Happy snail

[Deleted]

Hiya guys i have a small snail which i don't know what species i got her from my garden . Her shell has been growing but its gone all transparent and weak (the growing bit) She has Calcium i was wondering if any of you knew is it from hardly any sunlight she has calcium. She has been asleep for a while but is alive. Any way back t the point: I was wondering since my snails tank is boring i should add some shells so i wet in my shell collection and found some beautiful white shells (from the beach) i was wondering if i was them could i put them n my snails tank? At the moment she just burrows in the moss and sleeps (trouble is her shell is brown and the moss is quite brown a mix of greens and browns so its hard to see her) So would that work?

[Bumblebee]

Yeah you can put shells in the tank, I had some shells i found here at home and placed them in my tank with two snail babies, altho they kinda ate one of the shells, since I was really short of calcium then (wich I ofc got new calcium after a few days)
But I did notice that for some reason they really loved to sleep either next to the shells or on top of them.

Just make sure that you clean the shells before putting them in =). especially if they are from the beach, you never know what might hide inside them.

[Deleted]

Ok thanks i might make a necklace for my mom its her birthday on saturday, next saturday

[Deleted]

Also if my snail likes a shell can it naturally come out of its shell and quickly go in the new shell?

[aerliss]

I think if snails could do that, my lot would be fighting over the plant pots XD Nope, I'm afraid they're stuck with the shells they have, so you have to make sure they grow strong. Sunlight is important for most snail shells as it helps them use the calcium. Give her a few hours in direct sunlight every day, on a window sill or something. Hopefully that'll help her shell growth.

[EDIT]

Almost forgot; pretty shells from the beach is a good idea. Give them a good soak in boiling water to kill any bugs first. I used to have some lovely white clam type shells from a Tanzanian beach (which an elderly friend of mine brought back... not entirely sure how legal that was :S ) in my tank and found that the snails liked to sit on them.

[danikat]

I'm pretty sure hermit crabs are the only animal in the world that can change their shells, and then it's only because it's not really their shell, just one they find and carry around.

[Deleted]

Ok thanks, i have moved my snail on my art draws/windowsill in my bedroom but she keeps sleeping is this normal or is she hibernating and if she is hibernating should i ignore her but put fresh food in evry 2 days?

[coyote]

It is natural for snails to hibernate / estivate. When mine are estivating I put fresh food in every day or 2 anyway, because I never know when they are going to wake up. I would do the same during hibernation as well, but in smaller amounts.

Some people like to keep their snails active rather than let them hibernate, with apparently no ill effects. Personally, I let mine rest if they want to. During estivation I make sure they wake up at least every 2 weeks to eat a little something, then I let them go back into estivation again. We get very hot, dry summers where I am in California, so they'd be estivating in the wild anyway.

[Deleted]

ok thanks she isnt coming out her shell as much now but my dad has a friend called Len who has loads of snails in his garden and he said if he finds one he will bringit to me then ill wash is then give it fresh food let it stay in a container for the night then let it in Mysticas tank. Also there arnt any objects in her tank from the garden but i keep seeing small white thinks on mytica i think its just the cuttle fish that i scrape with my snail so it falls down like snow to i kept bathing her i think its just cuttle sifh

[coyote]

Try using a magnifying glass to make sure it's really only cuttlefish pieces, just to be sure.

[Deleted]

k i dont want to be having to buy things like mite killers!

[danikat]

You can get rid of mites without buying expensive mite killers.

The best way is to change all the soil, moss ect. anything that can't be cleaned in the tank all at once and scrub everything else to make sure there's no mites hiding on it. Then before putting the snails back in give them a bath and rinse them off to try and make sure theres no mites on them.

You might have to do it a few times because they can get inside the shell, but it works fairly well.

But check with a magnifying glass first. If you've been sprinkling powdered cuttlefish it probably is that.

[Deleted]

ok thanks. Can the colour of a snails shell affect the colour of the egg cause i saw a empty grove (plain yellow shell) snail shell and i dug near it but there was a yellow egg and the next day it turned brown / cleat and had stretched did the egg die or is it gonna hatch?

[Deleted]

sorry 5 posts up : nail not snail