snail care e-book

[Louise]

i was just wondering why some of the more experienced members of the forum haven.t collaberated on a snail care e-book that people can download and print off.I myself would have found it extremely useful as a newbie to snails.I was thinking it could include things like a step by step guide to setting up a snail tank with pictures at each step. Maybe a snail first aid section, snail identification chart also a weekly general feeding guide ie what most of you feed your snails in a general week and just basically what is on the site and forum all on one downloadable printable document.I got the idea when i saw a 60 page iguana care e-book on another site.The people who,s posts i have generally found the most helpful who i think would be good at writing the e-book are arno, brian, paul, kevin lisalq. kathym, val, and copigeon.That is of course assuming that they want to but as a beginner i found their advice to be consistently informative and easy to understand throughout the forum.Just an idea but i think you lot could write a really good care guide, especially considering that there is only one published snail care book out there.You have got so much knowledge between you i think it would be a really good e-book that people would keep as a referance on their bookshelves.

[Paul]

I don't know about the others mentioned, but I have considered this in the past and I've been asked about producing a book but there are reasons I've not bothered to yet. Many of the sections you mentioned wouldn't be complete enough in my opinion. The identification part springs to mind, I still don't think we're in a position to produce a identification chart, though I do have the beginnings of one that I have been recording since hunting the info began. The website is my way of recording all of this info. I think when it reaches a point nearer completeness, I'd definitely consider recompiling the information into a downloadable PDF document for printing out. I'd try and do this automatically, so it can be compiled over and over to keep it updated, without it requiring a major effort each time, because we're constantly revising the info. So little is known about the subject as a whole when compared to other animals.

Your post has prompted me to ask again that people contribute to the website in some way. My species guides are only on a handful of species for example, and I have no tank setup guides which would be welcomed. I've tried to be as detailed as possible but I don't want that to put off contributions as each page has to start somewhere. A page with limited info is a great start and can be developed further. I'll put it on in whatever form it is sent to me, and then other members can revise the info to their heart's content. It would be nice for people to consider the site as a snail wiki in development that they can contribute to.

[copigeon]

With everything Im working on at the moment, Im a little short of time. I personally have most of my interest of snails based in the practicalities of rearing/breeding species specific. Especially when it comes to small snail species such as helix. This sort of "observational" information is exactly what my website is for, close detailed breeding and rearing accounts... like a keepers diary? After xmas I should have alot of it up and running.

Will be able to contribute alot of that to the petsnails website also, which is as paul says, the very book you are requesting

[Kevin]

Im also working on my website at the moment, ive posted the new fulica page, I hope every page on the different species will look like that one soon, ive just finished writing up a tiger snail section and am currently working on a new immacs section, ive decided to post the new sections on the site as I complete them, and will add more to it from there.

Paul, you are welcome to use the guides from my site for petsnails when they are finished.