Few questions regarding snails & Dubia roaches

[happiness]

I ordered snails about a month ago maybe longer (I'm bad with time!) and one recently died. I found it upside down in a container I filled with water and rocks.. I'm not sure how it died and I just noticed little tiny fast moving bugs (I spotted two) crawling around in the soil and one on a piece of apple I have for the snails to eat.. I'm wondering if they are harmful to the snails? Should I change out the soil?

& how long does it take for the snails to get to a breeding age? The smaller one is about the size of a quarter and the other is the size of one of a $1 liberty coin.

& Can I put Umbrella plant leaves in the cage instead of outdoor leaves? I worry about bringing in parasites.


And about my Dubia Roaches.. I haven't noticed any babies yet. I check once a week and have only seen one or two small tiny ones in the past month. There are about 20 adults right now and it seems like more males than females. Is it possible that my heating pad isn't giving off enough heat or does it take a while for them to breed?

 

[Thezillaman21]

With snailes even the babies can produce babies depending on the species. Not sure what your talking about whe umbrella plant. And dubia take a while to reproduce. Make sure they are well hydrated. Fed fresh food and kept warm. More heat up to 90 = more babies. Also don't forget to keep adding new roaches to your colony they inbreed after so long and start to produce less babies. Feed off males since females take a while to produce babies 1 male per 5 females was what I hear works best. Good luck!!

 

[MelissaB]

One of my original three died this week, too. Not sure why. I have a ton of babies, though. Are your snails somewhere where they're warm enough, have enough moisture, and have enough soil to bury their eggs? Also, not sure if it matters, do they get exposed to sunlight? I have mine in the living room, so they do get ambient light. I don't think you absolutely have to have leaves, but they probably help with keeping moisture. Not sure if Umbrella plant leaves are toxic to snails, or not.

 

[Psychobunny]

These land snails are new to me, have had mine about a month too.
Cleaning it is not going to be much fun, with all that slime in there!!

Even their food is covered with it!

Havent seen any sign of digging, or babies, but poop is everywhere!!

With my luck, even if I do get baby snails, probably none of my guyz will
eat the bloody things

 

[happiness]

One of my original three died this week, too. Not sure why. I have a ton of babies, though. Are your snails somewhere where they're warm enough, have enough moisture, and have enough soil to bury their eggs? Also, not sure if it matters, do they get exposed to sunlight? I have mine in the living room, so they do get ambient light. I don't think you absolutely have to have leaves, but they probably help with keeping moisture. Not sure if Umbrella plant leaves are toxic to snails, or not.

That's what I'm worried about, with the toxicness. I fully cleaned the cage out, placed new moist potting soil in and added the leaves. Hopefully the leaves don't kill them.
i have them in my closet.. so it's always dark! The only window I have would probably be pretty cold for them. The room they are in is near the water heater so it's always a lot warmer in the room but there are no windows. I wonder if light does matter? That's a question I;ve been asking myself for a while now. The soil is about 2 inches deep.
& That is strange one of yours died too!

Do your snails sleep outside of their shells? I noticed recently that the snails have been out of their shell with their eyes sunken in.. In the past I would always see all 3 inside their shells with that film around the opening. I read that meant they were hibernating to survive the condition of their surroundings.. so I'm wondering if they are outside of their shells sleeping.. does that mean the condition they're in is okay?

I want tons of babies! When you mean tons.. like how many did you get? xD

 

[MelissaB]

I would try setting them somewhere where they get a little ambient daylight, and see if that changes things. I've never seen mine sleep outside of their shells, but they might and I just didn't notice. I probably have 150 babies ranging in size from dime-sized to itty bitty sized. Do you give your snails some calcium? Either a cuttle bone or sprinkling plain calcium on their food?

I hope you and Pyschobunny get lots of babies and that your chams love 'em. Poor Winston doesn't feel good enough for treats, and Little Guy looks at them like, "Why are you trying to get me to eat a rock?!"

 

[happiness]

I would try setting them somewhere where they get a little ambient daylight, and see if that changes things. I've never seen mine sleep outside of their shells, but they might and I just didn't notice. I probably have 150 babies ranging in size from dime-sized to itty bitty sized. Do you give your snails some calcium? Either a cuttle bone or sprinkling plain calcium on their food?

I hope you and Pyschobunny get lots of babies and that your chams love 'em. Poor Winston doesn't feel good enough for treats, and Little Guy looks at them like, "Why are you trying to get me to eat a rock?!"

I hope mine eat them too! I'll feel bad when I feed my chameleon the babies since they are so cute! (the snails) That is A LOT OF BABIES! I can't believe they're already dime size. I do sprinkle calcium. I haven't bought a cuttle bone yet. ty for the responses.

How big are the two that you first received? Maybe mine aren't adult yet?

 

[Lathis]

I have snail eggs! I've had my snails about a month and found a cluster of eggs last week. Now if I could just get rid of the fungus gnats...

 

[MelissaB]

I hope mine eat them too! I'll feel bad when I feed my chameleon the babies since they are so cute! (the snails) That is A LOT OF BABIES! I can't believe they're already dime size. I do sprinkle calcium. I haven't bought a cuttle bone yet. ty for the responses.

How big are the two that you first received? Maybe mine aren't adult yet?

Only a couple of the babies are dime sized, the rest are pea sized and smaller. Not sure how the few big ones got so big so fast! My original 3 were all about the same size around as a 50 cent piece. I think I got lucky and they had bred before being shipped.

 

[MelissaB]

I have snail eggs! I've had my snails about a month and found a cluster of eggs last week. Now if I could just get rid of the fungus gnats...

Yay! Glad you have eggs! I hear you about the fungus gnats. I get them, too. I'm hoping the isopods will help by eating the stuff they like. I'll let you know if it helps at all. So far, they haven't been as bad as they had been with a houseplant I had a few months back.