New Person With Wild Snail...and Now Eggs

[MLO]

I posted a thread in "Habitat" about the wild snail I picked up off the sidewalk to prevent it from being crushed, and eventually decided to keep.

I was a little worried about the second home I made for it, but a little less when I discovered, much to my surprise, that it had laid a number of eggs.

Now snail and eggs are in a third, larger home (I used a spatula to lift the section of soil the eggs were in), but I know nothing about snail eggs, other than that they should take between one and two weeks to hatch. I did a quick search in this area of the forums, but most of what I found was related to getting snails to mate and more advanced info on eggs.

Are they supposed to get bigger before they hatch? Should I mist the area they're buried in when I mist the tank? How do I know when they're past the time they should hatch? Should I put some extra cuttlefish bone near where the eggs are?

Thanks in advance for any advice...

[coyote]

As a rule, snail eggs do not get appreciably larger before hatching. They may change color a little, though.

I'm not sure if extra misting is needed for the area where the eggs are. As long as the substrate is sufficiently moist, that ought to be enough. You do not want it too moist, though.

If it's much beyond 3 or 4 weeks and you're still not seeing baby snails, gently move the substrate away and see if the eggs are still intact. Sometimes the snails hatch and they take a couple of days to come up to the surface. Sometimes the eggs don't hatch at all, and they begin to decompose in the soil. Can you see the eggs through the sides of the tank? If so, they're easy to keep track of. If not, poke around very gently to check on them.

When the snails hatch, the first thing they do is eat their eggshell for the calcium in it. I have never put extra cuttle for hatchlings, but it probably couldn't hurt. If you can crush it or grind it into a powder, that might help them ingest it.

[morningcoffee]

They won't get bigger, but you might notice the eggs changing colour when they get very close to hatching. It can look like they're going rotten, but it's most likely just the colour of the little snail's shell inside, so don't worry too much unless they stay a weird colour for weeks without hatching!

Don't disturb them too much - it's OK to check on them once every few days but don't keep digging up the soil around them for a look. When they do hatch, the snails might stay buried for a few days while they eat and digest their eggshells. They probably won't move much at all for a good few days. Don't worry about that, it's normal You can put some food or cuttle on the surface near where the eggs are buried so that the babies can go straight to it when they come up to the surface, if you like, but it's not essential. They'll find their way to the food either way

[MLO]

Unfortunately the snail laid the eggs underneath one of the pieces of moss I put in its first enclosure...the enclosure I was worried about (too small, too short)....and no where near the side of the enclosure. When I lifted the moss to put it aside for the new enclosure, I saw the eggs. I kinda panicked and quickly put the moss back.

After I'd calmed down, I proceeded with moving the eggs to the new enclosure. I got it ready, moved everything over except the eggs, then at the very last minute, I moved the moss and used a spoon to carefully lift what I thought were two eggs and the soil around them. That's when I sort of panicked again, because there weren't just two eggs...but a lot more than two. Which meant I needed a bigger enclosure than the second one I was transferring them to. I didn't have one handy, so I put the eggs in the second enclosure, in the same place relative to the other items I'd put in there, and in as close to the same position (soil, eggs, moss) as they were in the other enclosure.

Long story longer, I went shopping that weekend, got a nice clear, tall plastic container, used an awl to punch holes in the top and on the sides at the bottom, and then moved everything again. Again, I moved everything else before moving the eggs, and again I put them in the same place relative to the other items (food rock, lichen log, curved bark hiding place) and in the same position (soil, eggs, moss) as before.

Since transporting the eggs the last time, I've only lifted the moss once...and that was to look for the snail when I couldn't see it anywhere in the enclosure, and after I had checked everywhere else in the enclosure.

The eggs were laid on May 27th, by the way. The one time I checked on them, they looked the same...white, with a dark dot on them. I didn't look too closely though...I'm trying to leave them alone as much as possible.