New albino retics arrived today !

[lynn22]

Well we got our Tiger babies 2 weeks ago, first time we've ever had snails and I couldnt help myself .... decided to get another 2 snails but this time they are albino retics ;D The reason I went for these is having looked at many pics I just think they are very pretty & will certainly add variation to the tank (they are housed with the 2 tigers) These retics are around the same age which make all my snails about 2-3 months old but boy they are TWICE the size of the tigers and the shells are beautiful, infact reminds me of those expensive praline swiss chocolate shells ;D Also everything I read about their personality made them very appealing to me.

They came in the post this morning safe & sound and i quickly got them out of the little tub and was amazed as they didnt pull back into their shell !! then I gave them a wee run under a drippy tap to make sure they were moist enough and put them on my hand...they still didnt flinch, then i very very gently gave a tiny stroke on ones head & it was totally fine, wasnt bothered in the slightest ... i cant believe how ok they are with being touched & handled, the tiger babies always retract into their shell although they come out fairly quickly but i think they prefer not to be handled.
The other thing was i didnt know if i would be able to touch them with them being white but actually it didnt bother me at all.

Then after a short few minutes i decided to leave them be & put them in the tank to get warmed up and they started munching straight away (another reason why i got them so i didnt have so much wasted food from the tiger babies(

This is what shocked me , something i hadnt read or heard of... as they were gloriously munching on a pre-soaked algae wafer thingy i could see the green mouthfuls passing through their heads & down their bodies as they swallowed... totally fasinating if not a tad freakish.......... This went down a storm with the kids aswell & I am sure will add to my enjoyable snails watching evenings

So all in all I'm delighed with my new "girly" snails (the tigers are the boys LOL)

ps.. quick question, with these being twice the size of the tigers they wont try to eat them or anything will they

[Rachel]

no, they won't try to eat them, its just because tigers are slow growing whereas retics tend to be faster. I love watching my albino retics eat as well, its lovely at night as well, when you switch the lights off you can see them ghosting around in their tank

[bluepegasus]

Oh lucky you, I have seen pictures of albino retics and I wish I had one, they are so pretty! I never new you could get albino snails until I went on this forum!

[siobhanc54]

I have my tigers in with albino retic and they are all the same age and the size difference is amazing. I even think they make my tigers more active I had the tigers first and always had to wake them up to eat now they do get up on their own a lot.

[lynn22]

Blimey, how late in the night is it !!! I've just gotten myself away from watching them These Albino retics are soooooo fasinating to watch. First it was green blobs i watched going down their bodies, then they moved onto sweet potato so it was orange blobs going down, then onto (and still currently) lettuce so its back to green again LOL & thats them been munching for atleast 2 hours now & they're still going strong !

I did have a wee panic as 1 of them went onto the coir where i knew patrick (tiger) had burrowed so when i picked the retic up he took patrick with him so i've just spent half an hour watching making sure the tiger got himself buried again safe n sound out of harms way.

Jeezo I need to get a life me thinks Never mind, Hubby is on an oil rig so no-one here tease me....no different from folks sitting watching fish I s'pose.

[coyote]

I love watching snails -- or just about any animal be themselves, living their lives. I'll even spend a long time watching the bees in my garden going from flower to flower. It's a fascinating little world, and a refreshing change from the world of humans.

[lucyjames]

I find it very relaxing watching them sliming around...!!!

[vicki]

Quick question .... can albino retics live happily with a mixture of normal fulica and albino fulica?

[lucyjames]

Mine do ;D

I have various different variations of fulica, and a few different species in my vivarium and they seem pretty chuffed about it, lol... in fact Eric the Albino Retic has a crush on Sid the Fulica ;D