands and deep shell coil, very cool!
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Post by HazelSnail on Jul 25, 2016 17:44:58 GMT
Beautiful snails!
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Post by HazelSnail on Jul 12, 2016 14:49:33 GMT
Very beautiful snails!
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Post by HazelSnail on Jul 11, 2016 18:33:16 GMT
If the snails doing the rasping don't have access to calcium, then they may be trying to obtain it from the other snail's shells. Do you know if they have access to a calcium source such as cuttlebone?
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Post by HazelSnail on Jul 9, 2016 21:53:21 GMT
Congratulations on your new slug, sounds like you are doing an excellent job so far!
Slugs are at even greater risk of drying out than snails are, so a moist, but not soggy, habitat is a must. Water the slug will come in contact with (whether it be misting and/or shallow water dish) should be distilled or treated with dechlorinator. All the food you're feeding him is great! I also recommend sweet potato, and yes, fish flakes work for slugs too (as long as there is no added salt). They do benefit from a calcium source as well, but in my opinion, it's not quite as vital as it is for snails, and my slugs show less interest in cuttlebone than my snails do. I don't know about snail jello, though, never tried it before.
Hope this helps!
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Post by HazelSnail on Jul 9, 2016 21:45:38 GMT
They look like helix aspera/ cornu asperum to me. If this species is wild around where you live, then it is fine to release them, but if they are not native, then they should never be released into the wild, where they could become an invasive species.
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Post by HazelSnail on Jul 8, 2016 15:37:28 GMT
Thanks for the help!
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Post by HazelSnail on Jul 6, 2016 17:44:24 GMT
Well, as the title says, I'm going to Florida this fall, and I would love to collect some of the legal snails found there, especially caracolus marginella, and some of the native arboreal snails. But, I don't know exactly where to find them. I will be staying around Orlando, where I have found zachrysia porsovia before, but I have a feeling that the snails I want to find are further south. Can anyone who lives or has been to FL to collect snails give me some general ideas of where to find them? Anything from the name of a county to an exact location will help.
Thanks!
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Post by HazelSnail on Jul 2, 2016 5:59:41 GMT
Mold is a common (and sometimes constant) issue in humid, warm environments. I don't know about anyone else, but I haven't really found a prevention method for mold, other than changing the food regularly, and I keep colonies of woodlouse/isopods in my snail tanks, they help eat old food, poop, mold, and are harmless to snails.
This is perfectly normal, snails seem to love climbing on walls and lids, and the coating is a shell cover that snails form when estivating. They sometimes estivate when temperature or humidity is too low/high, and sometimes it is just an instinct that goes with a season. Occasionally I have noticed that my snails will estivate (seemingly) randomly as well, I'm not exactly sure what all can trigger them to form a shell coating. But I wouldn't worry unless you think the temp or humidity is bothering him... these being too high could account for the rapid mold growth as well.
Apologies if my response seems jumbled, I'm typing this at 2AM and I think I'm half asleep haha...
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Post by HazelSnail on Jun 15, 2016 19:40:40 GMT
What a cute little guy!
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Post by HazelSnail on Jun 13, 2016 1:10:13 GMT
Congratulations on your soon to arrive new snail! And Jadatzi is a lovely name, but then again I have a flamed tiger snail called Tiger haha!
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Post by HazelSnail on Jun 13, 2016 1:08:13 GMT
I keep my eggs in a small plastic container with eco earth substrate or something similar. I usually gently cover the eggs with a thin layer of bedding, and make sure they stay moist. Room temperature should be fine for helix aspera/cornu asperum.
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Post by HazelSnail on Jun 13, 2016 1:06:18 GMT
Feel better soon!
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