What to feed/not to feed your snails

[visions]

Also something as a freebie and often around the garden is dandelion leaves. My snails devour it. Not sure how nutritional it is to them but they enjoy it anyhow

[malacophile]

Dandelions are related to lettuce, so I suspect that's why snails like them so much. Regarding the nutrition, they're considerably more nutritious than lettuce. Here's a nutritional assay for them:

nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2441/2 (you'll have to copy/paste into your browser)

[visions]

Oh that's good then, thanks. I just made them a nice pesto looking dish of various seeds, chopped dandelion leaves, spinach oats and some calcium dust. They're loving it!

[Cashell]

@ malacophile & visions

I never knew that snails would actually eat dandelions. I'm used to hearing that they avoid weeds and only eat what we don't want them to eat - crops!

[tdlea]

Does anyone have experience feeding dried dulse flakes to their GALS? I Have read that spirulina is fine. I'm worried about the salt content I guess. Thanks for any information!

[SwiftSnail]

What about milk?

[Ivy]

I have a question about the raisins. Is this like the raisins from a box? Are they popular with snails? More of a treat or are these a good source of nutrition?

Thank you

[neozero999]

I feed my snails the average range of snail foods, but wondering if I'm the only one also using bug jelly? Very common food for beetles, but I devised my own recipe, which is fed and loved by both my snails and millipedes.
Recipe as follows:
Banana, apple, honey, plec algae wafers (fish food) and calcium carbonate powder. All goes in the blender with some water, boiled and set with agar powder. Poured into sterilised jars and stored in the fridge, then just scoop out what I need. Very nutritious and very convenient if I've not time to forage for dandelions and kids have emptied the fruit bowl.

[Zorst]

That bug jelly sounds interesting I'll give it a try thanks.

Zorst

[malacophile]

Jun 30, 2014 21:50:33 GMT Ivy said:

I have a question about the raisins. Is this like the raisins from a box? Are they popular with snails? More of a treat or are these a good source of nutrition?

Thank you

Raisins, on their own, should be fine. However, there may (potentially) be some concern if they're sulfured (though I don't normally see raisins that contain it). I'm not well-versed on sulfured foods, but the bulk of the problems seen from it in humans appear to be isolated to those with sulfite allergies/sensitivities. That said, it's just sulfur, and I know it carries many health benefits for people who can tolerate it. In theory, sulfur should help support healthy shell growth in snails.

Best to err on the side of caution, though. If the ingredient label on the box just says "raisins", go ahead and give it a shot. Lots of other animals love them, and there's no reason they should harm a snail.

[Ivy]

Thank you! These said it was raisins and nothing added so I will give her one and see if she likes them!

[neozero999]

Hostas and nasturtiums.........The garden snails and slugs certainly anialate those!

[cliath]

What about pineapple? I have too much at the moment. Lol

[malacophile]

I'm wary of fresh pineapple, personally. While I've heard of other people feeding it, the stuff is loaded with a protease (protein-digesting) enzyme called bromelain. If you've ever overindulged in pineapple and got a painful raw rash in or around your mouth, then you know what it can do. I worry it could do the same to the snails.

[cliath]

I actually remember reading about how the pineapple eats you a little bit. It's really freaky. There's plenty of other foods anyway. Thanks

[mangoandlemon]

Thanks for this it helps me alot

[gyaros]

I want to ask about sweet potatoes.
Raw or cooked?
I m new in the forum and i was wondering
Thank you

[etana]

Gyaros: Both will do fine, raw is liked the most in the form of very thin slices cut with a peeling knife or cheese cutter.

[gyaros]

Thank you etana!

[muddydragon]

you can also feed chunks, my biggest guys often get one just sliced in half and happily much through it

[etana]

I bought a plantain (so-called cooking banana). I've let it ripen up on the kitchen table, it's turning from green to um... dark brown-ish yellow. I peeled it a bit, and gave a piece to my snails. It was a light orange colour.

It's only been tasted a little bit during the night. It seems like a nice fruit, not going horribly bad quite as quickly as the Cavendish Banana, but how do I make it more desirable? Should it be more ripe, maybe?

[morningcoffee]

You basically want it to be totally black on the outside, so it's soft and sweet inside. If it's yellow with only spots of brown/black, it's only medium ripe. Even my wild-caught African snails weren't interested in a plantain that wasn't fully ripe.

[etana]

Ahh, okay, thanks morningcoffee. I'll report here if I succeed once I've waited some more days.

[morningcoffee]

Nov 12, 2014 7:30:40 GMT etana said:

Ahh, okay, thanks morningcoffee. I'll report here if I succeed once I've waited some more days.

This is a pretty good guide! www.raw-food-health.net/RipenPlantains.html

[etana]

Nov 12, 2014 7:32:47 GMT morningcoffee said:

Nov 12, 2014 7:30:40 GMT etana said:

Ahh, okay, thanks morningcoffee. I'll report here if I succeed once I've waited some more days.

This is a pretty good guide! www.raw-food-health.net/RipenPlantains.html

 Ohh!! Excellent. Now I only think I kind of ruined this one plantain by already cutting off its tip, but I'll know better next time! Thanks!