Post by etana on Jun 24, 2014 11:03:40 GMT
A quick search didn't really reveal any threads on the very matter I want to discuss.
I've found information about how snails seem slightly happier, slightly more active when they aren't alone in their terrariums. Also, the actual mating with love dart shooting, the "full body kisses" etc is famous, as is them sometimes sleeping in pairs/piles and dividing into small subgroups that eat and sleep at the same times.
But how about the smaller details of snail social life? Am I seeing things I want to see?
(Yes, here come the small snail stories I've been holding in until I registered here! Hooray, I have listeners!
)
Observations of my Arianta arbustorums:
- When one snail is sitting somewhere, wide awake and eyes fully out but not moving, when another snail goes past it, they touch each other's eye stalks. And they will even slightly turn to reach each other, so it doesn't seem acciental, even when it results in the familiar "ow, my eye" reflex.
- One snail can pass by another very carefully so that the bodies and shells don't touch. Same with adults passing by their own babies. Which brings me to another observation - one Arianta actually hit another one in the face with the shell many times in a row. Yeah, "hit", you know, at snail speed, so actually he just turned around and slowly swung his shell, hehe... but the other one had to pull back and retract all his tentacles! For some reason he'd chase the annoyed one down again, and then get hit in the face again. Whew.
- Before the "full body kiss" phase, they gently stroke each other's backs with their eye stalks. Even if the other one is eating or doing something else. Affection? Sure looks that way!
- Slimy triangle drama: Let's say I have snails called "Big Eyes", "Old Grumpy" and "Red Stripe" (er, I need to figure out better names, cough). I know snails aren't monogamous, but they seem to have favourite partners. So, Big Eyes and Old Grumpy had been mating before. Red Stripe approached Big Eyes, stroked his back gently with eye stalks for a long time, and then tried to move on to kissing - which was when Big Eyes did something to scare him off! Red Stripe turned around super fast and RAN off, meanwhile Big Eyes turned to gently touch Old Grumpy's back, who had appeared nearby. Mating ensued the same night.
On a different day, it looked like Red Stripe and Old Grumpy were kissing. Okay, may be random that Big Eyes was eating very very slowly, with one eye pointed in their direction... but what happened next was odd. Red and Old wrapped around each other like Yin and Yang and were rocking slowly, and Big Eyes slimed there very very slowly (he's my fastest Arianta if he wants to be!), and actually placed his shell next to Old Grumpy's shell so that they touched, and sat there rocking along for many minutes. Then he crawled off and went to eat.
After this, Big Eyes and Old Grumpy have spent a lot of time together. I often find them sleeping in the same hiding places, and I have many set up!
- One time I interrupted two snails mating as I was cleaning underneath the food cup. They pulled apart from each other, stroked each other with eye stalks, retracted all their tentacles and went to sleep right there. Later on I found them right in the middle of it again. Like, "it's okay honey, we can do it again later" kind of thing
- A snail was trying to pass over a gap between two logs; there was another snail on the other side, conveniently at the edge of the gap. Snail 1 reached out and poked snail 2's shell with his eye stalk, snail 2 turned to look, snail 1 reached out even further and grabbed hold of snail 2's shell. Snail 2 then pulled snail 1 over the gap by moving his shell!
- I have my Cepaea hortensis snails in the same terrarium with the Ariantas, because they have pretty similar habitats outside, too. At first they sort of avoided each other, as in, if all Cepaeas were hanging from the ceiling, the Ariantas were at the bottom, and vice versa, but last night one big Arianta went ahead and climbed up to where a pile of Cepaeas were at the ceiling. And he even went and touched them carefully, as if to say "looks like we're all stuck here together, so I might as well get to know you". Later I found that he and one of the Cepaeas were, uh, with their shell openings very close to each other - I'd never seen an Arianta do that before.
I hope to get some fascinating Cepaea observations, as well! Thus far I only have the story about the one that broke out of its separate container and tried to break into the big terrarium. Also they seem to enjoy food that's even further rotten than the stuff Ariantas eat. And they like beer more than Ariantas do.
What do you think?
Also, what stories do you have? I'd love to read! I was absolutely moved by another thread here, where people said that snails sometimes stay beside the dying ones until they're gone to snail heaven. Wow.
I've found information about how snails seem slightly happier, slightly more active when they aren't alone in their terrariums. Also, the actual mating with love dart shooting, the "full body kisses" etc is famous, as is them sometimes sleeping in pairs/piles and dividing into small subgroups that eat and sleep at the same times.
But how about the smaller details of snail social life? Am I seeing things I want to see?
(Yes, here come the small snail stories I've been holding in until I registered here! Hooray, I have listeners!
)Observations of my Arianta arbustorums:
- When one snail is sitting somewhere, wide awake and eyes fully out but not moving, when another snail goes past it, they touch each other's eye stalks. And they will even slightly turn to reach each other, so it doesn't seem acciental, even when it results in the familiar "ow, my eye" reflex.
- One snail can pass by another very carefully so that the bodies and shells don't touch. Same with adults passing by their own babies. Which brings me to another observation - one Arianta actually hit another one in the face with the shell many times in a row. Yeah, "hit", you know, at snail speed, so actually he just turned around and slowly swung his shell, hehe... but the other one had to pull back and retract all his tentacles! For some reason he'd chase the annoyed one down again, and then get hit in the face again. Whew.
- Before the "full body kiss" phase, they gently stroke each other's backs with their eye stalks. Even if the other one is eating or doing something else. Affection? Sure looks that way!
- Slimy triangle drama: Let's say I have snails called "Big Eyes", "Old Grumpy" and "Red Stripe" (er, I need to figure out better names, cough). I know snails aren't monogamous, but they seem to have favourite partners. So, Big Eyes and Old Grumpy had been mating before. Red Stripe approached Big Eyes, stroked his back gently with eye stalks for a long time, and then tried to move on to kissing - which was when Big Eyes did something to scare him off! Red Stripe turned around super fast and RAN off, meanwhile Big Eyes turned to gently touch Old Grumpy's back, who had appeared nearby. Mating ensued the same night.
On a different day, it looked like Red Stripe and Old Grumpy were kissing. Okay, may be random that Big Eyes was eating very very slowly, with one eye pointed in their direction... but what happened next was odd. Red and Old wrapped around each other like Yin and Yang and were rocking slowly, and Big Eyes slimed there very very slowly (he's my fastest Arianta if he wants to be!), and actually placed his shell next to Old Grumpy's shell so that they touched, and sat there rocking along for many minutes. Then he crawled off and went to eat.
After this, Big Eyes and Old Grumpy have spent a lot of time together. I often find them sleeping in the same hiding places, and I have many set up!
- One time I interrupted two snails mating as I was cleaning underneath the food cup. They pulled apart from each other, stroked each other with eye stalks, retracted all their tentacles and went to sleep right there. Later on I found them right in the middle of it again. Like, "it's okay honey, we can do it again later" kind of thing
- A snail was trying to pass over a gap between two logs; there was another snail on the other side, conveniently at the edge of the gap. Snail 1 reached out and poked snail 2's shell with his eye stalk, snail 2 turned to look, snail 1 reached out even further and grabbed hold of snail 2's shell. Snail 2 then pulled snail 1 over the gap by moving his shell!
- I have my Cepaea hortensis snails in the same terrarium with the Ariantas, because they have pretty similar habitats outside, too. At first they sort of avoided each other, as in, if all Cepaeas were hanging from the ceiling, the Ariantas were at the bottom, and vice versa, but last night one big Arianta went ahead and climbed up to where a pile of Cepaeas were at the ceiling. And he even went and touched them carefully, as if to say "looks like we're all stuck here together, so I might as well get to know you". Later I found that he and one of the Cepaeas were, uh, with their shell openings very close to each other - I'd never seen an Arianta do that before.
I hope to get some fascinating Cepaea observations, as well! Thus far I only have the story about the one that broke out of its separate container and tried to break into the big terrarium. Also they seem to enjoy food that's even further rotten than the stuff Ariantas eat. And they like beer more than Ariantas do.
What do you think?
Also, what stories do you have? I'd love to read! I was absolutely moved by another thread here, where people said that snails sometimes stay beside the dying ones until they're gone to snail heaven. Wow. 
