Deo32
Member
This seems like an awesome yet extravagant solution that a new cham keeper probably shouldn't be focusing on...maybe the basics first?Like Remcon already said.
So snails, as a feeder the actual snail, has alot of calcium in them, they love calcium. Then the snails shell, is 100% Calcium Carbonate, and there is quite a bit of it in fact. Likely more in 1 full grown H. aspersa (now C. aspersa, AKA Garden Snail, or Escargot (not actually Escargot, but a close relative and the closest we have in the states)
They need to be fed cuttlebone, as they will just raso it down for their shells and holding calcium, the things love calcium.
Now, going to use a source here, as I have not attempted this yet, but plan to.
I spoke with Petr Nectas, about absconding from dusting, in leu of using snails, 1-2 fully grown, weekly. Obviously dusting with D3, and Vits is still needed. He said, that would be fine. However if your already having calcium issues, maybe dust everything but the snails. And let others test that theory.
It makes since, we put a thin layer, of calcium and most of that is lost before the feeder meets the cham. Snail shells have quite a bit of calcium. I had the suspicion it would be enough, and Petr stated he thought so as well.
To the WC thing, I am not endorsing feeding WC snails, I am still Leary of it.
However, the parasite of issue for the Snails is Rat Lungworm, and a type of Nemotoads, Petr also stated neither of these will have any effect on Chameleons, and WCs should be fine. Take from that what you will. From what I am told, as I am just starting my colony, they are extremely prolific, so breeding them and not feeding WCs shouldn't be too bad.
This last part is controversial, but I am going to provide it anyway. There is a debate going on right now about this in the Snail Facebook group. Tree snails, (hard to keep alive, but legal to ship) require UVB, to survive, period. There is talks of land snails beniefiting from UVB as well, it defiantly doesn't hurt them, so that is a good idea.
A note, Shipping land snails across state lines, is extremely illegal, it carrys up to 5 years in prison. And the USDA actively monitors the snail forums, and the snail groups on Facebook. They do not mess around with snails, it's not like sticks where they really don't enforce it afaik, they are not playing with snails.
So you need to catch them or buy them from someone in your state.
And the parasite, rat lungworm, can affect humans, and dogs. Which is part of the reason they don't play around with snails I think. Being pests is 1 thing, their parasites can kill humans. Wash your hands, before and after holding them, and only hold them with wet hands.
