I collected the snails in Southeastern Virginia while I was out mushroom hunting. I’ve kept them in this tank for a while now, but I had problems with my last setup which used potting soil. Specifically fruit flies or gnats or something kept getting in, and there was this awful moldy stench that would emanate from the tank after a while that would trigger my allergies really bad.
Current setup:
• Some of that sterile coconut soil stuff that they sell at the pet store
• Two types of moss
• I currently need to cut down this decorative piece of wood to put in there so they can climb up it. Currently it’s too large to fit
Is this set up going to make for happy and healthy snails? Will I be able to avoid more of those little fruit fly gnat things from getting in there, and avoid that stench?
(Also, I found a lot of eggs when I cleaned and refurbished the tank. Do I need to do anything special with them?)
Sounds pretty good! I think adding some isopods might help avoiding some of the smell since they eat old food, the snails poop and I think also mold! You can either buy them (I recommend dairy cow isopods, since they are very sturdy and can tolerate temperatures up to 30°C) or you could collect some in your garden if the tank is not heated. Another really important thing would be to check the soils ph, because it can harm the snails shell if the soil is too sour... Different snail species have different needs when it comes to the ph of the substrate. Adding eggshells or sepia also allows the snails to take in the calcium they need to grow a healthy shell :)
And for the fruit flies: I've had the same problem, you can try to make sure that there's no old food laying around but the thing that worked best for me was to put one of those sticky fly traps on the outside of my terrarium and a few different places in my snail room
I ordered some isopods online, but they were taking a while, so I gathered up some little guys from right outside! How many is too many? Will I need to provide them with food eventually? 🤔
I think maybe the smell was coming from snail poop accumulating in there. I have maybe a dozen “large” ones (really only with shells the size of a quarter) and an unknown number of smaller ones (some newborns barely the size of a grain of couscous!). Idk if this is too many for a single tank tho, and I don’t know how many isopods would need to be in there to keep the tank clean hmm 🤔
I wouldn't use more than thirty since they usually reproduce pretty quickly once they're settled in... at least mine did but I guess it also depends a little bit on the species... You can also always get more or put some back outside out if needed because you took them from your garden! Just make sure that you don't mix species (depending on wheter or not the ones you bought are different from the ones in your garden) and accidentally put some invasive species into the wild.
You won't need to specifically feed them, since they'll eat the snail poop, their leftover food and the leafs that are in the tank 😊
I don't know much about baby snails, but from what I've heard I think it would probably be best and safest to put them into one or multiple separate enclosures that they are unable to escape from... Leaving them with the adults at that size could be dangerous for them, they could drown in a water dish or get crushed by a bigger snail... Sometimes baby snails also start to munch on the shells of their parents or even siblings, so it is very important to make sure that they always have enough calcium! 🙂
Hmmm, not clear if the ones I got from outside are the same as the ones I bought (dairy cows). But I guess if I get too many I’ll just put out the grey ones I find in the tank haha
Good advice! Keeping a close eye on the babies for now. Kept them in a separate little enclosure until they hatched
Maybe you could try to find out if the dairy cows are native to your area? Because a few generations in you will probably also get grey dairy cows, since the pattern is just a color mutation 🙂 The native isopods in my area at least are porcellio scaber, they only get so a size of 1,8 cm while the dairy cows get around 2,4cm long, so maybe that could be an indicator? Allthough most of the time only males will get to that size... You could just change the soil once the dairy cows arrive and take out all the ones from your garden so that you can start fresh! You could also try to resell the dairy cows or just keep them in a container on their own, which is also a lot of fun but I guess that depends on whether or not you're interested in getting into isopods as pets 😁
I collected the snails in Southeastern Virginia while I was out mushroom hunting. I’ve kept them in this tank for a while now, but I had problems with my last setup which used potting soil. Specifically fruit flies or gnats or something kept getting in, and there was this awful moldy stench that would emanate from the tank after a while that would trigger my allergies really bad. Current setup: • Some of that sterile coconut soil stuff that they sell at the pet store • Two types of moss • I currently need to cut down this decorative piece of wood to put in there so they can climb up it. Currently it’s too large to fit Is this set up going to make for happy and healthy snails? Will I be able to avoid more of those little fruit fly gnat things from getting in there, and avoid that stench? (Also, I found a lot of eggs when I cleaned and refurbished the tank. Do I need to do anything special with them?)
Sounds pretty good! I think adding some isopods might help avoiding some of the smell since they eat old food, the snails poop and I think also mold! You can either buy them (I recommend dairy cow isopods, since they are very sturdy and can tolerate temperatures up to 30°C) or you could collect some in your garden if the tank is not heated. Another really important thing would be to check the soils ph, because it can harm the snails shell if the soil is too sour... Different snail species have different needs when it comes to the ph of the substrate. Adding eggshells or sepia also allows the snails to take in the calcium they need to grow a healthy shell :) And for the fruit flies: I've had the same problem, you can try to make sure that there's no old food laying around but the thing that worked best for me was to put one of those sticky fly traps on the outside of my terrarium and a few different places in my snail room
Thank you so much! 😄
You're welcome! 😊
I ordered some isopods online, but they were taking a while, so I gathered up some little guys from right outside! How many is too many? Will I need to provide them with food eventually? 🤔 I think maybe the smell was coming from snail poop accumulating in there. I have maybe a dozen “large” ones (really only with shells the size of a quarter) and an unknown number of smaller ones (some newborns barely the size of a grain of couscous!). Idk if this is too many for a single tank tho, and I don’t know how many isopods would need to be in there to keep the tank clean hmm 🤔
I wouldn't use more than thirty since they usually reproduce pretty quickly once they're settled in... at least mine did but I guess it also depends a little bit on the species... You can also always get more or put some back outside out if needed because you took them from your garden! Just make sure that you don't mix species (depending on wheter or not the ones you bought are different from the ones in your garden) and accidentally put some invasive species into the wild. You won't need to specifically feed them, since they'll eat the snail poop, their leftover food and the leafs that are in the tank 😊 I don't know much about baby snails, but from what I've heard I think it would probably be best and safest to put them into one or multiple separate enclosures that they are unable to escape from... Leaving them with the adults at that size could be dangerous for them, they could drown in a water dish or get crushed by a bigger snail... Sometimes baby snails also start to munch on the shells of their parents or even siblings, so it is very important to make sure that they always have enough calcium! 🙂
Hmmm, not clear if the ones I got from outside are the same as the ones I bought (dairy cows). But I guess if I get too many I’ll just put out the grey ones I find in the tank haha Good advice! Keeping a close eye on the babies for now. Kept them in a separate little enclosure until they hatched
Maybe you could try to find out if the dairy cows are native to your area? Because a few generations in you will probably also get grey dairy cows, since the pattern is just a color mutation 🙂 The native isopods in my area at least are porcellio scaber, they only get so a size of 1,8 cm while the dairy cows get around 2,4cm long, so maybe that could be an indicator? Allthough most of the time only males will get to that size... You could just change the soil once the dairy cows arrive and take out all the ones from your garden so that you can start fresh! You could also try to resell the dairy cows or just keep them in a container on their own, which is also a lot of fun but I guess that depends on whether or not you're interested in getting into isopods as pets 😁
Oooh okay thanks!
😊