Fussy snails

[sumi]

I've tried quite a few veg/fruit items on my snails but they don't seem keen on anything unless it's cucumber. They'll munch a bit on lettuce, but if cucumber is present too they'll just ignore it They don't like banana or apple, and I've tried "treat packs" from an ebay seller with hemp seed, pumpkin seeds, fish flakes and stuff like that but they won't even touch it
Does anyone else have any fussy snails? They are grove snails Cepaea nemoralis if that matters? Any ideas what I can try them on next? I've heard about sweet potato.. might be a stupid question but do you cook it first??

Thanks for any advice

[daniellejess]

I don't know anywhere near as much as other people here but I'll let you know what mine like & what I've heard anyway. I can't really help on Groves especially because as you know I've only just got mine & I've only given them cucumber up to now seeing as it's their favourite! But my others are very fond on sweet potato & will also eat a little bit of carrot. I've heard they love mango & sweetcorn, I haven't tried any of those yet though. Mine don't seem to be too keen on the treats you buy either but will eat pumpkin seeds (which I know yours won't!) and cranberry pellets (not sure if you've tried those but they're pretty cheap & will last ages) They also like raw meat once in a while & it's good because it's high in protein. Also try nuts as a little treat, mine love them!

With sweet potato, I have never cooked mine but this is what it says on this site-

certain 'hard' vegetables like carrot and potato benefit from being slightly parboiled and allowed to cool down completely before being given to the snails.

[crossless]

I would not boil anything for my snails it gets mouldy right away and really hard to clean food plate when there's some sweet potato all over the plate. And most of vitamins and everything stays in boiling water..

[Deleted]

I have grove snails too and i Cant feed them on anything but Cucumber, They like apple (so do my pomatia's) They sometimes eat mixe lettuce bu hardly any cuttle but now they do sincei sprinkle it on their food. I have a lemon mint plant in the groves tank and the little ones (im looking after my friends small one) sometimes eat it and because they hardly ever seperate they follow each other and they have too much time havng fun so when they notice its brekfast/lunch/tea/supper they can only eat the remains. Maby grate the food like grate the carrot and the cucumber then dice it into tiny pieces then mix them and they will be sure to end up eating the carrot(mind you i have never tried this maby ill try it today....)

[crossless]

Snails don't eat calsium if they don't need it. I don't sprinkle it on food. My adult fulicas don't at often calsium if they are not growing or laying eggs.

[daniellejess]

Mar 30, 2010 15:21:11 GMT crossless said:

I would not boil anything for my snails it gets mouldy right away and really hard to clean food plate when there's some sweet potato all over the plate. And most of vitamins and everything stays in boiling water..

I didn't know that so thank you, I won't bother trying it now!

[coyote]

If they love cucumber more than anything, stop offering it for a couple of days. They may not eat much of what you offer on that first day, but the next day (or maybe the day after that) they will begin to try the other things.

I will give cucumber only every 3 days or so to make sure my snails eat a wider variety of foods.

[crossless]

Hardest vegetables are best to slice with peeler or cheese slicer. When hard vegetables are thinly sliced they are much softer to eat.

I eat really rarely cucumber if it isn't summer. In winter I give snails some left overs if I don't want to eat cucumber except in salad. Cucumber in winter taste like mud so I usually leave it in store..

My snails love to eat radish stems, basil and rucola is big hit too. Radish stems are easy to get but well me or snails don't like actual root of radish so I usually throw radish away.

[sumi]

Thanks for all the tips everyone I've noticed that my baby snails will munch through anything, but my adults are the fussy ones. But.. today I peeled some carrot for them and they loved it! I think I've found a new fave Today on the menu is apple which seems to be going down ok. I'm deff going to try everyone's fruit/veg ideas too
Has anyone tried oranges? Is citrus fruit poisonous to snails? Hm. I'm gonna sit and read all the threads in this feeding section and make a menu for my snails

[Deleted]

You can give them oranges but i personaly think they are too acidy like you should giv the it as a treat im makin a menu for my snailies too

[crossless]

Yes, I think they are really bad tasting when there isn't harvesting season. So I usually leave mandarin, orange and klementin out of died so I know for sure I buy then enough other food for week.

And I always first buy few oranges to make sure I can eat them if they are sweet I buy more and may give some to snails. But you have to take that thin peel off round flesh otherwise it dry and may not look for snails something that they would try.

[coyote]

None of my snails have seemed to like acid fruits, whether citrus or other kinds. I'm sure there are snails that will eat citrus, but most don't seem to like it very much.

On the other hand, I have heard about the devastation caused by snail infestations in California orange groves, and I have seen photographs of hundreds of snails on the trunks of the trees, so who knows?

Locked. Contiune here petsnails.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=feeding&action=display&thread=9161&page=1 - CroSSLeSS