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Post by audrey on Aug 2, 2021 18:19:31 GMT
hi yall, i've had oxyloma retusum snails for just about three weeks now. As you can guess, they mated and i now have 20+ little babies crawling around looking for food and sustenance. There's another batch of eggs being laid today, also.
I do not have a pet store around for the next 2 hours, nor do i want to support them with any business (so, cuttlefish bones and calcium powders are out of the equation). I'm vegan, but i live with nonvegans and i use their eggshells whenever they make eggs, but not all the snails like this source. They havent touched spinach nor kale, and i havent tried broccoli yet. However, they do have garlic mustard in their tank which the medium sized snails like to nibble on a lot. What other cheap/plant sources of calcium could i give my babies?
thank you!
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snaileyhammy
Achatina tincta
Hi I am Hammy! I adore snails and slugs.
Posts: 550
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Post by snaileyhammy on Aug 2, 2021 19:11:35 GMT
Hello! Congrats on the baby snails! Egg shells can be an extra calcium source on the side, but unfortunately you are going to either need to get cuttlebone or a calcium powder. Cuttlebone is the best option, and you can order it online if you’d like. Just remember to never sprinkle powdered calcium on their food. I would also recommend giving your snails a varied diet of 2-4 different types of veggies each week. You can change what you feed them whenever you’d like, as long as it is safe. Here is a video I made about a snails diet if you would like to watch it! youtu.be/p6B-4L--P5w. I hope this helped!  |
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Post by SuspiciousBagel on Aug 3, 2021 10:16:00 GMT
Hello! I'd suggest following snaileyhammy's advice. Eggshells, while still a source of calcium, aren't nearly as good and won't result in as good shell growth compared to with cuttlefish or calcium. Also, garlic mustard is unsuitable for them, and if they don't like broccoli or kale try feeding other veggies. Snails need a balanced diet of mainly vegetables with fruit occasionally and a source of protein once a week (The best protein sources imo are gammarus shrimp and mealworms which you can buy for very cheap online dried. Just make sure to rehydrate them in water before feeding!) You can take a look at www.giantafricanlandsnails.com/feeding-snails.html this website for a guide on feeding, just beware that alot of what they list as protein sources are very low in it or usually contain ingredients that are not good for snails (e.g: Fish flakes tend to have Cupric in them (a kind of copper) which is toxic to snails) FYI, if youre intending on keeping the babies you'd have to go through the culling process for them, same with the eggs that are still being laid too. If you don't want the eggs/babies you can crush them quickly and dispose of them. It's a sad thing to have to do but unfortunately since you can't release captive bred snails there's not much else you can do unless you want to just keep all the less 'runty' runts separate and never let them breed. I suppose as a vegan you might be less willing to cull but its preventing suffering for the runts as naturally they're born deformed and suffering. Here's a great guide to breeding and culling I strongly suggest you read through: docs.google.com/document/d/1ZnoO4YEFppvyCD03y-OltojfRzVU0_ZWQt0JTUEOHK0/edit |
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Post by littlegoldsnail on Aug 3, 2021 14:22:41 GMT
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apple
Archachatina degneri
Posts: 1,078 
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Post by apple on Oct 2, 2021 12:12:15 GMT
Crushed oyster shells are cheap and very effective on providing calcium for snails.
I have some large Helix aspersa (and a Arch. puylaerti), and all seem to be growing really well with it.
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