Iceberg lettuce??

[minimadmum]

Hi There,
I was just looking on ebay and saw this add for snails:

cgi.ebay.co.uk/giant-african-land-snails-babies_W0QQitemZ7722312352QQcategoryZ66788QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

They say never to feed iceberg lettuce. Why is this? I have always fed it to mine and now im a bit worried I am doing something wrong!!

Tanya xx

[gabi]

I cannot imagine why not to feed iceberg. Mine get it too, even the newborn-babies and do well with it and I know people keeping and feeding snails for years with iceberg. Maybe there just died a snail by chance after having ice-berg?

edit: I just asked the seller about that. ;D Will let you know as soon as I get answer

[minimadmum]

Thanx Gabi!!
Your a star
Tanya xx

[sezzy5889]

Wow are those fulica?

[deadmansfinger]

I have never fed iceberg lettuce to any of my animals (reptiles, snails, millipedes etc) as it has little or no nutritional value. If you do a search in google for example there are loads of sites stating this.

Brian ;D

[gabi]

Brian, I am not only feeding ice-berg. ;D But I think it is not bad to feed it in a variety with other veggies. And I see no reason why to not feed at all in a snaily-diet.

edit:....hasn´t every lettuce little or no nutrition value? As much as I know they are high in vitamins, doesn´t that count for snailies?

[gabi]

Now I have the answer from the seller. She says that she just printed this off from somewhere, but she is feeding them too on iceberg and on pumpkin.....

[deadmansfinger]

I didn't think you were only feeding iceberg but it seems its one of those things that there is no point feeding to animals. I can only go by what I have read. Before I got my first reptile I did research and was told 'Do not feed iceberg lettuce'. Before I got my millipedes I did research and was told 'Do not feed iceberg lettuce' and before I got my first GAL I did more research and was told 'Do not feed iceberg lettuce'. With so many sites saying not to do it there is probably a good reason not to. You may feed it and get away with it but is it worth it? Then again I have not saw anywhere stating it is bad for them but more that since there is no nutritional value then it would be better them eating something more nutritional.
I did see one site saying iguana's have been known to get hooked on it and eat nothing else.
Personally I wouldn't feed it. If you do some research you might find out why you shouldn't but I just take on face value that since it is stated on multiple sites refering to a broad range of animals that it shouldn't be fed to them then I am not go to do it anyway just to see if I can.

Hope this helps

Brian ;D

[copigeon]

Kept fulcia soley on iceberg for the entire 7 years of thier life as a kid, its not deadly just not particularly fantastic with regards to vitimin and quality of sustinence.

My baby Cepaea hortensis wont eat anything but atm. Lettuce cant really vary in chemical content? surely?

[gabi]

Brian, please don´t take this personally yet. I am just asking and telling from my experience.
Could this be just one of those things, that someone told to not feed for not really a reason another took this too in his site and so on?
Then we shall not feed a lot of things because a lot of veggies are having almost no nutritional value (Cumber too not, zuchini, tomatoes, lot´s of fruits - hehe just checked my nutritional-book).
I´ve done now some reserach in the past hour and couldn´t find that anywhere in German sites.
But found, to never ever feed citric-fruits or peperones (?)(Paprika in German) to snailies because that is ruining the shells of them. As much as I could read here a lot of people here are feeding this things to their snailies and the snailies are well(I have tried, mine love mandarines and hate every kind of Paprika).
And all the slugs in my garden love to eat my self-planted-iceberg, tomatoes and strawberries. ;D Just plantig that stuff every year just for them... ;D (okay not really, but they always eat it before we can)
My snailies cannot get so addicted to one veggie or fruit as I am always offering low amounts of a lot of different veggies and fruits and protein or they get one sort and that changing every day (depends on what my fridge is offering... ;D)

And please don´t take it as attac, it is hard for me to explain in an language that is not my native language. ;D

[alexc1981]

I read that they become addicted to the caffeine in it and that tortoises also suffer from the same problem. I usually just get a normal round english lettice for my snails.

[deadmansfinger]

certainly ain't taking it personally.............it's only lettuce

[gabi]

There shall be caffein in Eisberg? Couldn´t find anything about that in the web (German written sites), just found that spraying koffee around salad in the garden shall prevent the salad from being eaten by snails....

[gabi]

okay, brian, I stop this, it´s really just lettuce and I shall eat more lettuce, maybe I am getting too addicted to that, but I doubt.... ;D I´d like more the fatty and sweet stuff...

[sezzy5889]

iceberg lettuce fills the gap but doesn't do any good.

[section8angel]

It does just fill the gap like Sarah said.
My friend feeds it to her terrapins for that reason, it fills them up but wont get them fat lol. (And stops them staring at her to feed them haha)

All the sites I've read have said the same thing. Don't feed it just 'cause there's no nutritional value in it.
Which I don't think right, the point of it is you can feed it to fill the gap without worrying that the animal will get fat or anything from it.

I feed mine the little gem ones, which is only 'cause our veg bit is too small for iceberg Rofl

[deadmansfinger]

ok last post on this (from me anyways )
there are lots of pages online stating of cases of animals (reptiles, rabbits/guinea pigs etc) getting diarrhoea which leads to dehydration caused by eating too much iceberg lettuce because of it's high water content.
I certainly find it bizarre that you would feed an animal something with no nutritional value simply to fill it up but not allow it to put on weight. if that's the case why not feed it paper? My snails have eaten paper before (when I put them on it whilst cleaning there tank) and it went right through them and came out the other end as little paper craps! ***the paper thing was a joke before someone jumps on that band wagon ***

If you are feeding your pets a good balanced diet there should be no need to fill them up with iceberg lettuce. Sorry but the whole thing seems crazy to me.

Brian ;D

[Arno]

alexc1981 said:

I read that they become addicted to the caffeine in it and that tortoises also suffer from the same problem. I usually just get a normal round english lettice for my snails.

This is the first time I heard about there being caffeine in iceberg-lettuce(seems very unlikely too)

[Arno]

But found, to never ever feed citric-fruits or peperones (?)(Paprika in German) to snailies because that is ruining the shells of them.

I give my snails paprika too which they seem to like,without their shells getting damaged.Citrus fruit might be acidic be not so much as to actually hurt the snails shells.In the wild its not uncommon for snails to damage citrus fruits.

[Arno]

deadmansfinger said:

If you are feeding your pets a good balanced diet there should be no need to fill them up with iceberg lettuce. Sorry but the whole thing seems crazy to me.

Brian ;D

yes ,i agree with this,but you still can give them iceberg lettuce now and then.

ps:and to reply to your signature:no there wouldn't be because they're not able to see the litter,lol ;D

[section8angel]

It's to fill them up because they ask for food all the time. (Not everyone can resist a hungry animal you know)
If you fed them something else every time, they could be as fat as a house. That is the point of it. It stops them being hungry but doesn't make them fat.

I didn't say that's why it's fed it to snails anyway, I said it's what I've read and why my friend feeds it to her terrapins.

It's like with people losing weight. They eat something that doesn't put weight on but fills them up, they then have normal meals to keep healthy, and the snacks are the only bits that don't do anything. It's the same theory.

Anyway, seeing as you are crazy, it doesn't suprise me that you didn't understand what I meant

If no one has said it's poisoness then they are probably saying it just because it has no nutritional value, but there must be other things exactly the same that we still feed them!

[Paul]

I've seen stuff about iceberg lettuce before; being bad for them, poisonous, addictive so seeing as this has come up again I've spent some time researching the facts.

Iceberg lettuce is not nutritionless, dangerous, poisonous or addictive. It contains about 20 vitamins, potassium and other minerals and fibre but is 96% water. It is very low in sodium, very low in calories and fat and cholesterol free. It is 5 to 6 times less nutritious than other lettuce types like Romaine but that does not mean it is not nutritious:



The fibre content may be high compared to other contents within itself but it is not high compared to other foods so I don't think there is any worry about too much from iceberg lettuce in that respect.

I can't find any reasoning why it may be poisonous to snails at all.

The only thing I can find on addictiveness is to do with turtles/tortoises. It is not physically addictive at all but it seems that once they get a taste for it, they can end up refusing to eat foods that are better for them and that I think is the whole point.

So, I think it is fair to say iceberg lettuce is bad for an animal who eats it to the exclusion of most other things. But as part of a rich and varied diet it is perfectly fine. It provides a lot of water and so, I think it could be of use, particularly in tanks where a water dish is not safe, such as baby tanks.

Personally, I would opt for other types of lettuces simply because they offer all of the above, only better. But I don't see it as a bad thing to feed. I mean, apples contain very little but for the sake of variety I feed it. If you were going off nutrition alone you'd have to feed a very impoverished choice of foods because if that is your way of thinking, why not simply feed 100% of the most nutritious foods you can find. Judging by the fact that snails seem to have an eating cycle I think pacing nutrition may not be such a bad idea because the snails seem to do it naturally. According to Nisbet they have a 2 stage digestive process. They eat the food and most of it is passed out undigested (large, solid and you can still see the colour). Then they eat soil with more off-food and perhaps even the prior faeces which comes out as stringy digestive fluids and food (black, glutinous and stringy) [Nisbet]. So it is not like they can process massive quantities of nutrition all the time. Perhaps putting low-nutrition foods, with a large water content with the very nutritious and quite heavy foods, balances it out more favourably and probably more realistically. As always. a mixed diet wins hands down!

[section8angel]

Hooray for iceberg!! LOL

Good to know it isn't totally nutrition-less.
I always read it was mostly water and didn't have much else but I never bothered doing lots of research like you because I've never known it to be poisonous and never fed it all the time. Lol

Good to know what is in it though and that it is safe. Well done Paul. To the rescue again Lol

Hahaha @ the lettuce with sunnies and hat on also.

[sonic snail]

Sorry to confuse things here but I thought I might as well add that my snails did become kind of addicted to iceberg lettuce! (Well I think) For a period of time I fed my snails mainly on iceberg lettuce. After that they seemed not to like other foods as much. They were willing to try the other foods, but if they had a choice out of iceberg lettuce and sweet corn for example, they would eat all the lettuce and only nibble the sweet corn. I am now trying to get them to eat a variety of foods once again. As for the poisonous lettuce ...Well I have never heard that before.

btw: I am thinking about becoming a member of this forum, I actually never knew it existed! I don't like being a guest lol.

[Paul]

sonic said:

become kind of addicted to iceberg lettuce! (Well I think) For a period of time I fed my snails mainly on iceberg lettuce. After that they seemed not to like other foods as much. They were willing to try the other foods, but if they had a choice out of iceberg lettuce and sweet corn for example, they would eat all the lettuce and only nibble the sweet corn.

Yeah, that is the only danger it seems, if they start eating it instead of other foods, best to keep an eye on it, it seems.

sonic said:

btw: I am thinking about becoming a member of this forum, I actually never knew it existed! I don't like being a guest lol.

Well, get signed up. Also get signed up to the website:

www.petsnails.co.uk/index.php?action=join

you can put your list of snails on it for us all to see!