Scared me at night...

[Amagi]

Ok, when I went to bed last night, I was aroused by a strange buzzing/creaking sound.

I am a deep believer in ghosts and spirits, so obviously I thought I was about to be visited from the dead. After a while nothing happened.

I got tired of waiting and turned on the lamp and the noise kept going. I searched around and finally traced the sound to the snail tank. I opened the lid, which was in fact Polystyrene\Styrofoam, and it fit the tank perfectly, and my grove snail, who I named Guppy was on the lid in the ventilation holes that I drilled out.

He was retracted, and from the level of retraction I had figured he was retracted during the period of time the noise started and maybe even before that.

Since yesterday morning, Guppy had started to have the habit of climbing to the lid, while Silkie, the smaller unidentified snail had NEVER, EVER even tried to climb on the lid.

In the morning, I opened the lid...guppy was there again. This time I was awake in bed, daydreaming for an hour or two, and did not hear the sound.

My suspicions are that Guppy was rasping at the Styrofoam, but I have no proof of that, as evidence of successful ingestion is not present.

Can someone explain to me why my snail likes polystyrene so much? And is there a way to teach him out of the habit of getting on the lid?

[coyote]

I think it is instinctive for snails to climb up regardless (we had a discussion about it here), so I don't think you're going to be able to stop him from doing so.

I doubt he likes the polystyrene per se. If his tank is humid there might be a microscopic layer of algae growing on the surface of the polystyrene, and the snail might be grazing on that and inadvertently rasping the polystyrene itself.

I'd be concerned about a bit of polystyrene getting swallowed and then lodged somewhere inside the digestive tract of the snail. I don't think its system can break it down properly to be expelled.

Is there something else you could use for a lid on the tank?


ETA: At least it wasn't a ghost! ;D

[Amagi]

Unfortunately, nothing yet... But I found, thotoughly washed, and put inside the tank a decoration that was used by my goldfish to hide in (unfortunately they all kicked the bucket years ago). Guppy no longer seems to be going up the lid, as he is having enough fun hanging around in there!

I was hoping for a ghost; I had been preparing for a meeting with the dead for some time now.

[Rachel]

please tell me you don't use ouija boards

[coyote]

Yeah, stay away from ouija boards. Not worth the trouble.

Do you have anything like a piece of window screen to use across the top of the tank? Can you improvise anything else? I think the sooner you can replace that polystyrene, the better, in the long run.

[Amagi]

Nope, I don't use ouija boards... I believe that contacting the dead should be done with physical contact first...

If I take down the window screens, my mum will kill me...I am not planning on using the polystyrene for very long, I am currently looking around for some good lids, so I AM gonna get rid of that.

[Rachel]

i'm glad you will get rid of the poly soon.
remember, if you contact the dead you invite something in, but who says it will be good? be careful with stuff like that.

[coyote]

I hope you find a good lid for your tank soon.

And be careful with those ghosts! ;D

[Rachel]

we are turning into mystics coyote, oh well, its fun ;D

[coyote]

LOL! ;D

[brgwnth]

whats a ouija board?

[Rachel]

its a board with letters, yes, no and sometimes numbers on it. it comes with a pointer and is used to try to contact the dead and channel messages from them. i must say PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't any of you start using them, its never a good idea to invite things in.

[brgwnth]

o.0

[coyote]

There are far better ways to attempt contact with those who have passed on than ouija boards. I agree that people should not try to use them, either seriously or just to have fun.

[GlitterBug]

I have seen ghosts, I have had them in my old house.

My mom was on a ghost team once and an old friends of hers does all that stuff but I havent seen him in years.

I dont believe in table tipping or boards allthough I have a lovely gothic looking ouija board.
I used mine as a.....

Chopping board as the board has a slab of glass on top to protect the underside of it. and the circle (the thing that you all old to move) I use as a coaster now.

The boards dont work, Table tipping doesnt work either I know people who do boards and have told me they DO move them to trick people into paying them money.

[rvd]

When I had my Aspersa's, half of them would climb to the lid, my lid was plastic though.