Wanted: Amphidromus Snails

[brigliadore]

Does anyone sell or have a lead on an importer for Amphidromus Snails. Looking to buy maybe 20 snails but most of the people I have contacted want either a lot of money or a 500 snail min order. Any leads would be most helpful.

Thanks

[Liguus]

I also want some, about 10 depending on the price.

[Cashell]

I just looked them up and WOW! They are hella pretty! Amphidromus atricallosus is one of them and it's quite the looker. They also look like one of those species that are very hard to care for...

[brigliadore]

Yes, they are not a beginner species. Though both of us have experience with lots of other species (some also challenging) so are up to the task. Now to find some :-)

[wolf]

Hi,
Cashell is absolutely right.
I've seen Amphidromus atricallosus in Thailand life - very pretty. On the other hand, as far as I know (please correct me if I'm wrong), Amphidromus hasn't been bred yet in Europe from captive stock, so the specimens you can buy (sometimes) are wild caught. When I was in Thailand, I couldn't decide to take living specimens home.
Kind regards: wolf

[Liguus]

Oct 13, 2016 2:37:05 GMT Cashell said:

They also look like one of those species that are very hard to care for...

I've spoken with an Indonesian keeper and here are some differences. I used Orthalicus as a general representative of the arboreal FL species :
 
Food:
Amphidromus- will eat some solid foods (like cucumber), also eat smoothie mix.
Orthalicus- Only eat smoothie mix so far.

Temperature:
Amphidromus- Need to be warm year round, may need additional heat mats.  
Orthalicus- Can tolerate cold temps down to wintertime lows in FL (low 60's F)

Humidity:
Amphidromus- Seem to need high (80%+) humidity.
Orthalicus - any (will estivate in the dry season).

I'm not sure if anyone has tried breeding Amphidromus but they lay their eggs on the leaves in the trees.

[brigliadore]

I came across a paper written in the 60's about observing Amphidromus laying eggs. It mentioned that in every case where they had come across a wild snail laying, the snail had made a little cone out of leaves for the eggs to go in. Once the eggs were deposited, it would seal up the top. Creating a little egg cocoon. It mentioned that when the leaf pod was opened the eggs dried out very quickly, and that they would lay in Aug right at the start of the rain season. So likely if leaf selections are not just right they may not lay in captivity.

Finding anyone keeping them currently is hard, so asking questions about care has been slow going. If I can get them here, it may be a bit of learning the first few months what makes them happiest.

[heydihoo]

I have kept these in the past, I also know of someone that managed to successfully breed them, I may be able to get some if there is enough interest, the local importer I know has contacts in Indonesia where he got them from last time I think I paid about £9.50 per snail

[omumacaw]

resurrecting this ancient thread because I too really want these snails! They are a dream snail of mine, that I really want to get a captive breeding program going for! If anyone knows of where I can get them and have them shipped to me, I would be so grateful!