How much should snails eat?

[hornet]

Ive been keeping snail for around 2 years now, i just feed them once a week or so, sometime its all eaten right away, sometimes its not all consumed. Is there a rough guideline as to how much snails should be fed in relation to their body weight?

[axoloa]

Dec 11, 2011 9:37:27 GMT hornet said:

Ive been keeping snail for around 2 years now, i just feed them once a week or so, sometime its all eaten right away, sometimes its not all consumed. Is there a rough guideline as to how much snails should be fed in relation to their body weight?

Hi hornet what snails do you have? Once a week dosent sound much at all for a snail. most people make sure that their snails have an ongoing suply of food. When a snails food is almost gone you should add more. Snails stop eating when their not hungry, but should always be given the option.

[foghog]

they'll be fine, but like axoloa said, might as well give them the option. in nature they constantly go out and eat everyday...just like we do. a steady supply of the right material provides a steady source of energy and metabolism activity. they really do not over feed themselves as far as I've noticed.

[coyote]

Hi hornet, welcome to the forum. I don't think there ate any hard and fast rules for feeding snails. I can see feeding once a week if a week's worth of food is given at that time. Snails will eat decomposing plant matter, so it doesn't matter if the food starts to go a bit off during that time. In fact, some species of snail will eat only decomposing plant matter and will not touch anything fresh. But most snails commonly kept as pets will eat a combination of both fresh and slightly off.

I've found that my snails follow a 3 or 4 day pattern, where they will eat a lot for a day or so, then less the next day, then little to nothing for another day or two, then back to eating a lot the following day. I always keep a supply of fresh and older food in the tank, so they could take their pick and eat what they like and when they like. Now that it's winter, my snails are eating a lot less and sleeping a lot more, so it's a different pattern. But in general, I've noticed that the 3 or 4 day eating pattern is fairly consistent.

[axoloa]

Only my wild caught species will eat decomposing food my species bougt only ever eat fresh food or food that is due to decompose but has not reached it yet the offspring of my wild caught also wont touch decomposing food but this is just because I have brought them up on fresh, so they dont know any different.

You should probabaly try what coyote said and give them more than they can eat so a little of it does start to decompose so they do have the option. I always give mine more than they can eat, but I always remove it as soon as it starts to turn, due to the fact that they wont eat it My Capaea and Oxychilius and my Helix however dont care either way, so I just do what coyote does and shurely enough it gradualy disapeeres

[foghog]

ya, it really does depend on what species they are, so the opening sentence of "Hi hornet what snails do you have? " was the first thing that should of been stated. Helix are generous and varied eaters, usually.They make it easy. but certain species only eat very specialized things, some for instance the algae growing on moss. but still regardless of 'what' it is they eat I haven;t known of any that will gorge themselves anyways, so always having said food around to my knowledge does no harm at all.

[latebloomer]

I read that in a study of snails eating habits they found that they would eat soil one day, then eat more food, then rest and digest the next. I feed mine fresh food every two days, after this fruit, fishfood etc. is on the turn. To be honest I throw out food a lot, but I would rather know that it was there if they wanted it, as some days they eat more than others.

[brunni]

Not all days are equal !
Take for example the moon phases and the effects this has on all animals and plants.
Then the seasons, even in tropical climates some are dry, others wet.
;D

[vallery]

With my cepaeas I remove their feeding dish every morning and clean it then put in fresh food no matter how much they have eaten of their food the day before. I freshen up their terrariums at the same time every morning as well. Some days they have eaten more than other days. Plus I put plants they like to eat in there as well which they will go for before any fresh food I have replaced yesterdays with. So I leave it up to them on a daily basis.

[hornet]

Thansk for the info guys, i'll bump up feeding. I currently keep Helix aspersa, Bradybaena similaris, Hedleyella falconeri, Sphaerospira fraseri, 2 xanthomelon sp and a few others, cant remember all the names at the moment.

[crossless]

I made once my "research" of my own.. It took weeks and I always weigh food before and after serving. Food varied to cucumber and high nutrional too.. Snails were a. fulica size 7cm to 15cm I had 12 of them.. They ate about 4 to 10-15grams of food per day per snail.

[pinkunicorn]

15g sounds a lot! But a big snail will eat more. I find my aspersas have feeding days and rest days, but the slugs will eat every day. The tiny ones can cram surprisingly large amounts into themselves, about half a corn kernel in size. Doesn't sound a lot but the slug is also just max 5cm long when extended... that is more than I can eat in proportion! My 18cm long L.maximus can eat about a marble sized portion in one sitting, especially if the food is a bit fluffy like mushroom.

[crossless]

Achatina Achatina eats much more just juvenile ate in one evening about 2small mushrooms and then other night 5quite thick slices of eggplant or squash

[snailpower7]

Hello everyone. Responding to the food question, I have 18 Cepaea hortensis, and I usually have to feed them new food about everyday. I caught them from my backyard, so i usually switch from [glow=green,2,300]lettuce[/glow] to [glow=orange,2,300]carrots[/glow] to [glow=green,2,300]kale[/glow] within a two week period. They are happy with the selection, and like coyote said, they usually eat alot one day, a smaller amount the next, and next to nothing the third day. Hope I was of some help! ps sorry about the glow i was expirimenting ;D