species specific housing needs

[LisaLQ]

I dont know if that's the correct term, but I'm hoping you know what I mean.

Currently I have two tanks - one containing my two big margies (Boycie and Marlene), and one containing all of my smaller snails (Sam - 9cm fulica, Monty - 9-10cm retic, Cooper - 7-8cm fulica, Gary - 4-5cm dimi, Sally - 2cm dimi, and Magenta the baby margie).

Now obviously, there's a conflict of interests in the small snails tank - some like it wet, some like it dry. Currently they're on quite damp sphagnum, and all are eating well etc. But I cant help but thinking it might be better to split them up so we can give each snail their perfect environment, although I've not done this yet as Gary and Sally have done much better with the company.

I was thinking, it might be interesting to know what people's set ups for certain types of snail are. Ie. a list of their snails, their needs, their favourite substrate etc?

I know this would mean for a long thread with a lot of reading to do - and I'm not able to collate people's evidence into some sort of pie chart or something *lol*, just looking to see what people have most success with, and what they recommend. If the majority of advice on other sites online is "keep them on damp compost, give them fruit, veg and cuttlefish - the end", it's leading to some snails being kept in the wrong conditions.

I'm still trying to find the perfect environment for my snails. Some do well on compost, some cant stand it, some do well on sphagnum, some bury all day - etc etc.

So, I thought it could be interesting to know what other people's advice was for the types of snails they keep. Something along the lines of:

What species?
What substrate?
What temp?
How damp?
Company? And if so - same species, or species with similar needs?
What tank accessories (if any)?
What foods?
What supplements?

....for each species.

Am I making sense? And if I'm being a pain in the bum, you can ask me to sod off and work it out for myself *lol* ;D

Oh and for those of us with slightly more than the average amount of species, it might be easier for now to stick to the most common kinds? If not to save webspace, to save people having to read for hours *lol*

[Kevin]

All my snails are kept on coir, I keep most snails seperate by species, some are in mixed species tanks.
They are in a warm room, Most are either directly above an heatmat, or near an heatmat.

Archachatina marginata (ovum, suturalis and marginata)

Most of my marginata tanks have a heatmat, deep coir substrate mixed with moss, and a water bowl, no decorations...I grind cuttlefishbone up and mix it within the coir regulary, as well as offer them whole-cuttlefish bone.
My ventricosa speculatum adult is kept with my albino marginata (ovum and suturalis) My baby margies from Eric are kept in a tank with my ventricosa juveniles, the baby margies are much more active than all my adult margies, despite them not having an heatmat like the adults, the adult margies are only active at night.
I spray all they're tanks daily, and usually offer them food daily as well as collect uneaten foods daily.

Lissachatina fulica (rufescens, Bali)
Most of my fulica are kept in all fulica tanks, they're substrate is the same as all my snails, they're offered cuttlefish bone, as well as grinded up cf bone mixed with they're substrate.
Most have a water bowl, my rufescens dont currenty have a water bowl though..My fulica rufescens are kept on they're own, in identical conditions to nearly all my other GALS, except, as with my other smaller snails they havent got a water bowl yet.
Some of them are kept in mixed species tanks, I have one large tank with 4 medium fulica and 2 immaculata dimidiata (Ive had them in this tank for well over a year now and they're all very active) I also have a fulica wild collected from Bali, which shares its tank with my 3 "stuhlmanni" panthera.
None of my fulica tanks have decorations, as with all my snails the fulica are sprayed daily, and have they're waterdishes cleaned and refilled daily.

I'll post more for my other species later.

[LisaLQ]

Thanks Kevin

[LisaLQ]

And seeing as my other thread got a really good start, not, I was wondering if someone could let me know how they keep their retics - in a fulica like environment, or more margie like? If I'm splitting them up, there'll be a fulica tank and a dimi tank - Magenta will go in with the dimis as they're fans of more moisture - so which tank should I put Monty the retic in?

[Kevin]

lisalq said:

And seeing as my other thread got a really good start, not, I was wondering if someone could let me know how they keep their retics - in a fulica like environment, or more margie like? If I'm splitting them up, there'll be a fulica tank and a dimi tank - Magenta will go in with the dimis as they're fans of more moisture - so which tank should I put Monty the retic in?

I keep my reticulata the same as my fulica, they're in a very similar environment, get sprayed about the same and are just as active as my fulica

[Paul]

Reticulata are East-African so they are probably closer to fulica. I find they like it as humid as West African snails but slightly cooler seems to suit them most.

I can't find your other thread now, I was gonna say that reticulata grow very big (16-18cm) so if you can find a temperature both your retics and margies are comfortable, eventually they could perhaps be paired up. Having said that, I can't see full size fulica having any problems with large snails.

[LisaLQ]

Okey dokey Monty can stay in with the fulica lads then - thanks for the help, it's greatly appreciated

[LisaLQ]

Oops sorry missed the last paragraph of your post. The tank the two margies are in is big enough for them, but I wouldn't put another in. I dont think he'd squash the two fulicas yet, as he's only just grown bigger than them - but should he get too big in the future, I'll move him in with the margies into a bigger tank, or his own tank. Damn, that's a good excuse to get another retic...

[Val]

Will you put the tiger bubbas on their own??

Val

[section8angel]

Substrate:
All mine are on capillary matting with sphagnum moss. I've kept the fulica on coir, bark chip (fine and chunks) and soil, but they didn't seem to have a favourite, but I find the fulica don't seem to care about a lot lol.

They don't seem to have any serious problems being kept on the matting and as other people keep theirs on it with no major problems I'm not too bothered.

Accessories:
They all have fake plants (plastic and fabric) and all have a plant pot filled with moss except one tank which has a plastic hamster house.
The margies and dimis tank and the retis, panthera and rodatzis tank have food and water bowls. The others just have a food bowl which I fill with water if the food isn't a messy one. There's no real reason for this except I haven't sorted the right bowls out yet lol.

They also all have a tub of moss for egg laying/somewhere else to hide. I will probably be changing this to moss and soil though, just so they have some to eat if they want to.

Temp:
They're all now kept at the same temp, in the day it's kept between 24 and 28 because of the lights, then at night it can go down to about 22.

Dampness and Company:
They all get sprayed once a day unless it isn't needed as it's stayed wet enough.

The margies and dimis prefer it very wet (I can squeeze the moss and a little bit of water comes out), so they get sprayed more than the others and are in a tank together.

The iredalei likes it a little bit wetter (but not as wet as the margies and dimis) and the smithii don't seem to mind this. These are together.

The fulica prefer it drier than all the others and are in their own tank.

The rodatzi don't seem to be as fussy, they don't mind it just being damp. And the panthera and retis don't seem to mind either so these are also in a tank together.

Food:
They all get fed the same things at the same time. It just depends on what's there when I goto feed them.
They mainly get veggies, but they also have hemp and fruit. They will also be getting chick crumb soon.
And they all have cuttlefish. They all also had a chunk of the "fun tunnel" but it got messy so I've left it for now lol.

Umm.. that's it I think. Probably not much help lol.

[LisaLQ]

Yep Val. They'll be getting their own tank nearer the time. That's assuming all is still on.

Ps. The thread I posted was deleted at my request. It went totally off topic in the first reply, which was a deliberate attempt to p*ss me off.

[Deleted]

ok this is what I find:

iredalei: they like it really wet and warm, if its dry they don't do anything

fulica: not too fussy. mine can survive quite humid, wet environments and quite dry aswell.

margies: they like it quite humid. if its dry they dont eat.

brazilian snails: they are actually my most tenacious snails. i'd say they like a mild amount of humidity, but theyve never stopped eating and being active despite being moved around several different tanks.

tigers: very humid, if its too dry they burrow.

thats all i can add for the moment...