Sibling bonds?

[Bumblebee]

My adult fulicas laid their first batch of eggs some months ago or so, and well I froze the eggs but somehow I must have missed two since they hatched, so I've kept them in their own little suitable glassjar.
And something I've noticed is that they are ALWAYS together, if they sleep on the top of the jar they are together, same if they sleep in the substrate, they eat together, they even pretty much slime around together.

While my 4 adult snails that live in the same tank is a bit more solitary, sure they are together sometimes but not that much as my babies.

Can it be that there is a special bond between siblings and that well my babies somehow know that they are siblings? Or do young snails perhaps just feel more comfortable to be around other snails?
Cause I have no idea wether my adult snails are related or not..


Ah well probably no one will be able to fully answer this, dunno how much facts there is about snails and social interactions between them

[kanin]

I've noticed the same with Some helix pomatias. Two captive ones I had until recently always kept together even as babies - we used to call them the twins as they where really identical aven though they where from diiferent parental snails. They later on mated which each other and some of their babies where actually distribuated via this forum.

At the moment I have two pomatias from öland that seem to prefeer each others company and are often seen together in their tank.

I also noticed this behaviour when studying wild pomatias. We marked their shells with an individual number code and each time we I returned to the colony I made notes of which ones i found, where I found them, what i observed them doing(mating,egglying e.t.c). I also weighed them and made note of any shelldamages or if I found any dead what might have been the cause of death. Then I also noticed that some snails where allways or often found together two and two or one case a larger group of 4 individuals. I'm not sure if this could be called a scientific study but I believe based on this that snails can have personal and separate "relationships" betwen different individuals.

[Katie]

I reckons Snails do tie bonds with eachother. When I still had Humbug, him and Irony would pretty much stick side by side 24/7. Apart from when they ate. Not sure if its was a special bond or they just enjoy the company though, but other animals create bonds with eachother, so why not Snails?

[coyote]

I don't think enough is known about how invertebrates bond, if at all. But people's personal observations are important to help figure this out.

[Bumblebee]

It sure is interesting reading about well, social lives of snails xD I really never could expect non feathered/furry animals to be able to actually like being together and not only for mating

[aerliss]

There's an island near me that can only be reached via a concrete causeway at low tide. I've noted with interest that the welks (I assume they're welks...) that live on this causeway cluster together in groups of around 25. It's great because it makes it so much easier to avoid standing on them!

My partner and I have wondered about this. It doesn't seem to be an environmental factor that draws them to a spot, such as a slight dimple in the concrete, as I've found them on rises too. We came to the conclusion it was some sort of herding instinct; safety in numbers and all that.

I've noticed a similar thing with land snails when they've decided to estivate on fences and walls; they cluster.

As for my GALS; aside from attempting to sit on each other (missed a great photo opportunity when Quark sat on Avery and then reached up to latch onto Odo as he passed above them; snail chain!) they mostly seem to keep to themselves. We think that Avery is generally just confused by the other two snails, having led a solitary life for three years.