Do you feed Snails?

[DGray]

I know, I know... collective *yuck* from everyone, but seriously, a lot of field reports I read say montaine chams eat snails as a regular part of their diet. Have you ever offered small snails? Did they like them?

Quadricornis and jacksonii seem to take small ones with gusto. Any other species that eat em?

I live in a place where snails are abundant and its easy to find any size you might want. These are the introduced European snail that some people eat as escargot (not me, thank you very much). I look for small ones mostly about the size of a pea, but up to about the size of a small marble. The shells are pretty soft on these sizes, and the chams seeeem to like crunching them up. Gross to handle them, but hey, its free food. I have a feeling ( no data ) that the little bit of calcium in the shells is good for them too.

At first they will strike them with the tongue, but after a while they just walk up to them and bite. Why waste a strike on a prey that's slower than you are?

I really don't like having slime trails on the side of the cage so I feed in a suspended butter container. Offer only 1 or 2 at a time, and remove any uneaten ones after 5 minutes. Got any better methods?

 

[summoner12]

it is best to raise your own snails.... ya don't wanna introduce parasites from a wild caught snail..... but most montane species will eat snails.

I do not offer snails... but I do know other people do.

 

[Lancecham]

When I have fed snails to my Jacksons, I had the same result. The chams loved them. They seemed to know that they need to come up to them and grab them with thir mouth.
Just be careful as the snails can carry pesticides, etc. You sure don't want a cham to get sick... or even worse....
If you are concerned about the "snail trails", then just feed a couple at a time.

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

I live in central California to and another breeder in the area that I used to keep in touch with used to feed out snails to. Back a couple of years after the 1995 CITES ban he said his Parson liked them. However if you feed them out I highly recomend making certain that they don't come from backyards that pesticides are being used and for regular use I would recomend breeding them yourself not just field collecting.

I have actually never fed them out myself to my Parsons or to any of my other chameleons though.

 

[DGray]

pesticides... parasites...

good warning on the pesticide potential. I always collect mine from a wild area where, without a doubt, they're safe.

In California, the usual slug-bait contains a compound called metaldehyde (sp.?) Poisoning of dogs with this is pretty common, but easily correctable if a vet recognizes the problem and treats the pet. Its bad stuff, but it mostly results in a stomach-ache.

The other bait type contains iron-phosphate ( one brand is "Sluggo" ). This is far safer for pets and the environment. Its what I use at home.

I assume that when concerns are raised about parasites, that people are in sub-tropical or tropical areas. AFAIK, trematodes and other snail parasites are not present in land snails here. Anyone know for sure?

 

[sandrachameleon]

My adult male panthers will eat small marble sized snails. I found snails etremely easy to breed, but it takes a long time for the new snails to become large enough for a decent meal. There's a how to breed snails in my blog:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/133-snails.html
I've recentled reduced all my bug /feeder breeding projects, and snails were one of the first to go. I took a risk and fed off a couple of the wild caught adult snails, that had been in my breeding bin for awhile, to two panthers that most enjoyed snails. First fecal test from one of the panthers who ate one is negative. Havent had opportunity to have the other one tested.


Another thread on the same subject: https://www.chameleonforums.com/snails-feeder-26373/