What to feed/not to feed your snails

[patrickmurtha]

I put out a half-cup of chopped eggplant for my 16 snails last night, and by morning it was all gone. I guees they must have liked it!

[kidothesnail]

I thought I read somewhere they also like grapes? Is that true I bought them some but if they may not have it ill eat them myself

[teessnails]

Hi, I'm new to the forum, so I hope this is an okay place to ask this question, if it isn't please let me know. How much should snails eat? My helix aspersas had quite the appetite when I first got them (about two weeks ago) but lately they've been barely touching their food. Are they typically slow eaters or should I be concerned? Again, my apologies if this is not the correct place to ask this question.

[etana]

Apr 1, 2015 17:14:11 GMT teessnails said:

Hi, I'm new to the forum, so I hope this is an okay place to ask this question, if it isn't please let me know. How much should snails eat? My helix aspersas had quite the appetite when I first got them (about two weeks ago) but lately they've been barely touching their food. Are they typically slow eaters or should I be concerned? Again, my apologies if this is not the correct place to ask this question.

If they were wild-caught, then the behaviour you're seeing was what my wild-caught snails have done too. Outside they're used to not finding good food very easily, so when they do, it's party time. Their first days in captivity, they're not used to there being a lot of food and no predators so they'll still binge, but after a while they calm down and start leading much lazier lives, including lazier eating.

If you bough them, the bigger eating may have been stress related.

Hope this helps!

[teessnails]

Thanks! They were wild caught, and that makes quite a bit of sense. They were both more active today and they both made decent dents in their food, so I'm no longer worried. I think they were simply gorging before

[teessnails]

One more question, if it's alright. I know lots of people feed their snails fish flakes for protein and other nutrients. I was wondering, is there any specific kind of fish flakes that work best? Like, beta flakes vs gold fish flakes?

[etana]

Of course it's alright to ask questions! I'm not the board's fish flake expert, but generally it's best to start with checking they don't contain added salt, sugar or copper. Vitamin D can be a plus, as it helps with their calcium digestion. If someone has further info, I hope they'll share it.

[teessnails]

Thanks!

[evangeleen]

Hi, I wanted to say my snails adore chalk. Should I give them more or not?

[mangoandlemon]

Chalk as in coloring chalk? I wouldn't feed that to my snails,but natural chalk is a good calcium source which snails need for shell growth.

[evangeleen]

No, exactly the natural.

[mangoandlemon]

As long as no pesticides were sprayed where you got it its fine.

[teessnails]

I have a question. I've heard that the reason snails like beer is because of the yeast, which got me wondering about nutritional yeast flakes. I eat them on my popcorn all the time, and the ingredients seem safe enough. So does anyone know if snails could eat them too? Would it be good for them, would they even like it?

[mangoandlemon]

You could soak them in water and try to give them to your snails, but they may not eat it.

[teessnails]

Apr 16, 2015 19:47:21 GMT mangoandlemon said:

You could soak them in water and try to give them to your snails, but they may not eat it.

Okay, I might try it. Do you think it would be at all beneficial to them?

[mangoandlemon]

Maybe you could give it as a treat food sometimes. I don't know if it would be beneficial for them or not though.

[teessnails]

Well I'll try giving it to them and see if they like it. Hopefully they won't eat it if it's bad for them, though I can't imagine that it would be

[mangoandlemon]

Ok I hope all goes well!

[Zorst]

Has anyone tried feeding snails Asparagus? I'm inundated with it at the moment YUM but there are a lot of half stems left from when its prepared for cooking hence I was wondering if its ok to feed the snails?

Zorst

[astana]

My snails also eat Brussels sprouts (chopped in little pieces), parsley, mint, watercress, spinach, apricot, blackberries, dragonfruit (this one I only gave in a small amount) and papayas.

[etana]

Can snails have coconut milk or flakes?

[horrr0r]

The list says "beans" are okay. Does this include Black Beans? Or do they mean just like green beans?

[Northsnails]

Do "pears" cover Asian pears? I bought one and am thinking of feeding a slice to my cepaea nemoralis'

[muddydragon]

Aug 21, 2015 15:06:28 GMT Northsnails said:

Do "pears" cover Asian pears? I bought one and am thinking of feeding a slice to my cepaea nemoralis'

I think so. I can't see why they would be a problem.

[Northsnails]

Thanks