Poop questions

[supersnailen]

I just got snails a few days ago and of course noticed that they poop whenever but I noticed today that they must've all pooped while they were awake last night. Is it common for them to all poop on a similar schedule or should I be concerned? Also I clean the poop so the tank doesn't look too dirty, but one of them decided to poop in the food dish and it makes me wonder if their own poop could make them sick. One last question as well, do snails digest eggshells or just absorb what they need from them? Because I think I saw what could be described as an eggshell poop because it was a small collection of shell pieces and not what I normally see them excret.

[daniele]

Hi! eggshell should be powdered in fact, in order to not be of any danger for them.. and the cuttlefish bone is often the best solution anyway.. Concerning the poop, they do it when they want, like we human do! the poop itself will not make them sick, but anyway you should remove it from the food and from the enclosure as after some time it can make a good environment for insects parasites and bacteria

[etana]

Snails actually need to be around their poop to stay healthy, and they will also occasionally eat some of it, again to stay healthy - so it goes even further than them not getting sick from it (though that of course is true as well). You may clean it up when it disgusts you, as we humans don't want to see disgusting things, but don't remove any that a snail is in the middle of eating.

Some researchers have accidentally killed snails by desinfecting their tank repeatedly and then discovering they had lost all their gut bacteria that they need for normal digestion.

I don't think there is anything to worry about in those pooping schedules. Snails often poop when they're waking up, and then some more during their active time.

Also, many foods come out of snails looking not much different than they were going in. Egg shells aren't the best calcium source, cuttlefish bones and pure limestone flour work better.