actos
Achatina achatina
Posts: 80
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Post by actos on Jul 6, 2012 19:13:42 GMT
It is doing wonders for my five a day buying things and ending up having to eat it myself, LOL, with me it's still the other way round - Dave and his babies get bits of what I eat. But I think I'll need to invest in some more fruit, just for the snails! Today I gave them strawberries for the first time, but they weren't in the mood for eating whilst I was there (at work). I'm now away for a week, and I have a feeling that they will be back to the standard diet of cuke and lettuce until I return...
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scarral
Achatina achatina
Posts: 99
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Post by scarral on Jul 13, 2012 21:05:34 GMT
That' real funny! How to improve your diet? Get some pet snails!
Well my babies like best cougette peal and cucumber centers. They eat a bit of slightly cooked carrot, aubergine, and dandelion leaves, but they do prefer those first two above anything else I've tried so far. I keep asking myself what is it with the courgette peal???
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Post by pinkunicorn on Jul 15, 2012 0:53:03 GMT
I think there is a lot of nutrients in it. Most nutrients in fruit and veg are found in the skin or just underneath, and the more colour it has or the darker it is also means there's a lot of good stuff that the itty bitties need. It's been proven that Limax maximus can recognise between two specifically designed, otherwise identical foods: one that has all the nutrients it needs and other that lacks just one amino acid. In the study they repeatedly ate both foods with good appetite on the first time but the second time the same foods were offered they refused the food lacking the amino acid. So based on that I think our slimy darlings have a very sophisticated palate and likely choose exactly the foods their body needs if given a choice.
We have been eating mushrooms, fish food, courgette, minced meat, wild peaches, bokchoy, sweet potato, and cucumber.
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Post by pinkunicorn on Jul 18, 2012 20:23:05 GMT
Past few days little sluggies have been enjoying corn. Oh they adore fresh uncooked corn kernels. The babies can disappear halfway into a kernel to rasp off the last bits of the juicy insides!
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actos
Achatina achatina
Posts: 80
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Post by actos on Jul 23, 2012 10:34:22 GMT
Last week, Dave and his babies tried sweet potato for the first time. Although I sliced it very thinly, it was not a great success. Not even with the babies, who devour anything cucumber-ry or pepper-like! Maybe I should try parboiling it to make it really soft.
I've also discovered that 100-odd tiny baby snails eat much more food than a single 7-inch snail...
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Post by pinkunicorn on Jul 23, 2012 12:50:22 GMT
Try boiling/steaming the sweet potato. I found that carrot is hugely popular after it's been cooked, the slugs that normally aren't big on carrot devour it. Although gastropods are able to digest fibre, I can imagine the taste appeals to them more when some of the long-chained carbs have been broken down into sugars. Just needs a cooking method where the nutrient loss is small, such as steaming.
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scarral
Achatina achatina
Posts: 99
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Post by scarral on Jul 26, 2012 18:32:54 GMT
Well, now they still eat the cucumber core, some of the peal (although I think the snail that wakes up early eats all the core, then comes the one that wakes up later and since there's no core he eats some of the peal), they love the mushrooms! Aubergine is not a choice anymore (maybe it was too old already) and fruits they don't seem very fond of. I've tried apple, cherry, nectarine, melon.
Since I added calcium carbonate to the substrate they seem to eat less of the cuttlefish bone...
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actos
Achatina achatina
Posts: 80
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Post by actos on Jul 30, 2012 11:25:21 GMT
At the moment, I noticed that Dave prefers the courgette skin, but the babies go for the soft centre first. Maybe, instead of cutting it into slices, I should just peel it and divide into skin and flesh!
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Post by pinkunicorn on Aug 1, 2012 21:00:14 GMT
Boiled chicken liver. Oh my... all my sluggies are just devouring this like starved wolves! And it's so cheap and packed with nutrients. Not for everyday dinners, but once in a while.
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Post by shaydeesnail on Aug 2, 2012 8:29:56 GMT
All my snails had a selection of red pepper, yellow pepper and cucumber yesterday. My larger albino fulica ate pretty much everything, My baby gals ate some yellow pepper and the cucumber skin, and my Helix pomatia don't really seem to interested, but I'll give them another night to decide!
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scarral
Achatina achatina
Posts: 99
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Post by scarral on Aug 29, 2012 10:38:52 GMT
It seems that my snails are already fed up of the vourgette peal, which had been a sure success since they came to us in July. now what they seem to love apart of their usual cuccumber is tomatoe flesh, mushrooms and steamed broccoli! I had tried braw broccoli without success, but last night I didin't have anything else to give them, so I steamed it and they loved it!
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Post by prowljazz on Aug 29, 2012 18:41:36 GMT
How Long Did You Steam The Broccoli For Scarral? Thanks
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scarral
Achatina achatina
Posts: 99
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Post by scarral on Aug 29, 2012 19:33:43 GMT
prowljazz, I steamed the broccoli for 5 minutes. Right now they're eating the cuccumber, which seems to be their favourite (still). I'll let you know later or tomorrow if they eat the broccoli tonight.
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Post by shaydeesnail on Oct 2, 2012 10:32:42 GMT
Today we have nectarines, baby corn, cucumber and spring greens. I find it interesting that when the snail appears to have had enough to eat, they will carry on munching if offered something different to what they were previously eating!
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latebloomer
Achatina immaculata
The Snail Botherer
Posts: 251
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Post by latebloomer on Oct 2, 2012 11:47:02 GMT
I have found that when you give them something new, provided they like it, they go for it in a big way. After the first time, they can take it or leave it.
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Post by vallery on Oct 2, 2012 12:35:44 GMT
My cepaeas and my P.Isabellas and oxychilus alliarus plus my little octanas all love English cucumber and red fringed lettuce. They went crazy a week ago for some fresh organic cucumber that came from my Fathers farm that my Nephew brought here gobbled it right up. They will eat carrots and sweet potato as long as it has been steamed. vallery
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emsybems
Archachatina marginata
Posts: 29
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Post by emsybems on Oct 5, 2012 14:04:06 GMT
My snail's favourite is the center of cucumber and corn on the cob. I cut a chunk of about 4-5 cm then slice that in half to make a semi circle and stand it on the substrate. He loves climbing up it, then hanging down to eat the center of the corn on the cob. Oh and it also adores watermelon
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Post by vallery on Oct 5, 2012 16:39:15 GMT
What type of snails do you have? vallery
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emsybems
Archachatina marginata
Posts: 29
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Post by emsybems on Oct 6, 2012 13:51:36 GMT
my snail is a giant african land snail - albino fulica
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Post by vallery on Oct 6, 2012 14:25:50 GMT
Thanks I was curious about the corn and watermelon. But Mine are not the same as yours. So I am not sure if it is okay for mine to eat that. vallery
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Post by shaydeesnail on Oct 6, 2012 15:29:25 GMT
I'm sure it will be safe for them to eat it- they might not like it though.
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Post by vallery on Oct 6, 2012 15:50:36 GMT
I think I will try watermelon :)I am a little worried about all of the starch in the corn and all of my snails are small species.
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Post by pinkunicorn on Oct 15, 2012 21:15:47 GMT
Pollux has a problem with his radula, it's coming out of his mouth when he eats and he's not able to rasp the food. His tongue works just fine however, so I made him a puree out of cooked apple and carrot. I mashed it through a sieve to make sure it's really fine. He LOVES it. He loved apple before as well but cooked apple is so good he ate some while hanging on my wrist waiting for me to finish his puree. He ate half of the big portion I set for him for the night and even returned for an extra bite after getting his tummy full. Will have to experiment with different veggie purees for him. And why not for others, it's hard to make just a spoonful at a time!
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actos
Achatina achatina
Posts: 80
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Post by actos on Oct 23, 2012 10:01:27 GMT
'Tis Halloween, and the pumpkin season! : My fulicas, and their parent (Dave) and brothers who live at my workplace, all enjoyed some pumpkin insides. OK, it was actually butternut squash - the scrapings, including seeds, were eaten gladly... unlike a slice of beetroot, which I had to put into the (compost) bin in the end.
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Post by jembolina on Oct 23, 2012 12:57:15 GMT
My snails seem to change their tastes. They'll go crazy for one thing for a few days then not be interested in it anymore and move onto something else. Most new things they try they'll love for a little while. I need to make sure there's always variety to make sure there's something there that they feel like that day. The things I can think of that have all been a favourite before are broccoli stalks and leaves, apple, capsicum, eggshell paste, mushroom, cabbage, different varieties of lettuce, cauliflower leaves, snow pea sprouts, mint leaves, avocado, carrot and my fingers! Once I put paper in a temporary tank to be used as a cave but it ended up with a layer missing the next day which had been chewed off. Right now everybody has iceberg lettuce, apple, red capsicum, mushroom and eggshell paste.
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