Decorating the snails tank!

[shaydeesnail]

Firstly, hope everyone and their snails had a happy Christmas!
Secondly, I have a few questions about ideas that I had for my snails' tank.
Thirdly, I would love to hear any of your own decoration ideas and thoughts too!

Right~ So far my snails' (Cepaea Nemoralis) tank has been quite natural, and I don't think they really care much for it anyway. They would much rather slide around on the smooth sides of the tank and cling to the lid.
I put on of those little loose gem stones in there, like a nugget of turquoise I think. It looks colorful and they seem to like taking a detour especially to slide over it. So I was thinking, rather than looking like I have a tank of mud and moss, maybe I could decorate the tank to look lovely, while still giving the snails a nice tank to explore.
I was thinking a kind of treasure theme, my grandma is a jewelry maker so I have access to very cheap stones and things!
The type of stones I wanted to use are like this- i.ehow.com/images/a04/r8/p3/buy-natural-gemstones-800X800.jpg
Are there any that I should avoid? That the snails may not like or may be poisonous or something? I vaguely remember reading something about not putting certain stones in drinking water due to chemicals leaking into it... And I assume that can't be good for the snails!
Also, I have loads of loose freshwater pearls from about 5 snapped necklaces. I've also seen some nice ones for sale that look like little nuggets of gold! -http://ayliss.com/shop/images/l/P/P020905a.jpg
Are these okay for the snails? I know they aren't supposed to get wet but I don't intend to wear these ones again, so I'm not too bothered if they get damaged. I am aware that the colored pearls are artificially dyed though, i'm not sure how likely this dye is to come away from the pearl and onto the actual snails. I've never had a problem with it on my skin, but if I had snail skin that would be a bit problematic! Do you think that it's safe to use these?

Any suggestions or ideas would be awesome to hear too :]

[saki114]

I like your idea of the treasure theme, but I wouldn't put anything that I don't know if it is a hazrd or not.

[coyote]

I would not recommend putting colored pearls in the tank.

I'm not a geologist, so I don't know the chemical composition of the minerals in your link. As far as I know, none of those particular stones are poisonous (no arsenic in them or anything like that), but I don't know all the minerals that might be harmful to snails in some way. So it's hard to say if any one of those might pose a danger to your snails.

In general, err on the side of soft surfaces. Snails can and will fall from the sides and the lid of the tank, and it's very easy for them to crack their shells on something hard in the tank when they land. So keep that in mind when you're making decorating plans.

[saki114]

Shadeesnail, you should post some photos! ill bet it looks fabulous

[vallery]

Shadeeysnail,
I have cepaea nemoralis and cepaea hortensis and they use to hang around on the sides of the tank and the top until I put live English Ivy in there (they don't eat this plant and the leaves grow nice an big to hold their weight)and also Twigs of oak leaves that I steamed first to clean and then dried, I stick these twigs of oak leaves sideways in the tanks earth and I also put extra leaves on the surface of their earth. Now they don't cling to the sides or the top they love to hang under the leave some of the oak leaves curled up and I find the snails snuggled in the curled up leaves. I also put a small plastic container in one tank and put some leaves inside and covered the top with leaves and they love that, they hang inside the container and sit on top as well on those leaves. Before I didn't want to put anything hard in the tank like a rock because they might fall from the side and crack their shells, now I can put a few rocks in and often find they like sitting on the rocks. When I give them a light spray in their tanks they love to slide around on all the leaves as well as thick sticks I have placed in there like a little jungle gym for them.
Vallery