Weather and snails

[brgwnth]

as many of you know, i have three baby snails. what many of you probably don't know, is that i live in an out house that does not have any central heating. it is to expensive to heat my snail's tank 24/7, so i'm stuck with how to keep them warm throught the winter


help!

[Dusk]

You can try and insulate the tank on all sides but the front, either with polystyrene or with blankets and soon - it won't create heat but it'll help keep the heat in. Perhaps a heat lamp? you can buy the bulbs pretty cheaply if you don't go for branded ones and they go in ordinary light fittings - if you have a desk lamp or something, get a heat bulb and aim it at the tank some of the time perhaps.

What is the general temperature and what are you aiming to keep the snails at?

[Katie]

try putting hot water bottles on top of the tank. Yes it takes a lot of effortgoing to and fro with lots of waterbottles, but it helps with heat

[Rachel]

plastic water bottles full of warm water buried under moss, a gift from the gods.

[Dusk]

>plastic water bottles full of warm water buried under moss<

Ooh, good idea!

[donut]

Oct 13, 2008 15:03:42 GMT Katie said:

try putting hot water bottles on top of the tank. Yes it takes a lot of effortgoing to and fro with lots of waterbottles, but it helps with heat

i did this but at one side of my tank when i got my Fuli last yr - i couldnt get a heat mat & every night before i went bed i would put a hot water bottle on the side of the tank (just ONE side so if it got to warm the snails could get away from it) & within 6 weeks i had EGGS LOL so it must have been ok in there lol

could you put tin foil over one side of the tank to insulate it - use polistyreen or something under it to keep the chill out of the base or MAYBE get some of them microwave wheat bags & warm them up to max temp & then stand the tank on them

Good luck

[punki]

The wheat bags stay warmer longer than a hot water bottle, their really cheap and easy to make too Good luck to you and your snails, hope you all manage to keep warm during the winter x

[brgwnth]

dusk: about 20-26 degrees.

The Snail Sanctuary- i don't have a hot water bottle but during the latter half of the day (after school) i put blankets on their tank and during the night. the heater IS on about an hour a day but it's too expensive to have it on 24/7. i have A wheat bag but if any of you have some ideas on how to make them it would be appreciated!

P.S. thanks for all of your replies so far!

[Dusk]

Wheat bags are literally just a sturdy material bag with grain of some kind in - I've made them with pearl barley but wheat, I assume from the name, would work too Cut a rectangle of non-polyester fabric.

Fold it so it's a square.

Sew the open two edges leaving a decent seam allowance (at least 1cm), shove some grain in, sew up the third edge. Overlock the edges to stop them fraying, if you have a machine that'll do that. If not, zig-zag on the edges will amount to much the same.

If you want it a bit neater, sew the two edges, then turn it inside out so the raw edges are inside, then stuff it with grain, fold both halves of the open edge inwards and straight-stitch 'em closed. Microwave it.

Tada! Heatbag. Heavy cotton probably works best, but anything that won't melt with the heat is fine.

If you do it by hand, double-stitch it all to make sure it'll hold, and whip stitch might be best for closing it.

(I tried diagrams but it ate the formatting. I can try again if the direction's aren't clear.)

[morningcoffee]

You could maybe try one of these as well:

www.snugglesafe.co.uk/heatpad.htm

[punki]

I think Dusk covered the 'making a wheat bag' really well, (if want to fill it with a type of grain other than wheat or barley put it a bit in a microwave first to make sure it doesn't pop like corn)

[brgwnth]

can you use rice instead of wheat? it's cheaper and i think it does the same thing.