Coconut oil?

[greyphoenix]

Hey guys! I know I haven't posted in a little while, but I do follow posts. Things have just been a little crazy. Our furnace went out and had to be completely replaced, so my room was much cooler than usual for several days. I was concerned about the snails (Helix Aspersas, kept in a terrarium right beside my bed), but I figured if worst came to worst, they'd try to hibernate but end up fine. Unfortunately, two of the three snails died! It was horrible! We put a space heater in the room, but I'm not sure enough heat was getting up to the snail terrarium. We were supposed to have the furnace fixed the first day, then he told us it would be the next day, so we kept getting put off and thinking our heat would soon be back as normal. 

In any case, the one remaining snail seems totally fine. He's very active, eats fine, etc. I've actually bonded even more with him since all this happened, and may decide to keep just one at a time in the future, but we'll see. My question is, I have a tub of organic, cold pressed coconut oil that I use for several purposes, including as a butter replacement. My dog also loves it, as it smells wonderful and is fine to give her in small portions (good for the coat). I'm wondering if it would be safe to smear a bit on my snail's food. I think the smell would really draw him in, but of course I don't want to feed it to him if it's unsafe. Does anyone have experience giving coconut to their snails? Thanks! 

-Brooke 

[starcrazy19]

I use coconut oil on my gals shells (and my hair) and they've never had any problems with it, but I've never seen them be particularly fussed about licking it off either. Never fed them regular coconut, they do generally like nutty things but I don't know if they'll feel the same way about oil I've found aspersas to be less into 'exotic' type foods which isn't really surprising but they all go for different things. Such a shame about your aspersas dying, really weird that that happened because of the cold - after all they can survive northern winters in hibernation. Perhaps their metabolism or something wasn't in the right place after living indoors. My aspersas have had lots of babies over the winter and I much preferred it when there was just the 3 of them, they are lovely to keep in small numbers but get out of control very quickly

[greyphoenix]

Thanks! Good to know it's safe. The oil I use is sort of a cream at room temperature, so I'll try putting just a bit on the food and see what happens. I really enjoyed watching my three snails interact, and was really surprised that two died the way they did (like you said, aspersas survive winters here just fine, although I think mine came from California, so maybe that made a difference?). Oddly enough, however, the remaining snail has actually been much more active since the other two died. I noticed before that two of my snails seemed to spend a lot of time together, while the third was often left out. It could be this was the odd one out (I had a bit of trouble telling them apart without looking closely). Maybe he just didn't like the other two and feels safer with them gone?

Either way, he's been a right active little bugger lately. Very fun to watch him do his thing. Thanks again for the info on coconut oil! Much appreciated!

[Cashell]

I wonder if those helix apseras were old? They should've been able to tolerate the cold and go into hibernation, but I guess they just weren't up to it. The only place I've used coconut based products is in my food or on my hair, but I do plan to do an experiment on how my snails react to fresh coconut sometime in future.

[greyphoenix]

I hadn't thought of that. It's certainly possible they could have been old. I guess there's no way of knowing for sure. :/

I tried a bit of coconut oil last night, but my little guy didn't seem at all attracted to it. He's probably never smelled anything like it before. Oh well. Looks like we'll be sticking to his regulars! He has a special affinity for carrot and cauliflower, though he'll nibble at a few other things as well. Few things are cuter than a snail eating...

[greyphoenix]

Update: I keep a close eye on my snails, always have, so I generally knew when they laid eggs in the past and was able to remove them. With just one snail remaining, I figured chances of eggs had gone down significantly, but tonight when I went to feed him, guess what? Babies! I counted 9 so far, but I'm sure there are more working their way around the tank/soil. And just when I was starting to like the idea of having just the one! I had always told myself if I ended up with unexpected babies, I'd freeze them, but I don't know if I can do that. They are native here, so I could wait until it warms up and turn them loose I guess... Any thoughts on that? How soon can Aspersas reproduce? I think I read somewhere they need to be older, around 2? I definitely don't want these babies breeding... The population would explode! My tank setup is ideal for no more than 7 adult aspersas. I'm not sure what to do...

[starcrazy19]

They can reproduce in maybe 6 months if they grown fast... mine do, anyway. Snails will be up and about outside soon, the frogs are out of hibernation already You can keep them another month or two or until whenever the weather gets mild and then find a good place to release them. They should be fine even if they get a little crowded, or you could get a plastic storage box for £5 or so and drill holes in it, keep them in there for as long as you need! It is hard to catch all the aspersa eggs especially if you have a few adults, have to dig through the soil every few days since they hatch so fast. Your single adult will hopefully not lay again though if you're lucky

[greyphoenix]

Thanks! I appreciate the advice. And yes, my adults were laying frequently, and the eggs do seem to hatch quickly, so I was afraid this might happen. I've begun putting the majority of the babies, which a friend said she could use, into a separate container (with air circulation). I'm finding most of the babies are climbing up to the roof of the tank, which makes it easier to gently nudge them loose into the smaller container. I'll also leave a small number in the main tank to let them grow. If too many of those survive and I end up with too many in with my adult as they grow, it'll be a bit easier to get hold of the extras then and turn them loose outdoors. Hopefully it all works out and I end up with the right amount of adults!

[wreckoning]

Brooke, I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your two snails, and frankly shocked that Helix aspersa, a pretty hardy species, would succumb from a couple of days worth of cold. It's quite strange, can you say what the temperature was?

[greyphoenix]

I'm not sure what it got down to in the bedroom. The rest of the house got down to the 40s, so the bedroom may have been that for awhile until we got the space heater set up. It shocked me too. Like I said, I assumed at worst they would try to hibernate. And as the sudden appearance of baby snails shows, they were apparently well enough and happy enough to be breeding just prior to this occurance. Very odd. In a weird way, I almost feel I've been given an unexpected second chance. I assumed when left with one snail I'd probably have to add more myself at some point to keep the population going. Not anymore! Weird...