Giant African Land Snails

[gary1621]

I had four babies arrive this morning I was expecting two, so they were a nice surprise.

Last years insect/creepy crawly of choice were Mantids, and they were so much fun but very short lived. My final female died just before Christmas.
I had an African lined male who was stunning, a female Giant shield, a female Budwing and someone sent me a female African lined to try breeding with my male... it didnt happen

I've never kept these guys before, but thought i'd try them. I've done a lot of reading so i'm confident.

There is a very common breed of snail, brown shell dark skin, very cheap! People are just giving them away!! But i thought i'd start with something just a little bit more interesting. So i got some Achatina Fulica (White Jade x Rodatzi). The White Jade from what i understand is white skin with dark shell and the Rodatzi is dark skin with an albino shell (yellow).
The seller said they werent very impressed with the colours, but with more breeding she'll get a nice cross breed so these ones went cheap.

I think i was very lucky because one is white skinned and has a light shell, the others have interesting shells and a fair skin. You'll see in the pics

Here are some pictures

 

[AJA]

I think there is a snail forum to help you if you need it. Cool little dudes though.

 

[radstusky]

How big will they get? They are kind of cute.

 

[gary1621]

There is a forum for everything nowadays hehe
I have more then enough forums to check, think i'll just stick to the one i got them from
...if i did find a snail one i'd more then likely end up getting more snails!!!

I'm not sure how big they will get to be honest, pretty big i reckon, about the size of your hand

 

[AJA]

I'm not sure how big they will get to be honest, pretty big i reckon, about the size of your hand

Ummmm, yep. I bet USDA doesn't want these around.



AHHHHH! Look at this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtM0Y3YihAU

 

[gary1621]

Awww, i wonder how long mine will take to get that big

They are the size of my thumb nail

 

[CHAMaDdIcT]

what do they eat? they look pretty cool

 

[seagrasser]

More from you tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5Wfo79GAAg&feature=related

 

[xanthoman]

very interesting .after i investigate more , i would like to try my hand at raising feeder snails. aja was right. there is a snail forum if you are interested http://petsnails.proboards.com/index.cgi

 

[radstusky]

wow! I guess they really are giant. I guess all the giant animals come from Africa! I'm actually tempted to get one (but I think I have enough critters at the moment)

 

[gary1621]

I found a forum... cricky there is a lot of info just on snails!

 

[Miss Lily]

The snail in the first couple of pics looks like a toy glow in the dark snail! Lol! I don't think I would like them when they are fully grown though! Ewww! Just imagine how big, sucky and slimy their bodies are!

 

[supermrchameleon]

wow those are pretty cool! Id love to see some more pics as they grow!

 

[gary1621]

I will keep the everyone posted on their progress

At the moment they are burrowed, but they should be waking up soon. They are more active at night and early morning.

They are eatting as there is cute little bites out of all the food items.

I'm looking forward to watching them grow, i want to see the development in their shells. See if there is any albino genes in them. I'm going to seperate them eventually, see if i can breed the white skinned with the lightest shell

Some of the eggs will be fed to the pond fish and my brothers lizards, I will try some hatched babies on the pygmys and Peanut

Tiff, i've seen pictures of people (girls) with the snails on their face!! So im guessing its not too nasty, and an advert on eBay says the dont produce slime like normal snails (but tbh i'm taking that two ways. 1 they produce very little or 2 they produce a lot more!) hehe

 

[gary1621]

The snails are doing great... all have doubled in size, if not even a little bit more then that They are loving their cuttlebone so their shells are really in good condition.

Just a few snaps to show you all

They dont have names as yet

And finally the white one

 

[Courtney]

very interesting .after i investigate more , i would like to try my hand at raising feeder snails. aja was right. there is a snail forum if you are interested http://petsnails.proboards.com/index.cgi

What kind of snails can be used as feeders and for what species of cham or size....im sure that could depend on the size of snail

 

[Lizardlover]

What kind of snails can be used as feeders and for what species of cham or size....im sure that could depend on the size of snail

Any terrestrial snail, just make sure they are cb as they are heavy parasite carriers. In general montanes love snails but my panther enjoys one now and then. carolina.com sells two varieties of suitable snails for your chameleon to eat.