# Breeding Snails for BTS Food



## Keblin (Feb 12, 2012)

A lot of information I have read says that snails are a great source of protein for blue tounge skinks! I have two main questions really...

1. How easy are snails to keep and breed for feeding purposes?

2. Shells are a good source of calcium, however when fed frequently is there a risk of impaction?

Thankyou! ^^


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## Keblin (Feb 12, 2012)

Just realised, this should probably be moved to the "Feeder" section!

Apologises, I didn't see that section!


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## Jasia (Feb 15, 2009)

Keblin said:


> A lot of information I have read says that snails are a great source of protein for blue tounge skinks! I have two main questions really...
> 
> 1. How easy are snails to keep and breed for feeding purposes?
> 
> ...


Hi,

Snails are really easy to keep and breed, once you have the right set up they are off and running (so to speak).
I have 5 that I keep as pets and their eggs are raised for feeding to lizards.
They start to lay around 8 months to 2 years old, depending on their quality of care. If cared for well you should get around 200 to 300 eggs once they start to lay.
They eat almost any fruit and veg, some have different likes but you figure that out as you go.
They need cuttle fish for their shells to grow, the shells harden after 4 months I think.
There is a great care sheet that covers most info you would need for them MustLoveSnails put it up and it is really good.

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/invert-care-sheets/821621-giant-african-land-snail-care.html

I have not heard any reports of impaction issues, but I am fairly new to it compared to some here. You could try to get some babies to try your skink on before breeding as some lizards like them and some don't, its personal taste.

I have eggs due to hatch soon so if you want some when they are ready I am happy to send you some to try your skink with before you get a whole set up just incase your skink doesn't like them.


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

There was a thread on here in the last couple of weeks about buying frozen ones from the Chinese supermarket,have a look.


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## Keblin (Feb 12, 2012)

Thankyou very much! That's some great information!  It seems the care is fairly easy! Though they have less nutrition, the young soft shelled ones probably have less chance of impaction then! : )

That is a very generous offer of the snails, but I am not getting my skink for another year (moving too much with university!) I just wanted to get as much information as I can in advance! ^^ I imagen if I got the snails now I would have more than I knew what to do with by next year!

Perhaps I can send you a note when the time comes and see if you still have any extra snails looking for a home? ^^


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## OniExpress (Sep 11, 2010)

colinm said:


> There was a thread on here in the last couple of weeks about buying frozen ones from the Chinese supermarket,have a look.


That could potentially be an *awesome* way to infect your reptiles with various parasites. Most consumer meat products are designated safe for that purpose: for consumers. Specifically, they assume that you will be cooking the product. If the frozen snails are raw, or even depending on the cooking method, you could wind up creating new hosts for a broad range of parasites.

Much better, imho, to try and get ahold of some adult snails and breed from there.


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## Keblin (Feb 12, 2012)

colinm said:


> There was a thread on here in the last couple of weeks about buying frozen ones from the Chinese supermarket,have a look.


Yes I saw that as well! I have a large supermarket that probably sells them, but if keeping live ones is not too intensive they could provide some good mental stimulation for the lizard. Even if snails arent very fast!


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## Keblin (Feb 12, 2012)

OniExpress said:


> That could potentially be an *awesome* way to infect your reptiles with various parasites. Most consumer meat products are designated safe for that purpose: for consumers. Specifically, they assume that you will be cooking the product. If the frozen snails are raw, or even depending on the cooking method, you could wind up creating new hosts for a broad range of parasites.
> 
> Much better, imho, to try and get ahold of some adult snails and breed from there.


Thankyou, I had considered that as well, though quite a few people have seemed to have success with the frozen variety. But considering you can get a hold of live ones quite easily, even if you dont consider breeding, I would always do that!


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## Jasia (Feb 15, 2009)

Oh, yeah you would have far to many by then if you got some now, LOL.

Its fine to send me a message in the future, if I have any you are welcome to some to see how you go. I supply to 2 of my sisters and another couple of guys here and usually have some left over to find homes for (or dinner plates!!).

Well done on doing your research early, far to many people 'figure it out' as they go and end up with problems.


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## Keblin (Feb 12, 2012)

Jasia said:


> Oh, yeah you would have far to many by then if you got some now, LOL.
> 
> Its fine to send me a message in the future, if I have any you are welcome to some to see how you go. I supply to 2 of my sisters and another couple of guys here and usually have some left over to find homes for (or dinner plates!!).
> 
> Well done on doing your research early, far to many people 'figure it out' as they go and end up with problems.


Thankyou! I'll make sure I do that!! ^^

There are some things that you find out as you go along, like you said my skink might not even like snails! But reserach is really important. My friend's brother brought home a turtle because the pet shop was trying to get rid of it. I appreciate he loves animals and wanted to help out by taking it away from a rather dodgy pet store, but he's has no idea how to take care of it or even what species it is!


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

OniExpress said:


> That could potentially be an *awesome* way to infect your reptiles with various parasites. Most consumer meat products are designated safe for that purpose: for consumers. Specifically, they assume that you will be cooking the product. If the frozen snails are raw, or even depending on the cooking method, you could wind up creating new hosts for a broad range of parasites.
> 
> Much better, imho, to try and get ahold of some adult snails and breed from there.


Sorry I dont agree,the snails have been frozen and they are for human consumption.They will have more health checks than any reptile food.


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## Keblin (Feb 12, 2012)

colinm said:


> Sorry I dont agree,the snails have been frozen and they are for human consumption.They will have more health checks than any reptile food.


Fair point! However as they pointed out, the producers assume that we will be cooking them so the health checks may not be that high - though there is not reason why you couldnt do that for your skink in some boiling water!

Personally I was looking into snails as a good source of live food to mix up with the protein choice along with non-live foods such as high quality dog food, cook meats, etc.


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## greendale9061 (Aug 26, 2009)

*Frozen Snail Meat*

Hi Guys,

It was me who posted about the cheap froozen snail meat that I found in a chinese supermarket in Manchester. Heres the link.

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/feeder/837322-cheap-frozen-snail-meat-your.html

I used to feed my Pink & Blues a handful of live snails (bought from a breeder) every week - aswell as the usualy dog/cat food, fruit, peppers, mince, eggs and pinkies.

When it rained heavily I also collected live one and frozen them shell on ready for when i ran out of live ones.


I've been using these frozen apple snails for about a month, and these a defo a cheap alternative and easier than the live variety, as my GALS just couldn't keep up with supply.

As for parasites, I haven't have a problem with feeding defrosted live snails, (touch wood) so I think these would be a safer alternative, being for human consumption.


Good Luck with the blue - my two eat anything! Esp locust and pinkies are there fav.


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## Keblin (Feb 12, 2012)

greendale9061 said:


> Hi Guys,
> 
> It was me who posted about the cheap froozen snail meat that I found in a chinese supermarket in Manchester. Heres the link.
> 
> ...


Ah I see! Thankyou for the info!! Hopefully with only having one skink I will be able to keep up with demand by using GALS! ^^ Do you remove the shells at all when you use GALS?

And thankyou very much! It seems blueys aren't fussy eaters in general, except maybe with veg!


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## Dan Trafford (Mar 10, 2011)

Keblin said:


> Ah I see! Thankyou for the info!! Hopefully with only having one skink I will be able to keep up with demand by using GALS! ^^ Do you remove the shells at all when you use GALS?
> 
> And thankyou very much! It seems blueys aren't fussy eaters in general, except maybe with veg!


I saw this tortoise with a snail on it's back, the snail was shouting at the tortoise... "slow down you maniac!! We wanna get there alive!!"


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## greendale9061 (Aug 26, 2009)

*Snails*

I feed live snails and frozen wild snails shell on. They have a pretty good knack at cracking the shell and just eating the snail. If feeding live snails, best to mist the tank after you put the snails in, it encourages the snails to appear out of the snail and also promotes feeding time for the skink.

I must say mine prefer shell on snails dead or alive. You can feed earthworms and slugs too, but these seem to get a bit too messy.


On average my 4 gals lay about 150-200 eggs every 4-8 weeks, and about 60% hatch, but it takes up to 6 months for them to reach an ediable size for my skinks, so gave up. The snails I feed have a shall size of about a 10p coin, any each adult skink gets 5-6 every week (I have 11 aswell = 60-70 snails per week!) 

They also like stick insects too - but didn't have enough bramble & privet to keep a bredding group going.


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## Keblin (Feb 12, 2012)

greendale9061 said:


> I feed live snails and frozen wild snails shell on. They have a pretty good knack at cracking the shell and just eating the snail. If feeding live snails, best to mist the tank after you put the snails in, it encourages the snails to appear out of the snail and also promotes feeding time for the skink.
> 
> I must say mine prefer shell on snails dead or alive. You can feed earthworms and slugs too, but these seem to get a bit too messy.
> 
> ...


I've seen videos of blueys and they clearly have no trouble munching down on those snails! 

Thanks for the futher info, I can see why its quite difficult to keep up with skink demand! When I actually get my skink I'll see whether she/he actually likes them and then try set up a colony and see if I can keep up.

Do you mist the tank during every feeding, or only when you give them snails? Seems from your experience there's no problems with impaction then if you feed them the right size snails then!! ^^ The answers my second question!


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## NitrousandAlex (Mar 21, 2012)

Just wondering, my sister keeps these as pets and they have just bread can I feed the snails to my Leo's ????


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## Keblin (Feb 12, 2012)

NitrousandAlex said:


> Just wondering, my sister keeps these as pets and they have just bread can I feed the snails to my Leo's ????


I believe you can with the very small ones, but defiantly wait for someone with more knowledge than me! I know Leo's are generally hardy little things but they can get impaction quite easily.


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## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

I'll take some snails if anyone has some. Mine haven't laid any eggs yet 

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk 2


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## Street (Oct 30, 2009)

I've got more than my skink can eat at the moment and a new lot have just hatched.

If anyone wants a few, send me a PM and I'll send a few out if you cover the postage!


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