New Pet Snails
*disclaimer: I am affiliated to some of the links provided below and will receive a small commission when you use them to buy the products. I am not an animal expert, all of the information provided here is based on my personal experience.
Hello wonderful humans! I know it has been over a month since my last and I apologize for that, I have been really busy with school and planning a wedding. I have so many blog post ideas and things I want to share with you guys but it hasn't been until now that I have been able to set enough time aside to write a full post.
Let's talk about my new pets
You probably guest by the title that I have a new pet snail–actually four of them. To be quite honest, this was a spare of the moment purchase, which goes against my ideals on pets. It is very important to do a lot of research before getting a pet.
As for mystery snails, I couldn't find that much information and that is why I decided to write this post. Most people have mystery snails as part of the cleaning crew on their fish tanks, but I have them in a tank by themselves as the pet.
Food
Mystery snails are usually considered cleaning crew, which means their owns let them search for their own food in the form of debris, leftover fish food, death plants and algae. While it is true that mystery snails can safely eat all of those things, they need a constant source of food and can starve if only given the leftover of other animals, they especially need high sources of calcium to keep a healthy shell. Some of the things I feed my snails are baby carrots, spinach, algae wafers and fish food. Something to keep in mind is that fresh vegetables make water cloudy.
Knowing exactly how much food to give them is a matter of getting to know your snails. If after 24 hrs the food is still there, you probably gave them too much. If you notice that the begin to munch on live plants, you aren't giving them enough. It is always better having to remove extra food, than starving your snails.
Calcuim for the shells
Calcium is very important for snails, if their shell breaks they will die–that is the one thing all of my research could agree on. Other than starving, their need for calcium is also another reason to make sure they have a stable source of food that is adequate for them. Spinach and other leafy greens, are rich in calcium so they are 100% recommended, and believe they go crazy for it!
Another way to add calcium is to buy a calcium supplement. If you do this, make sure you buy the appropriate one based on the lighting and sun exposure in your tank. I personally haven't used synthetic calcium with my snails but I have with my reptiles, and there is nothing wrong with it as long as you use the right one.
What I have seen mostly people doing is adding a cuttlebone and letting it float in the tank. The bone slowly releases calcium into the water and lasts until it is completely consumed.
Following that same train of thought, I read about people using eggs shells instead of cuttle bones. You do have to make sure to clean them and remove any egg residue. There are two ways in which I have done this, the first one is to let the shells float on the tank in the same manner as the cuttle bone, and the second way is to crush the egg shells (as small as possible) and let them sink to the buttom and be eaten by the snails. The reason why I do both, is because it is equally important for them to ingest calcium as it is for the calcium to be present in the water.
If you want to know about other natural ways to make your own calcium powder, you can watch this YouTube video from Leopard Gecko Talk.
Other things to know
I know this post is getting long but there are still a couple of things worth mentioning.
Mystery snails are tropical animals and they prefer to be in warm water. I have noticed mine are more active when kept water that is between 80-82F. You don't want to burn them, so don't go above 84F, and you don't want them to go into hibernation all year round, so make sure you don't go bellow 70F. Depending on your room temperature, you might need a heater.
Another thing to keep in mind is PH, mystery snails do better in alkaline PH because of the relationship between PH and calcium. So make sure you maintain it between 7 and 9. PH can be adjusted using baking soda.
Provide them with hidings and interesting areas to explore. My snails seem to really enjoy crawling over and inside of the decoration I provided for them. I have also seen them climbing on the fake and real plants, a lot more than they do on the glass. Give them decorations like you would to fish, just make sure that you don't over crowd it and that the decorations have big enough holes/tunels, because their shells will grow and you want them to get stuck.
That is all for today
This is just a general overview on owning mystery snails, so make sure to do more research if you want to own them. Let me know if you already have some, and what other things you would like to know about them.
Until next time
Continue being amazing, and let me know what you think about this post.