jeanne
Achatina fulica
Posts: 1
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Post by jeanne on Dec 20, 2015 0:24:50 GMT
Hi everyone! It was such a pleasure to find a community of people who keep snails as pets... I was afraid of being the only one. I currently own one snail with a charming backstory. I haven't yet identified his species. Long story short, I was eating organic raspberries and watching television. Halfway through the package, I realized that there were tiny (hatched) eggs on one of the berries. A thorough search yielded one TINY baby snail, and three years later, he's fully grown and living a life of luxury. (I probably ate his siblings... blech.) He's relatively inactive, doesn't mind being handled, and prefers to eat lettuce and carrots. His name is Raspberry. I'd like to learn more about snails as pets to improve his quality of life and ensure that he lives as long as possible. I'm also very interested in seeing the other types of snails that people keep! Banana slugs are gorgeous, and I love seeing photographs of giant African land snails.
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Post by slimyrascal on Dec 20, 2015 2:49:47 GMT
Aw what a sweet story, do you have pictures of your slimy friend?
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jeanne
Achatina fulica
Posts: 1
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Post by jeanne on Dec 20, 2015 3:47:21 GMT
I do, although none were taken with the intention of identifying his species. I'm going to set up some proper lighting, clean his shell and take some proper photos later for the 'identify your snail' board! This was taken immediately upon discovering him. He's still sitting in the raspberry container. (Sorry for the image size -- I don't have the software to resize it on this laptop!) Here he is, partially grown! He was such a cute little guy. And here he is, fully-grown! You can see the small lip on his shell. I wanted to prove that he was the size of an escargot snail, and what better way than sticking him on a fork? I suspect he's a common garden snail. I know that the raspberries were sourced in California. But whatever he is, he's made a great pet! Extremely low-maintenance.
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Post by Liguus on Dec 20, 2015 4:08:54 GMT
Yes, this is a Helix aspersa. Pretty lucky find, although snail eggs in your food are a bit of nasty surprise if you're not expecting it.
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Post by slimyrascal on Dec 20, 2015 4:25:35 GMT
Oh yes, and a beautiful, well-taken care of specimen at that!
We have one that likes apples and sweet potatoes the best.
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jeanne
Achatina fulica
Posts: 1
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Post by jeanne on Dec 20, 2015 23:17:56 GMT
We've never had sweet potatoes handy, but I'll definitely let him try apples. Thanks for the recommendation!
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Cashell
Archachatina puylaerti
Posts: 1,124
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Post by Cashell on Dec 20, 2015 23:38:19 GMT
Welcome! It's nice to see another Canadian come abroad!
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Post by slimyrascal on Dec 21, 2015 12:35:25 GMT
We've never had sweet potatoes handy, but I'll definitely let him try apples. Thanks for the recommendation! They are cheap at the supermarket and the snails are crazy about it!
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Zorst
Achatina tincta
Posts: 734
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Post by Zorst on Dec 23, 2015 20:58:40 GMT
Hi and welcome to the Forum
Its nice to see another Canadian here, I'm originally from Alberta but now live in the EU. Great story about your lucky snail.
Zorst
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Post by astana on Dec 25, 2015 21:56:10 GMT
Hey, and welcome to the forums! Nice little guy you have there.
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Post by MaxPower on Dec 29, 2015 17:38:22 GMT
Welcome! Quite the interesting start in life your little snail had!
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charles124
Achatina achatina
Snails I Keep:
Posts: 80
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Post by charles124 on Jan 5, 2016 3:32:47 GMT
Welcome! I second slimyrascal about the sweet potato. Ive exposed my snails to alot of different veggies and that is by far their favorite. Take some time to browse around at previous articles concerning tips and advice on various topics. It helped me alot when I began snailing:)
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Post by astana on Jan 18, 2016 3:51:43 GMT
Lovely little guy. I myself have an Aspersa that I almost munched on. He was in a bag of vegetables a friend had sent and had somehow survived the journey from the garden to the plate without being discovered/smashed. It's lovely that your little one survived!
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