African land smail....

[Maggoty]

Mt friend had the classroom pet, an african land snail, for the holidays. Last weekend it actually buried itself in the "soil" in its aquarium. Is this normal behaviour?

It had not done so any other time during the hols

xx

[lankeela]

Yes this is normal. If it is an only one, then it is unlikely to reproduce but they do bury in the soil to lay eggs. If you keep the level of soil (or peat is better) shallow (about an inch deep) then they will not bury and lay eggs.

They are both male and female in one animal, but if they are alone they cannot reproduce, because by a strange quirk of nature their 'male' bits cannot reach their 'female' bits, so you need two to produce babies!

Hope it has got some cuttlefish in its tank to help its shell grow strong. Mine live on lettuce and cucumber, and the occasional treat of sweetcorn on the cob. They need to be kept fairly warm and moist, spray the sides of the tank each day with tepid water and you can watch them slither up and down the tank. Great pets!

[Maggoty]

Brilliant - thanks for that Iankeela. Any more tips for looking after ziggy? He has a shallow dish in the tank - his swimming pool - any other treats/activities for him?

x

[lankeela]

Apparently they like it if you dip your finger in beer and let them suck it.

Apart from that, what you see is what you get - a bit of slithering about and that's all. If you put them on your hand you can feel the rasping of their teeth, it doesn't hurt, it tickles.
One of mine got out once and climbed up the wall. It stuck to the wallpaper and I sprayed it with water to make it release its grip and when it came off so had the wallpaper! It had eaten it like it does the cuttlefish.

[Maggoty]

sounds like you have fun with yours........

thanks for that - will give Julia the link so she can read all this.

xx

[lil75]

I used to have 2 of these and they did bury themselves and lay hundreds of eggs! They look like minituare ping pong balls, you have to get them all out and crush them, theres nothing in them, just seems like an empty shell...if you dont, you will have hundreds of them to care for!

[Kleiber]

I've got 5 land snails and boy, can they eat!! Mine are fussy, though and will only eat little gem lettuce! I bought ordinary lettuce for them once and they didn't touch it (honest!). I got them as babies from a chap at my head office and I've had them for 2 months now and they've grown well. They have a flower pot to hide in (although they spend most of their time up the walls of the terrarium) and a cuttlefish bone to munch, to strenghten their shells. They do bury themselves occasionally, but like lankeela says, it's probably only when they're adult and want to lay eggs that they get serious about it. I think they're lovely and are very easy-to-look-after pets (ideal for children).

[lankeela]

Mine only like round lettuce, and only the outside leaves at that - they won't touch iceberg, and hardly touch little gems, unless there is nowt else. I even tried them fluted ones, but they weren't keen. They do love their cucumber though although it has to be fresh and sliced lengthways so they can get to the juicy bit.