Achatina reticulata

[samurai]

I´ve got few retis that are really small but they seems to be reached the mature...is it possible for this cind of "dwarf" snails to produce eggs ? These retis are nearly 1 year but only 3-4cm.

Has anyone else got any problems about retis and their growing rate ?

Wich is the humidity that retis prefer ?

[welshlassy]

they like high humidity, and warm about 26 or higher. They tend to grow quicker in higher humidity.

[snailler]

what do Reticulata Eggs look like? I keep mine in the same tank as egg laying fulica, and I don't want to destroy Reticulata eggs by mistake, are they any different in physical appearance or amount?

[GlitterBug]

My Albino Retic laid one egg, not burried, I found it laying on top of the soil

they are huge compared to fulica eggs

[samurai]

I would love to know much more about reticulatas. I´ve read everything I could find in interner, which is not much

I´m especially interested of their normal behavior. Do these snails burrow in to soil often or just for laying eggs ? Do they seek cover under plants etc. or in the soil ? What is the best temperature and humidity ? Some says warm and humid, others "keep like fulica"...I´m a pit confused

Also tips for breeding retis will be useful, cos I´m aming at it. I´ve got 7 retis now and some of them has reached maturity. I´ve also got a lot of problems with these (mostly with growing) and that´s why I´m asking help.

[GlitterBug]

Trick them into hibernating, give them less food and only spray once a week.
Retic's normally breed after hibernation or so i've been told so it's one way to breed them.

My albino retics never burrow, they are very social and at times all sleep together leaving the smallest one I have out.

I have a fake plant in, they like to hid in it and sleep on it too.

I keep mine at room temp allthough they live near the radiator and the room is small so when it heats up it heats up good!!

[samurai]

One of my retis has now died . Now I would love to know if I´m doing something wrong or was this just bad luck. I´m keeping them in about 25 degrees and 80 % humidity, is it ok ? They have peat in terrarium and I´m changing some of it weekly, decorations I wash also weekly and poo etc is taken away nearly daily.

[Deleted]

Jul 16, 2008 18:08:20 GMT samurai said:

One of my retis has now died . Now I would love to know if I´m doing something wrong or was this just bad luck. I´m keeping them in about 25 degrees and 80 % humidity, is it ok ? They have peat in terrarium and I´m changing some of it weekly, decorations I wash also weekly and poo etc is taken away nearly daily.

how did it die? how old was it?

[samurai]

It´s body turned darker and finally it just stopped moving and eating..two days and it was gone . Sleepy were just few months old.

[Deleted]

hmmm....I don't know why that would happen....maybe it's just a random thing? not all young snails will make it to adulthood.

from petsnails website:

Genetic Kill-switch

I had this idea when all the cases seemed to be snails of a certain size, 3-4cm+. In nature certain things seem to have a kill-switch. Saplings for instance, that seem to be healthy will often die for no reason after a year of healthy growth. We re-home our babies and it is unlikely we ever keep a full clutch to see how many make it to adulthood. This is closely related to weak-genes, as babies that would not normally make it survive for a while, and snails that would not breed successfully manage to in captivity without wild pressures.

[samurai]

It probably was just random...but cos these retis are my first ones, and I have had them only for a year,I´m ofcourse worried if I´m keeping them in right conditions

Does retis need any daylight ? I´m keeping them in a room that has no windows and I´m keeping light on 12h /day.

[ade2009]

I would just like others who have / breed reticuluata to comment on their habitat, i have six albino reticulata, they are around 8 months old and range between 6.5cm - 8.5cm shells i keep them at approx 23 - 25 degrees in an exo terra so its quite difficult to maintain humidity ( due to mesh lid and rather large gaps in the doors etc ).The substrate is 3/4 sphagnum moss and 1/4 coir ( which is a deep corner ( 9-10cm ) for laying eggs, when this occurs))

Contrary to this many people say you should have high humidity/ temp for them to be at their best. Mine are active for many hours through the day and night, they are near an open window ( as in - light is cast well into the room, but not directly on the tank ) they are insatiable in appetite consuming more than all my other snails put together and seem to be growing at an alarming rate ( not that i mind, theyre incredibly beautiful snails ).These in fact seem to be the most easy to please snails we have, they eat everything from weetabix to raw meat. I feed them every day approx 8 thick slices of cuke, 2 -3 large romaine lettuce leaves, and a large piece of broccoli, they will pretty much clear this every night ( occasionally they also get a bowl of snail seed mix as well ).

So i'm just waiting to hear from you lucky lads n ladies what your experiences have been with them??

[Dusk]

I have a number of retics of varying ages and I have found that they absolutely thrive no matter what I do. They are ideal companions to pickier snails in any conditions. They move more and eat more than any other kind of snail I've kept and delight in presenting me with masses of eggs and then playing football with them. I would recommend them as ideal 'first' snails as I haven't yet found anything that upsets them even slightly.

And, of course, they have gloriously textured shells, and are happy to be held and adored by anyone at all. I think they are the snail version of cocker spaniels

[danielle101]

hmmm i could do with these for me not my rescue, i love snails, when i was about 5 i used to collect them and keep them lol... ;D

[nicolasnail]

Bit of an old thread but I had to coment on the death of the retic.
I noticed the owner said she cleaned the poop daily and removed soil weekly, it's best if you don't do this as the tank needs to build up a certain amount of bacteria and if you keep it to sterile it harms the snails.
There are quite a few reports of it on the internet.
I also had my snails go ill when I first started keeping them as I followed some advice that I should bath them and clean out the tank everyday, as soon as I let them slum it they started growing brilliantly and I've not had a problem since.

[glittersniffer]

I have a two month old albino, he seems pretty happy, sleeps alot but when i take him out for baths and T-touch he gets pretty excitable.

Im thinking its just the food inside his body but near the shell inside, not just the skin it has blobs of black. He had lettuce a few days ago, but hes kind of picky with what he eats and eats mostly porrage oats and parsnip, he may have a nibble at the boccoli but i have to hand pick tiny bits off and feed them to him for him to eat. I have a snail with utterly no natural instinct! aha

The dark bits inside his body are food arent they?

I feel like a neurotic paniced mother. I worry he's okay all the time.

[siobhanc54]

Yes it's food, you can see the colour of what they've eaten try carrots and it goes orange,

[hector2008]

Thanks guys I have just bought two albino retics off of the verminator and hope to have them tuesday. It looks to me as though the set up for my fulica will be exactly the same as the albinos. What gets me is that Tigers Achatina achatina, albino retics and achatina immaculata are all supposed to be rare but every one has them. Though I must admit I have not heard to much about immaculata var.

[infiltraitor]

What temperature is your fulica tank? Retics might prefer things a few degrees warmer and a bit more humid.

I think tigers tend to have been rare, but perhaps there's been more success in breeding them recently as more seem to be popping up for sale. Albino retics are getting to be pretty common, possibly thanks to popularity due to their nature; I've got five from verminator right here.

[siobhanc54]

I would agree retics like it a little warmer than fulicas, mine are thriving in with my tigers and margie and they love warm and humid. Though my mini fulica lives with them too and is doing well and doesn't mind it being a bit warmer.

[Dusk]

Tigers are the only one of those three that are approaching rare, and recently there's been more success in breeding them in captivity. The others are pretty common. You have to look a little further afield if you want rare

My favourites among my oddballs are archachatina adelinae, achatina zanzibarica and some of the smaller margies, var egregiella and var eduardi. I'd also love some achatina balteata one day - so pretty!

[siobhanc54]

I would agree that tigers are getting more common with breeding success, I have just received 5 from the same person as my original 2 and they said they are now freezing eggs because they would have hundreds by now.
I've been trying to get a margie sutrali white fleshed as a mate for mine but as yet had no luck, shops that sell them are all out and she seems lonely? even though she's currently in with my other snails so would say she is currently rarer than tigers

[bloodhawk]

Sorry for your loss slime free

[vicki]

This is a very old thread i know but i adore my beautiful albino reti! He is so happy all of the time, slimes his way around the tank, eats whatever i put in the tank, he doesnt seem to bury himself at all (yesterday was the first time, he laid his first batch of eggs)

I would like to get more retis in the future as they are such a lovely snail to handle and amazing to look at