Post by kikidee on Feb 10, 2016 22:03:55 GMT
Hi all,
I joined this forum several months ago, but until now had only been using it as a reference. I've gained so much valuable information here that I thought it was only fair I finally introduce myself!
My name is Kirsten. I first became interested in snails more than 15 years ago, when I got an aquatic frog (Jubilee) who was accompanied by an olive nerite snail (Shelly). Shelly lived to be 9 and a half years old, and along the way, I acquired other types of aquatic snails (some on purpose; some not).
I began to think how cool it would be to also have land snails, and to my disappointment I found that getting any would not be easy! I finally found somewhere to get some legally (a biological supply company); they were rabdotus alternatus and sadly I did not have such good luck with them. I followed the instructions that were sent with them, but in retrospect, they were ridiculously incomplete. My next land snail, which I ultimately identified as an amber snail/succinaea putris, came to me as a pleasant surprise one week when I bought my rabbit, Ben, his weekly vegetables. While washing the kale, I found a little shell, and unlike other times I'd found shells in the vegetables, this one had a living inhabitant, who I named Kaylee. By this time, I knew more about snails and had rather good luck with her. She grew pretty big and left me with lots of babies. So a couple years ago, I went on a more aggressive search for other types of land snails and now have multiple breeds of both land snails and aquatic snails.
I considered myself to be a pretty good snail-keeper, as everyone ate well and most of them laid lots of eggs, but when I stumbled on this site, I discovered that there were still a lot of things I didn't know. Taking tips from here has been beneficial to my snails, who are now healthier than ever and enjoying a more varied diet (now that I know more things they like to eat). It was also wonderful to find that I was not alone in my fascination with these creatures!!
Now that I've broken my silence (LOL), I hope to use this site more interactively. Thanks for all the knowledge and I look forward to getting to know you all!
Kirsten
