Are your snails shy?

[alexc1981]

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone elses observations mirror my own.

My Iredalei is very shy. As soon as I open the lid or move a draw on the unit his tank sits on, he goes and hides away. Once he's used to me being there he comes out again and is as right as rain.

My Immaculata on the other hand takes no notice of me at all. He goes part in if I pick him up but comes back out again almost immediately.

Is this a species or individual thing?

[CelticCraftress]

Maybe it depends on the snail, I personaly believe they have unique personalities, if you spend enough time observing them of course. ;D

When I had a little herd of garden snails and one white lip, I found their little personalities, unless I was going mad...which is possible. haha

For example, the white lip was the bravest, in fact, I believe he was the one who kept staring at me as we took them home. I had them in a cup, the others hid almost entirly, but he hung out on the edge and just kept on with his little stare. It was cute. I gave my boyfriend a scare when I offered him a "snail kiss" which is basicaly when you (VERY GENTLY) tap the snail mouth to your nose. Sundrop didn't mind at all. ;D

[Deleted]

The more you handle them the less shy they get (generally)

[LisaLQ]

That's true - all of my margies apart from Columbia have been a bit shy, in some cases giving them time to settle in was all that was needed, but with the babies it's taken lots of handling. They generally come out straight away now. My two big margies always suck their head back in when I open the tank - but I think this is a normal reaction to a sudden change - one minute they're happily eating, the next minute the sky's gone and there's a big monster staring at them ;D

[ian]

My brixton margie isnt really keen on handling but i took her to my nursery and she was fine with the kids after a few minutes. One of my iredalei retracts if you handle it but the other one is really friendly and they are llitter mates.
It might be genetic as well, ive got two fulica ive bred from, one of them is friendly the other one retracts and makes a sharp air noise if i go near it and holds on desperately if i try to take it from the side of a tank, their offspring are varied either really friendly like abigail or a bit narky like tallulah.

[apple]

Some are shy, like albino margies, tigers are less shy now.
Lignus turned less shy when I started to bath them outside the tank.
However, I have some wild caught ones ( like nice Otala lactea) that seem to be tamed!

[alexc1981]

That interesting. I always used to handle the immac more because he was temperamental with his food.

Perhaps I should get to know the iredalei better so that I stop making him jump. ;D