A few problems: Growth and eating....

[sonicsnail]

Recently, my GALS in my glass tank have been not eating as much as some of my other snails and appear to not be growing. They seem to be not eating as much cuttlefish.

The other snails are in a different plastic tank and are about 5cm in shell length and are currently still growing as you can see new growth appearing.

However the ones in the glass tank are not growing and I don't know why. Their shells range from 6cm to 10cm. I thought that the snails with 10cm shells may have reached their maximum growth and simply will not grow any more. However, this does not explain why the ones with 6cm shell length in the glass tank have stopped growing. I also thought that it is obvious that the ones in the plastic tank with the 5cm shell lengths are going to be growing more as they are young. I'm just a bit concerned why the others in the glass tank have no new growth. Surely the 6cm shell length snails in the glass tank should still be growing. I provide them with cuttlefish and a wide range of food, just like the others in the plastic tank.

Does any one have any suggestions that I could do to encourage more growth ?

I forgot to mention, I'm pretty sure they are all fulica.

[copigeon]

Glass tanks are poorly insulated, tend to chill quicker/easier than plastic. Especially overnight, could be theyre just not warm enough to want to feed, therefore poor growth. Try a heatmat?

[Paul]

Snails do go through growth spurts and there are times when they eat less and grow less, I've noticed a reduction in all my snails' appetite as winter approaches.

The question is, are they eating? If they are, even in smaller amounts than usual, I wouldn't worry too much.

Also, I find that the more humid my tank is, the more active they are and the more they eat.

[sezzy5889]

look closely at the sides of the tank if you see little white dots, these are mites, i have a great problem with my glass tanks and not my plastic, they seem to make great places for mites, which annoy my snails and then they stop eating and their shells go brittle and rough and stop growing, also they rasp at their shells.
This may not be the problem but if you check then you can rule it out :-)

[sonicsnail]

Well there are currently no white dots since I have been putting the food in a food dish. I used to have them in a plastic tank, yes plastic tank lol, which used to get of mite problems. About brittle shells, well the edges of the GALS in the glass tank are sort of brittle. I can understand the heat issue for I quite agree with the less activity when not as warm or humid. I do spray the tank everyday when possible, but only sometimes use a heat mat. Should I be using it more now in winter? Oh and btw the snails in the glass tank do eat, just not as much as the smaller ones in the plastic tank.

Thanks

[sezzy5889]

you should be using a heat mat most or all of the time now

[section8angel]

You should only need to use it if the temp in the room isn't staying the same and keeping the tanks at a good temp.

My room is still warm and the tanks are staying the same so I'm not using mine yet.

[sezzy5889]

but in most houses the heating goes off at night and the temperature lowers, if this is the case you can use your heat mats just at night.

[section8angel]

Yes but aren't they used to a slight drop at night in the wild? And some houses are lucky and stay warm at night lol.

But yeah using it to keep the temp stable is good. I shouldn't think it would have to be the exact same as in the day, if they do have a drop in the wild too would it?

[sezzy5889]

Yes but the temperature doesn't drop as low as here in Africa does it?

[section8angel]

No but the day temp isn't the same as in africa either



I wasn't suggesting you drop it as low as it might go in africa. (I would think it's actually higher over there even at night than it is here though?)
What I am saying is, some people might want to give them a temperature drop because they might be used to it and it might show different behaviour than keeping the temp the same all the time.

It doesn't matter if the temp isn't the same as in africa, because they are used to the temps here so wont know that there is a difference. (Unless they read the forcasts of course )

I don't think it drops to the exact same temp every night anyway, so the fact that the temp here isn't exactly the same shouldn't matter either.

Now that all makes sense in my head. If none of you understand it then tough

[sezzy5889]

It doesn't matter if the temp isn't the same as in africa, because they are used to the temps here so wont know that there is a difference. (Unless they read the forcasts of course )

Brixtons do ;D

[section8angel]

Brixtons read the forcasts?!?! My Freddie is a genius then!!

Rofl

[sezzy5889]

lol no, they know what the african weather is like

[section8angel]

Mmmm but they wont remember it lol. (They might write it in their shells though... )

They would get used to the temp in their new home and probably forget what they were in.

[Paul]

Temperature and humidity in equatorial Africa stays pretty much constant with only a 1-5c drop at night. The biggest change comes every 3 months as there seasons change between dry and wet, dry and even wetter. But in humid rainforests even the humidity during the dry weather remains very high:

www.petsnails.co.uk/index.php?action=environment&type=westafrica

[section8angel]

Wooo they have a drop lol. I got something right

That's a lot of bloomin rainfall. I wonder if they have umbrellas hidden in the shells Lol

[sonicsnail]

Ok well there's obviously two sides to this to whether a heat mat should or shouldn't be used. I will use the heat mat and see if it makes a difference. However, I still need other advise on this growing problem. I know the heat mat would make them more active and hopefully they eat more then grow. But say if using the heat mat doesn't work. Some how I don't think it will seem to make a difference to their growth. Is there any other way I could encourage new growth to appear? I did think possible chalk, for they may eat that more instead of cuttlefish. Would this be a good idea to try? Do snails even have favourite preferences to which source of calcium the have?

Thanks

[sonicsnail]

admin said:

Snails do go through growth spurts and there are times when they eat less and grow less, I've noticed a reduction in all my snails' appetite as winter approaches.

Oops I didn't see this. Yes that could well explain why they are not growing and their appetite has decreased. like I said before I will use the heat mat to see if it makes a difference. One last thing, has anyone here used chalk before as a source of calcium? Is there any preparation to do before you give them the chalk e.g. wash. Anything else needed to be done with it?

Thanks