english snails - do they eat each other?

[lina]

hey

i got two gals and i love them - i also did all my research and discovered that they will eat domestic snails in my garden if i let their babies loose - good to know seeing as i have recently added a normal english garden snail, nina, to my collection, she is kept in a seperate tank

i then found titus - another english snail, and he is HUGE whereas nina is TINY - about the size of this O - no kidding!

i'm wondering if it's just african land snails that eat other little snails from england - or if titus will do some damage to nina if put in the same tank - right now they are separated but i'm running out of tank space so... still don't want to risk it though.

can't they just all get along?! oh well...

many many thanks,

Lina

[katherineh]

There a great many species of British snail, so it would help to identify what you have:

www.freewebs.com/worldofsnails/britishsnails.htm

The common garden snails Helix aspersa and Cepea hortensis/nemoralis are fine together IME. Mixing African snails with British is likely to spread disease, they may also need different temperatures.

[Paul]

There are types of predatory snail, but the usual Giant African Land Snails aren't.

Examples of "hunter" snails are Rumina decollata and Euglandina rosea, neither of which are native to the UK.

[mickysnail]

I don't know of any British snails that are actively carnivorous. I am led to believe that there are Carnivorous slugs. The only carnivorous snails that I know of the cannibal snails and hunter snails both of which are native to Africa (South africa I think) mickysnail

[katherineh]

Has anyone ever kept a carnivorous snail? Euglandina rosea must be pretty adaptable if it's been introduced to so many places. Rumina decollata apparently originates from the Mediterranean but has also been introduced elsewhere.

[THE MCDERMOTT SISTERS]

Hi I've got garden snails.21 of them.Will you give me a few ideas of what they eat???

[katherineh]

THE said:

Hi I've got garden snails.21 of them.Will you give me a few ideas of what they eat???

www.petsnails.co.uk/care/feeding.html

Hope that helps ;)

[Paul]

There were people on this forum a while back who were keeping Rumina decollata. I don't know much beyond that really.

There was also a member from the US who kept Euglandina rosea but she never stuck around long enough for us to get any proper information.

Theer are loads of hunter snails from Africa as mickysnail said, I bet they could be obtained from an African seller. But you'd have to feed them snails.

[The Mcdermott sisters]

Hi

Me and my sister has collected 21 snails and they are all garden snails.Hopefully I can get some pic's on soon.

Ciara

[katherineh]

Fascinating as it may be, I don't think I want to do this:

www.associatesinsectary.com/rumina_decollata.htm

[mickysnail]

I saw somone on the net a while back selling this species as pest control. I don't know if this isa good idea. Remember what happened to the partula snail! mickysnail

[LisaLQ]

Lina, it's illegal to release GALS into the wild as they can cause severe damage to crops and wildlife - I'd ignore that info about them being good pest control!

[mickysnail]

It was carnivorous snails that I being advertised as the pest control for garden snails. (Which I still think is a bad idea) Who was it that said about GALS being pest control?mickysnail

[LisaLQ]

lina said:

i got two gals and i love them - i also did all my research and discovered that they will eat domestic snails in my garden if i let their babies loose

Lina did

[katherineh]

I thought Lina meant she wouldn't release GALS because she was concerned that they would attack native snails? I may have misread that.

I saw something about Rumina decollata being sold as pest control in the US, but they are present in the wild there anyway, so it's just a bit like us releasing ladybirds to control greenfly, I suppose.

[LisaLQ]

katherineh said:

I thought Lina meant she wouldn't release GALS because she was concerned that they would attack native snails? I may have misread that.

I read it as her saying she'd read this info, and therefore wouldn't be letting her GALS interact with her pet native snails. But I was warning her not to take heed of the info she'd read is it was illegal

[lina]

to clarify - i asked about african snails eating native snails because i keep as pets both african and native snails and was unsure of wether to let them live together. now i know not to. i was informed that letting unwanted gal eggs into the wild to hatch got rid of them but that they will eat other snails - however i WILL NOT do this if it's illegal. Wasn't going to anyway

I was really wondering if english snails eat other smaller english snails, seeing as i have one big and one small english snail

hope no one is confused anymore

xoxox