Garden snails all hibernating? Near heater? Please help!

[portlandsnailmom]

Hello, I have wanted pet snails for a long time and was very excited to get 3 garden snails (helix aspersa?) and 3 chocolate band snails (Helix Vermiculata?) for Christmas. When I received them all the chocolate snails were hibernating and I woke them up, one of the garden snails was hibernating and two were awake. After one month of being very active and looking happy, one by one they have all sealed off, 2 of the garden snails are sealed to the glass, one is sealed in the log, and all the chocolate snails are sealed over and burrowed in the dirt. The garden snails went to sleep first, then the chocolate snails. I do not know if this is normal, or if I am doing something wrong.

I set them up in a 20 gallon tank with a screen top, 3-5 inches of coco fiber and spagnum moss, a fish tank log to hide in, a few pieces of cork wood, 3 live plants, pothos, prayer plant, and a bird nest fern. I have small regular lamps with shades on both sides of the tank with low 15 watt bulbs to give the plants enough light, but I was trying to not get too much light. I try to keep the humidity at about 80%, but it goes up to 99% when I mist, temperature ranges from 65-75 Fahrenheit. The thing I am the most unsure of is the temperature. The low coffee table they are on is in front of a baseboard heater. I was thinking this would keep them from getting too cold, but I am wondering if this is the problem? I try to keep the thermostat set at the same temp, but I know that it fluctuates when the heater kicks on and off.

I feed them a rotation of sweet potato, green beans, lettuce, cucumber, carrot, broccoli, cilantro, dill, soaked oatmeal, fish flakes with algae, shrimp based pellet fish food and a white powdered snail food I got off amazon. The have two cuttle bones in the tank. I use bottled water to mist them, a light misting in the morning and a heavier mist at night before dinner.

They also have isopods, both zebra and powder orange, and springtails in the tank. I have never seen the isopods bothering the snails, and they would eat side by side with no signs of issues.

A little less than 2 weeks after the last adult snail went to sleep, I had a batch of baby garden snails hatch out. There are around 25 of them and they have been growing like crazy, are eating everything I give them, and are very active and look happy. I am going to adopt some of them out to pet homes locally and I want to make sure I am giving their new owners good advice of how to care for them.

I don’t understand why the babies seam to be doing so well, but the adults are all hibernating? Do I have too much light? Too hot/cold? Too much temperature fluctuation? Is it normal for them to hibernate and after being woken up for a month it was time to go back to sleep? Do I just let them sleep or should I try to wake them up? The ones on the glass are so attached I would be worried I would hurt them if I tried to get them off.

Please let me know what I can I change to keep my new little pets happy and healthy. Sorry for the crazy long post, I just want to be a good snail mom.

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and advice!!

[daniele]

It's very important for Helix aspersa to hibernate for quiet a long period during the winter, they do it in order to survive the cold temperatures, but they actually need it also in order to remain in good health and "recover energies", they will preserve themselves better by hibernating for some periods.
For what I know everybody agree that they should do at least one month of sleeping, but very often a longer period is recommended. They will hibernate even when they are kept inside the house, and a younger snail sometimes will "postpone" hibernation, if they need. My older one for example last year, stayed awake the whole winter (i found her on february) and then hibernated on later march and remained sleeping until may. This year she hibernated at the beginning of february and still sleeping now; the other i found this winter, hibernated just last month instead! I only can tell you abt aspersa as is based on personal experience, don't know abt the others...

[orchid]

Apr 7, 2020 12:10:19 GMT daniele said:

They will hibernate even when they are kept inside the house, and a younger snail sometimes will "postpone" hibernation, if they need.

i honestly didn’t know this! my snail has been sleeping a lot longer and its been confusing me as there’s none of the signs of hibernation like the layer of slime they form. is that just the start of hibernation and i should leave him alone?

[daniele]

Apr 19, 2020 7:50:28 GMT orchid said:

Apr 7, 2020 12:10:19 GMT daniele said:

They will hibernate even when they are kept inside the house, and a younger snail sometimes will "postpone" hibernation, if they need.

i honestly didn’t know this! my snail has been sleeping a lot longer and its been confusing me as there’s none of the signs of hibernation like the layer of slime they form. is that just the start of hibernation and i should leave him alone?

what I know is that they need some longer rest sometimes, even  when not hibernating, also depends on the moisture level and the weather outside, or in general they can decide that is time for a longer sleep just to recover energies... so the general rule is to let them sleep when they want without disturbing them, but apart from that there are other things to check: how long is she sleeping? are the other snails active and awake? I ask this because if all your snail are sleeping from long, and the environment is hudim enough, and the outside weather is also not too dry (example if outside is raining sometimes) then maybe you should consider to check their set up to make sure if there is something wrong that makes them stressful and cause the sleep!

[orchid]

honestly i’m not really sure. his set up is pretty good from my research and he gets a good diet and good care. i don’t know about the temperature as my mom doesn’t understand their care and why i need a heating system and i’m only 14. he lives alone as he’s predatory, and i don’t have any other snails. his tank is pretty humid and gets listed twice a day, and he lives in a 10 gallon. the only issue i see is the fact that there are black ants that seem to come back every time i provide meat because he’s predatory. i decided that for now i will just feed him meat outside of his tank. he seems to sleep a lot more after he laid eggs. i’m not sure i guess.

[daniele]

Apr 19, 2020 21:41:41 GMT orchid said:

honestly i’m not really sure. his set up is pretty good from my research and he gets a good diet and good care. i don’t know about the temperature as my mom doesn’t understand their care and why i need a heating system and i’m only 14. he lives alone as he’s predatory, and i don’t have any other snails. his tank is pretty humid and gets listed twice a day, and he lives in a 10 gallon. the only issue i see is the fact that there are black ants that seem to come back every time i provide meat because he’s predatory. i decided that for now i will just feed him meat outside of his tank. he seems to sleep a lot more after he laid eggs. i’m not sure i guess.

well, considering that is a predatory snail, then is not an Helix aspersa (garden snail)! all I wrote was in fact abt Helix aspersa only, because is the only kind of snails I keep, so is the only one I have some experience abt! the original thread was abt garden snails, so I was just thinking that you were talking abt a garden snail too. What kind of snail do you own then? decollata maybe?
PS: my garden snails after laying eggs will sleep a lot too, maybe for recover...

[orchid]

oh i’m sorry! i misunderstood ahaha
he is a haplotrema snail. it could be from him laying eggs.

[orchid]

i just did some more research and he seems to be a robust lancetooth ! he’s pretty cool, but i might have to release him because i want to keep garden snails together and i don’t want him to devour the others 😂

[orchid]

im sorry i’m trying to delete this post but it wont let me, so ignore this