| More about snails......... (random gossip, news updates and funny stories and pictures) Don't forget to visit the photo gallery for more snail pics |
| The Update Column: - A sort of snailey diary! Past info: Delilah the snail had been ill for some time and I believe she may have picked up traces of pesticide from her food, or else have some sort of infection. I acquired two South African Pale Landsnails in early June. They were babies and when they arrived one was in a bad condition, with a damaged shell and refused to eat. Here I chart the recent progress of all the snails with particular reference to Delilah and the SA Pale Landsnails. 29/5/2001 The baby SA snails are refusing all food and are very inactive. I have found they seem to like the temperature a little warmer, - so they are sat basking under the desk lamp in the hopes that it will revive them. 1/6/2001 Delilah has a strange predilection for kitchen towels it seems. She thinks they taste gorgeous, and by putting her food on the kitchen towel, I have persuaded her to start eating, - she unconsciously laps at the pureed fruit and baby food while she munches on the kitchen towel. 3/6/2001 She seems to quite like printer paper too....funny, as I recall, it tasted horrible... 4/6/2001 While there is beginning to be improvment in the bigger of the baby SA snails the smaller one is still going downhill. His body has taken on a darker tone and is noticably thinner than it was. I am unable to encourage him to eat. 5/6/2001 I think the smaller baby SA snail is dead. I am leaving it overnight to be sure, but it has all the signs of rigor mortis. 6/6/2001 With regret I removed the dead snail from it's tank today. I cannot see what was wrong with it by looking at it, but I can tell that it was not mites or any other parasitic creature. I think it might have been an internal bacterical infection. 8/6/2001 Today I can see the first traces of new shell growth on Delilah's shell. However she has been inactive for so long that there is a considerable ridge at the lip of her shell, and the new growth is papery and white, and on a totally different level to the previous shell. It is chipped already, but if she continues to make the effort the shell should be able to grow, and she will have a rather interesting textured ridge to her shell!! 11/6/2001 All the new growth has broken off Delilah's shell :o( I don't think she has the ability to grow her shell properly any more. 6/7/2001 Delilah is dead. I found her with her guts hanging out of her mouth yesterday and isolated her. Today she has died. I wish I knew what she had that made her expell her gut like that, - most probably a parasite I think. 17/7/2001 More bad news, - the second South African Pale Landsnail is also dead. It seemed to be doing fine, - it was eating plenty, although not growing. Well there was no warning at all, - the snail looked and acted perfectly healthily yesterday and today it was dead. A total mystery. 1/8/2001 Recently got 2 new snails. One Achatina immaculata and another S.A. Pale landsnail though looking at it I am not sure it is the exact same species as the last two. I am creating a new page for each of the two new species. Click here for the immaculata and here for the Pale snail. |
| Unusual but interesting....... I was recently having a conversation with some friends about the egg-laying habits of our snails. They are supposed to burrow into the substrate and lay their eggs in a sort of batch down under the surface, but it seems that one or two people have rather odd snails that prefer to give the new eggs a rather bumpy ride into the world. I have a snail who habitually lays from the top of the tank for example, sending the eggs spilling down to the floor. Poor eggs! My Dad was lucky enough to capture this on film last time it happened: |
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| Interestingly other people have also reported this strange phenomena! Wierd or what? Other favourite but unconventional laying spots for snails seem to be their water dishes, and laying "by accident" while asleep! |
| The Update Column continued. October 2001 This has been an unfortunate month for me and my snails. I decided that since they liked small amounts of pasta so much it would be ok to give them a large amount. They gorged on it and the next morning were looking terribly ill. For a while I thought I would lose them all, except the Pale snail who seemed to suffer no ill effects at all. They two adult fulicias were hugely swollen and unable to retract into their shells. The immaculata, while not swollen, had hidden away in the shell and I could not persuade it to come out. Two das later the immaculata was dead, and so was one of the fulicias. He had literally burst from his shell, and his entire body was swollen and distorted. The other fulicia made a very slow recovery, and it took over a week before he ate anything at all. Thankfully he is fine now though. 1/11/01 My neighbour's snail (which was originally mine, - I gave it to her last May) has laid eggs and I have nabbed half a dozen to hatch. We froze the rest of them as she does not have room for lots of little babies. Hopefully in 2 weeks there will be some fulica hatchlings to raise. :o) 10/11/01 An exciting day seeing the arrival of an adult immaculata, an Achatina albopicta, an Achatina iradeli, three baby Achatina smithii and a baby Achatina ventricosa. Sadly due to the cold weather the ventricosa did not survive the journey, but the other new snails have all settled in very nicely. The British snails have begun to attempt to hibernate for the winter. I am debating whether or not I should allow them to do this. 3/12/01 Well the baby fulicas actually arrived just over 2 weeks ago - and they are doing well. I miscounted though and so have 3 extra snails, - nine instead of six. Oops! I have a really cute picture of them on the fulica page. As for all my other new snails they're all doing fine, though the cold weather means I'm not getting to see anything particularly exciting at the moment. 2/1/02 New Year and New Eggs. The immaculata laid eggs two days ago and I'm told they'll take 2 weeks to hatch. They're slightly bigger and more oval than fulica eggs but otherwise very similar. There look to be somewhere around 90 odd, and they're the same colour as fulica eggs. 20/01/02 The immaculata eggs hatched in slightly less than 2 weeks after they wre laid and the babies are doing well. The Achatina iradeli also surprised me with a livebirth of 17 babies, of which so far I have 12 survivors. 01/03/02 I have taken enough orders from people that I won't be over-run with snails, - I've found homes for nearly all the babies and will post them soon. I have decided to release all but 2 of my British snails into the wild as I just do not have room for them. I have kept 2 babies that I hatched myself and hopefully will see them live out an entire life cycle :o) 1/04/02 I have sucessfully posted out all of the baby fulicas and all but five of the baby immaculata to new homes. The iradeli babies kept dying, - there is one left. However I have a new batch, born 31st March, 12 babies all seem healthy. Today I recieved an Achatina achatina through the post. Oh heck is it massive!! It's one thing reading about how big they get and quite another thing actually seeing one in the flesh! Amazing! |
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