Feeding Tree/Arboreal Snails

[Paul]

I was chatting to Fredrik the other night and he was telling me the result of his efforts to find acceptable food for tree-living invertebrates. He's been doing it for a few months now.

Anyway, he has had some success so he asked me to pass it on....

Here is a summary of what he said....

"You know fish food, the one used for algae eaters, without animal content. I used Premium Algae discs. They are an all-vegetable food for bottom-feeders and algae-eaters with spirulina as their main ingredient.

I ground the discs in a mortar and pestle into a smooth powder. I added some calcium and some dry cat food pellets (2 or 3). I ground it all together into a nice mix of fine powder. I then added water, not much, just to make the food swell. When you have added water to the mix, it's quite sticky.

I gave it to my millipedes I have that are arboreal and eat similar food as the tree-dwelling snails. It worked great! They can be fussy sometimes but it was not a problem with the new food.

The trick may be how you present it to the snails. I think it's important to spread the mix onto and under branches and leaves, because many of the snails are found hanging under branches. It's important not to give too much so that if they do eat it they will most likely eat the branch clean, leaving no waste."


If anyone tries this for their Lignus, or other snails for that matter, please let him know how you went on by emailing him at [e-mail].

[sezzy5889]

are Limicolaria tree snails, they are long like lignus?

and do we have to use that mix or is the main subject here the fact that it was spread onto leaves and branches?

[Paul]

I don't think Limicolaria are tree-dwelling snails, but I'm not sure.

Regarding the food, both the fact the food is algae-based and is being presented that way is probably important.

[gabi]

Just learned in another Forum that Baby-Limis and youngs are living in trees and the adults are too seen on the ground, during the nights they are either sleeping under moss of leaves on the ground or haning up high in the trees.

My Limi-young ones here are acting similar. One is sleeping on the highest branches near the roof of my vivarium and the other one is burrowing under the moss.

The lignus (which homes now with them) prefers now to stay somewhere near the limi hanging on the branch high up there.

[Paul]

If the Limicolaria are ground-dwelling also, it probably explains why they will readily eat more things, like Achatinas will. Although they do they're not dependent on scraping the micro-film off leaves. That's not to say the Lignus only eat that, but perhaps they are a little more dependent on it.

[Deleted]

my baby limis are all stretchy like lignus like they stretch their neck out and they love climbing on the bamboo theyre so cute.

[sezzy5889]

yeah mine too

[Fredrik dropping by]

Have any you tried the mix yet?

I haven't received any E-mails so I guess none of you have tried it yet.
If you do, please drop me an E-mail and tell me about the progress.
My E-mail can be found in Paul's first post in this thread.

Paul forgot to mention that I have also fed all of my other snails/slugs and they all ate it eagerly.

For any of you who would like to know exactly what kind of products I have used in the mix, ask Kevin or Paul for the list.
If they can't help you, send me an E-mail and I'll send you a copy of the list.

Best wishes
Fredrik

[deadmansfinger]

I am definately gonna try it. the shop I tried didn't have the algae discs but I know one that does so as soon as I get some I will try it (probably thursday) with the lignus.

Be in touch,
Brian ;D

[deadmansfinger]

got the food today so I will give it to them tomorrow and hopefully have some results by the weekend.

Brian ;D

[eric2]

where can i buy algae discs and what do they look like

[deadmansfinger]

They are just food for vegetarian fish like plecostomus. I bought mine from PetsAtHome. They had an aisle about 12 feet long filled with fishfood

I bought King British Algae Pellets. They were £2.25 for the pack but there were loads of different kinds. I would buy a bigger pack in future but wanted to see if these work first as they are not cheap.

Will post results at the weekend.

Brian. ;D

[eric2]

would something like fish flakes be alright?

[sezzy5889]

i have fed mine fish flakes before and they were fine, just check the ingredients if you are not sure

[Val]

I'm just wondering what the ingredients were in the dry cat pellets, I doubt that they would be vegetarian, but perhaps it doesn't matter, I'm sure snails would eat microscopic insects anyway.


Val

[eric2]

just checked the label no mention of sodium or salt and it contains algae i will try it with the lingus when they arrive

[Fredrik dropping by]

Fish food:
Wardley - Algae Discs
www.hartz.com/Our%20Products/products500/4332400416.jpg

Cat food
Royal Canin Feline Health Nutrition - In&Outdoor Adult
Fit 32
www.feline-nutrition.com/adultfit.htm

Calcium
Oyster shell

or
T-Rex - Bone Aid, MicroStick Calcium Powder
www.herpsupplies.com/product.cfm?id=STR80345


Preperation and amounts

roughly 30 algae discs
4-5 bits dry cat food
roughly 1 teaspoon of oyster shell
or
1/2 ml T-Rex Calcium Powder

These are the products I have used in the mix.

Best wishes
Fredrik

[deadmansfinger]

I don't think fish flakes would work in the same way as the algae discs as if you grind the flakes the just turn to dust so it might be hard to make the mix with them?

Also I believe Fredrick is using the algae discs as they are designed for vegetarian fish so they will contain more algae than standard fishfood and so be more beneficial to the algae eating snails.

Brian.

[eric2]

i will go and find the algae discs to keep the experiment the same everywhere

[deadmansfinger]

it would be good if we can find ANYTHING new that these lignus will eat.

[fi]

i have been strugling to get my lignus to eat an only have one remaing
but i think i have had a break through
last night i gave mine passion friut (think it was passion friut or sharon friut)
like a big green pear shape an fleshy red inside.
tina loved it iv never seen her eat so much ;D

so i am thinking they mostly eat fruit,
after all vegetables dont grow on trees.
only thing im not sure of is which friut to avoid due to high levels of acid.
like oranges an lime, lemon.
would be good to know what friut grows in there environment

about the mix, good thinking. i have algea pellets for my glass cat fish. is it cat meat or biscuits? if biscuits will dog ones do? as i dont buy dried cat food.
my cat is old and gets bladder infections on dried food

[gabi]

Oh, I think you mean "papaya" Mine too loves it, but finally mine is eating from all and everything tiny bits. Mostly it still loves cucumber or fresh leaves from the cherry-tree. My Lignus babies eat from all and only refuse to every kind of calcium. Now I am finally through all products.

[deadmansfinger]

I have tried this a couple of times now and the lignus dont seem interested