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Any snail freaks out there?

OK, now thanks to Master Grower I am interested in snails and I want to get a few and grow them as big as possible. I was wondering if anyone else is into raising snails.

Locally we have black and gold Mystery snails and various darker colored / patterned Nerite snails. On ebay there is also Japanese Trapdoor snails which look like moss covered Mystery snails about golf ball size but I don't think they have the potential to get as big, and may not be as amphibious as Mysteries.

I've been reading up on the Mystery / Apple snails online since they are the biggest we're allowed to have legally as pets and some sources say they will grow faster when given a tiny/shallow amount of beer and bread along with their fruits and veggies. Of course these items are only possible to be on the menu when they are kept in a semi aquatic terrarium. I'm hip to raise some golf ball to baseball sized Mysteries and I was wondering if anyone here has tried any of the power feeding methods with a goal to raise the biggest snails possible?

I'm interested in any hobby snail input from you guys - let's talk about snails! :)
 
I've got nerites! :-O If I ever get another one-gallon pickle jar of sorts, I might try raising some in full-strength seawater.
 
I've kept Apple Snails before, but no strange feeding since they where in my planted fish tanks.
 
Got a couple in my aquarium atm:
Physa Acuta (common pondsnail)
Lymnaea Stagnalis (great pondsnail)
Melanoides Tuberculata (malaysian trumpet snail)
Clithon corona (horned nerite snail)
Potamopyrgus Antipodarum (new zealand mud snail, most likely from Snake River, Idaho)
Anentome Helena (assasin snail)

Best way to get them big is to make sure they live as long as possible imho.
From what i've read, age has more influence on size then diet.
 
I made an order late last night for a dozen pink, purple and magenta baby P. briggsiana apple snails with white feet and orange eyes. Hopefully they will retain their colors with age and size. Gonna setup a semi aquatic 10 gallon tonight and get it cycling with some crab water. Since my vampires like to eat pond snails I'm too afraid to put these with them. I'm also a bit afraid to have the crabs with the snails once the snails are big cos I've seen video on the Tube of a large triops being eaten by an apple snail so I'm guessing separate would be best.

Tali you're in the NL are you guys allowed to keep the Giant African Land Snails like they are in the UK? I so want a pair of those bad boys but we aren't allowed to keep them here. Supposedly the USDA will raid your house or school with guns drawn and violence as if you're manufacturing drugs if they find out you have them. I have no interest in a raid so I guess apple snails is a s big as I'm gonna get living here. :(

edit:
Do you keep the assassin snails with the others? They don't kill all the snails?
 
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I think so, saw some at a terrarium fair last month.
Over here they arent a danger bec they would not survive our fall/winter/spring.
Assasin snails only eat 1 snail close to their size every 2-3 days afaik
With pond snails in there it will take a looooooong time for them to eat all.
Unless the reproduce a lot (takes a long time, they reproduce slow) pond snails will out produce them.
The trumpet snials arent in danger bec they hide a lot and are harder to eat (rlly tough shell and trapdoor).
The nerites are too big.
 
So the assassins really only eat the pond snails and things their size or smaller than them? That's great! :)

Most of the US is too cold for the giant snails too but they made one law for everybody instead of state by state.
 
Not much smaller, mostly near their own size, if they cant find easy snails, they'll try the harder to get snails.
If there are no snails, they'll eat any other stuff with protein in it they can find (fish food, dead shrimps etc)
 
While I was getting crickets today I found a 10 gallon tank kit today with a hood that fits 2x 26 Watt CFLs and a small power filter all for $29 so I guess I will get some small colorful fishes to go in with the snails as well. Still gonna try and set it up as semi aquatic and only 1/2 full so there is a sort of "land" portion where I can have some tiny emergent plants and mosses and the snails can come out, lay eggs and stuff. We'll see if the filter has enough power to pull the water up that high, if so the output with splash down over some wood and or slate so hopefully I can get some mosses and maybe a utric growing... This will be fun I haven't done a "fish tank" in like 10 years!
 
  • #10
I have been out of the plant aquarium area for a while. I have never heard of these. So there is some thing that eats malaysian trumpet snails. Wow.
 
  • #11
Ebay buyers will eat up your MTS too! LOL
 
  • #12
Rlly ?
I always get them for free at the local aquarium shops.
If i can convice them to give them to me.
Half the time they think i'm crazy and wont give them XD
 
  • #13
I got my first MTS from buying live plants. They just appeared one night after dark crawling all over the glass and I had to ask online what they were.

My baby P. bridgesii apple snails arrived today ordered 10 I got 30 or more and the heat pack was still warm. They can hold astonishingly well to whatever they fix themselves to, how do I get them to move onto my hand or let go so I can take them from where I'm unpacking them and into the terrariums and aquariums? I don't wanna just pull and chance tearing their foot.
 
  • #14
try running water over them ?
I can never manage to pull my nerites of the aquarium glass above the waterline, but if i splash some water on them i can slide them down.
 
  • #15
I used to have a group of 4 Tylomelania, yellow rabbits to be exact. I miss them a lot, but they ate my plants, so they had to go. I traded them in for some micro danios that I never saw....
 
  • #16
I have red ramshorn and golden apple snails. Here they are, munching on a slice of zucchini.

111SnailFeast.jpg
 
  • #17
Wow this was an old post resurrected! LOL

I dumped out their shipping bottles and aimed them down into a bowl of water, they climbed out on their own. They're pretty big now some reaching 1 1/2" in diameter. The snails are not eating the plants just the algae on the old leaves. I feed them algae disks and home made calcium food wafers made with mini goldfish pellets and plaster of paris from home depot. makes their shells nice and hard and they love munching on it with the food pellets mixed in.

I still don't have any fish, just a dozen or more snails! :D
 
  • #18
Got 6 Septaria Porcellana yesterday :awesome:
Ill try to make pics soon.
 
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