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Post by alex_hit on Mar 15, 2014 7:49:30 GMT
hey guys. I noticed that my snail isn't feeling good. I found the little fella on a vegetable that I bought from the local market. And i thought that the soil was the problem. I was using soil from outside the building. I just bought a bag of potting soil. I changed the old soil with the new one. And now the snail doesn't bury himself in the soil. He sleeps on the container wall. The soil has natural fertilizers in it... is that the problem or should i give him time to get familiar to the new environment ?
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Post by morningcoffee on Mar 15, 2014 10:07:42 GMT
hey guys. I noticed that my snail isn't feeling good. I found the little fella on a vegetable that I bought from the local market. And i thought that the soil was the problem. I was using soil from outside the building. I just bought a bag of potting soil. I changed the old soil with the new one. And now the snail doesn't bury himself in the soil. He sleeps on the container wall. The soil has natural fertilizers in it... is that the problem or should i give him time to get familiar to the new environment ? You definitely shouldn't use soil that has fertilizers in it. Try getting some coir / coconut soil or some plain soil without any fertilizers or additives instead.
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Post by alex_hit on Mar 15, 2014 22:16:50 GMT
I went to a supermarket to find the correct soil. they had dozens of types of soil. None of them was without any fertilizer. So now, at almost 00:00 i went outside and got some soil from around the apartment building that also included some earthworms. He immediately buried himself in the soil. This is a good sign I reckon... Thanks for the quick reply.
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Post by etana on Jul 2, 2014 17:30:41 GMT
I'm replying to this thread because it's related. I hope this will get moved (and this line may be edited out). I have Arianta arbustorum and Cepaea hortensis snails. At first I had soil I'd taken from the outside, from the edge of a community garden. The snails were happy enough about it, but it started to stink (went sour I guess?) so I bought coconut substrate. It says "Coco husks tropical terrarium substrate" on the brick-sized package, with pictures of reptiles and frogs, and the pet store owner said it would be safe for snails too as it's made for reptiles and other small tropical animals. You had to soak it in water and it'd expand. All right, I followed the instructions, and put the soaked, expanded coconut substrate in my terrarium, and then the snails. I guess this stuff is different to the 'coir' that gets mentioned here, because it didn't look like soil at all, but single coconut fibers and bigger fibery chunks, albeit in a very pleasant orange-y shade. Turns out it tickled them. The brave ones that tried to walk on it had it in their eyes all the time, and were twitching their shorter tentacles as well to get rid of it! The rest just stared down at it very, very suspiciously. A good thing I bought sphagnum moss as well as I'd failed to find real moss in clean enough places. I'd thought I'd use it just for fun little decorations, but I wound up covering all the coconut stuff with it because it looked much softer and nicer for the snails. They're walking and also nibbling on it now, hopefully it's not harmful. If anything comes to mind right now that I should know, please do tell me. It's only a bunch of originally wild snails but they're very dear to me, and I certainly hope they don't suffer when they live with me.
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Post by morningcoffee on Jul 2, 2014 18:39:53 GMT
It sounds like you've got coconut "bark chips" rather than actual coir. I personally wouldn't recommend using this as a primary substrate for snails, though some of it mixed into some coir or soil is OK. On its own it's not very suitable for them to burrow into.
Coir is sometimes called Eco Earth, CocoFibre or Forest Bed when it's sold as reptile substrate. Alternatively you can search for "coir brick" on Amazon or eBay.
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Post by etana on Jul 2, 2014 20:13:15 GMT
Thanks for the info. Yeah the coconut stuff I got definitely didn't work on its own. Is there any harm (other than that it's expensive) in using lots of sphagnum moss on top of it all over the bottom of the terrarium? At least the snails seem happy with it for now, and I'm hoping that together the coconut and sphagnum moss help with keeping it conveniently humid. Either way I'll be looking into the products you mentioned when I'm financially in better shape
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Post by muddydragon on Jul 4, 2014 20:50:45 GMT
You'ld probably be best off taking the chips away and using the sphagnum moss. there shouldnt be any problem just using that
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Post by etana on Jul 5, 2014 10:20:38 GMT
Sounds like a reasonable thing to do. I've had them both in there so far, and my Ariantas hide happily between the moss and coco layers, but never dig into the coco. I think I'll be doing that my next bigger terrarium cleaning day. Good thing I bought lots of the moss.
Would it be worth it to tell the pet store owner that the coco isn't suitable for small snails (and I doubt it works too well for big ones either)? I don't want people's pet snails getting tickled!
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Post by heidi21 on Mar 11, 2015 19:58:22 GMT
Could anyone link me to a safe bedding? If I ever find a snail I want him or her to be safe and I am super paranoid.
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Post by Liguus on Mar 11, 2015 20:03:07 GMT
ZooMed brand substrates are a good bedding choice. They're sold in compressed bricks and in a loose form. It can be found in Petco or Petsmart.
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Post by sparrow on Apr 10, 2015 16:14:33 GMT
It's another soil question! Don't want to start another thread as it's better to keep these related. I've been using the EcoEarth coir fiber for a little over a month and although Snaggle doesn't seem bothered by it, I didn't realize just how much the coir retains water. Yesterday, I found two small patches of white mold, which I quickly removed. It doesn't seem natural for snails and I know many, many of you use it, but as a personal preference, I simply don't like it. I don't feel coir is the "ideal substrate" for snails. I've been waiting for our local garden center to have topsoil on sale again and now with spring finally here, they have it in stock again. A 40 pound bag (smallest size available) is under $4. The center claims there are no fertilizers, insecticides or any additives, so that's a great start. Assuming this soil should be sterilized, is microwaving in small amounts at a time a good method? Or is the oven a better way? After sterilization, how much calcium pre cup of soil should I add to the cooled soil? Any tips, except "get used to the coir" will be appreciated! Thanks! P.S. Just spent some time on the phone with a professor at Penn State University, consulting with him about the best soil for the snails. He agreed, topsoil would indeed be the best choice, since this is their natural habitat (for garden snails, at least). I mentioned the coir fiber and he made an interesting comment, saying "...since most coconuts are grown near the sea, coir may contain too much salt for snails..." and did not recommend it. As mentioned, I know many of you use coir without problems, but wanted to let you know what a "soil expert" thinks. He suggested asking my local garden center for compost and the source analysis sheet that has to provided to the centers when they purchase compost. OK, off to the garden center. Let's see what we find!
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Post by scamp16 on Jun 3, 2015 21:10:14 GMT
I am looking at these two soils to use in my snail habitat which if any is better? Nature's Care Organic Potting Mix Ingredients are: sphagnum peatmoss, posessed forest products, coir, organic fertilizer, and yucca. Total Nitrogen 0.10%, Available phosphate 0.10%, Soluble potash 0.12%, derived from poultry litter, feather meal, meat meal and blood meal.
The other is Organic Starter Mix: Ingredients are: Sphagnum peat moss, horticulture vermiculite, perlite and organic wetting agent.
Are either of there safe?
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floralswan
Archachatina marginata
My baby snails are getting big!!
Posts: 16
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Post by floralswan on Jul 3, 2015 14:21:07 GMT
If you change use coconut soil my snails LOVE it!! You can find it at petsmart in the hermet crab section
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horrr0r
Achatina achatina
Posts: 75
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Post by horrr0r on Jul 3, 2015 20:59:15 GMT
I wanna try to DIY the coco coir substrate stuff! There are a ton of coconut trees out here in Hawaii
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