food on vacation?

[birdie]

Hello everyone!
i'm going on vacation for around a week. i'm going to leave the snails at home with a person coming and spraying them, i'll leave enough wather in a birds' water dispenser. but what to leave them to eat?i gave them a green pear today that should last quite long but they're just walking on it but surely not eating it...other suggestions?

thank you!

[Rachel]

can't the person checking on them drop some lettuce in? I wouldn't think anything would stay fresh for a week

[Dusk]

I've found that carrots and sweet potato last longest. If you can give them enough for three or four days, and leave another portion in the fridge ready, then the person checking on them can remove uneaten food and give them new just once.

[birdie]

i can tell to give them more food but not to remove it...you know...it is not really nice for everyone to remove slimy food

[Rachel]

true, hmm, mabye they could put their hand in a sandwitch bag to get rid of it when they pick it up?

[Snail Lover.]

Or use a glove or little dust pan and brush, im also wonderign the same thing as im going on holiday in may, a while away but i need to know in advance too, my snails dont like sweet potato they never eat it, they slime over it and they just dont seem interested, and no-one can feed mine either because they wont, they hate snails!

[coyote]

Jasmine, have you tried slicing the sweet potato thinly? Some snails will eat thin slices of foods they refuse whole.

[Bumblebee]

Do you serve your snails food on a plate or so or directly on the ground? You could serve them on a plate, and when your babysitter is taking care of your snailies, she/he could just remove the plate with the old food and use a spoon or something to shuffle it down in a trashcan or compost or whatever you use and just put new food in that you have prepared?
Just remember to put some plastic foil or something over the prepared food so it dosnt dry out or so in the fridge

At least this is how I would do it if i where to go away for a time, and my family isnt that keen on snails but i think they would be able to handle it xD

[Sarah]

A cat litter tray scooper is also brilliant for skipping out poo and food, especially if people don't want to touch it!

[birdie]

i think i got an idea!i'm trying just now dried coconut in little pieces..like the one used for cakes (without anything vhemical, just coconut) and they seem to love it i can prepare extra plates with it and should be lasting a bit!

[Snail Lover.]

And yes ive tried thinly sliced sweet potato no luck . They just seem to love wet foods, eg, cumcumber,melon,orange,plum, and that never lasts long. Ill have to grab a few different foods from the supermarket and try them.

[morningcoffee]

Apr 15, 2009 10:54:31 GMT Snail Lover. said:

And yes ive tried thinly sliced sweet potato no luck . They just seem to love wet foods, eg, cumcumber,melon,orange,plum, and that never lasts long. Ill have to grab a few different foods from the supermarket and try them.

My snails are quite fond of pumpkin seeds, which should last for a long time.


My friend looked after my snails for me over a weekend recently - I just put the food in their regular bowl, then asked him to remove the bowl daily, scrape out uneaten food, rinse the bowl, and put it back in the tank and refill with food (pre-sliced and washed) that I'd put in a tupperware tub in the fridge. He didn't mind too much and he didn't have to touch the slimy food or anything. If someone's particularly squeamish about it, you could buy some disposable latex gloves for them to wear when they remove the food bowl. You can buy them in packs from Boots or Superdrug, in the first-aid section.

[ade2009]

i find sweet and white potato last longest depending on humidity of tank, if its not too humid lettuce is fine.

[morningcoffee]

Had a thought this evening, baby corn lasts a fair while and my snails love it.

[crossless]

I have found eggplant and summer squash very long lasting. Nuts last long if u don't soak, them damn they smelled bad when I forgot soaked nuts in freezer for weekend.

[liz2]

I had to take my snails away with me every year no one would touch them. In the UK they went to Appledore, Yarmouth, Southport and Torquay!

[snailcrazy]

I put little gem lettuce and sweet potato in. They last for a few days as I have the same problem. My friend doesn't like touching anything in the tank so I leave her a pair of gloves and a plant pot for her to put the old food in.

[helix]

I'm sure some people on here, including myself, will happy look after your snails over your holidays if you can drop them off

[Dusk]

That's an excellent suggestion - is it worth having a master list somewhere of people willing to snailsit organised by location?

[snailcrazy]

It's a great idea, I've been trying to find people where I live to snail sit but everyone lives too far away. Not many snaily people in West Yorkshire

[Rachel]

I would help out but i'm hours away

[lucyjames]

I think a snail-sitting list would be a really good idea - name, location and whether we would go there or have them at ours, and whether we could collect or whether they would need dropping off...

I'd happily help people out locally to me that dont mind bringing their snails to me, as I don't have a car...

[Sarah]

I have snail-sat for people in the past and would be happy to do so again