# thinking of breeding african land snails



## SteamedPolecat (Apr 11, 2011)

what's the best way to do so, they're for my bosc when he gets bigger


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## FeralWild (May 9, 2011)

*Breeding Snails*

I breed giant land snails for pet shops in manchester and can give you the details you need for them.

You need a large storage container, one they sell in shops for underbed or toy storage. A shallow one is better than a deep one as it takes up less space though go for the biggest one you can. B&M bargains do a 60 litre one for £2.99 which is ideal. Its the size I use. Once you get it home, drill several holes in the lid for ventilation or alternatively melt them with a soldering iron. I aim for at least thirty holes, spaced evenly over the lid.

For substrate, use potting compost which is cheap and when damp, sticks to the bottom and does not clump up into the snails' foot when they are moving about over it. Do not use gravel, snad or bark chips as they clog up the snails and kill them. Make it a good inch or more deep as they bury themselves in it and also lay their eggs under the compost. Give them a piece of cork bark and the odd rock to hide under and clamber over.

For food, supply them with a varied diet of lettuce, cabbage and spinach. I feed mine on tesco mixed leaf salad, and also a small dish of koi pellets soaked in water once a week for protein. They also like apples and strawberries sliced up thinly. They also Need a cuttlefish bone for their calcium needs in shell growth. This is essential and needs to be replaced once they have grazed all the soft side down to the hard side.

There is a little confusion as to if they need a heat source or not and some people keep them either in a tank on top of a heat mat, or in a warm room. I do neither but keep the tank on top of my tropical aquarium which gives off enough warmth to keep them happy.

To breed them you need two. Its an obvious statement I realise, but most snails are Hermaphradite. This means they have both male and female organs, but can not reproduce clone versions themselves like some stick insects can. They will mate and then both snails will lay a clutch of eggs.

The mating is a long and arduous process that can take up to 24 hours if they are left to get on with it in peace. The snails need to be of equal size to mate otherwise they just won't. If one is larger than the other they can not embrace and therefore can not breed.

The snails will follow each other around the tank, eating each others' slime trail and tasting for hormones. If they are ready they will face up to each other and kiss. The exchange of mouth fluids stimulates the mating process. (If you would like to see this for yourself, I have a photo in my snail album of two snails kissing)

Once they have kissed, they puch themselves together flat together and stand one third of their foot off the ground. One will then fire a calcium barb into the flank of the other called a love dart. If the other reciprocates, then it will fire one back. Then comes the tricky bit. They have to match up their organs with each other perfectly for the transfer of sperm. This can take hours and if they get it wrong they won't produce eggs. Once this is completed they will back off from each other and go in search of food. 24 hours later they will bury themselves into the compost and lay a clutch of eggs. The brood can be from 4 or 5 eggs or anything up to 50 eggs, depending on the size of the snail, though until they are 3 inch long or more they will play but not lay eggs.

I have found communal clutches of up to a thousand eggs in one place with five or six clutches in the tank overall.

To hatch the eggs, they need warmth and humidity. Ideally they should be left in the tank and not disturbed, but you can transfer them to a container with some damp compost in it. The ideal humity leaves a small amount of mist on the lid, but not droplets of water. With heat, the eggs can hatch in five days, but without they could take three weeks to hatch and even then not all of them will.

They are safe as houses left in with their parents and often do better that way and can be left with them permanently. If you have a lot, it may be an idea to start up a second tank for growing on and also be careful when removing old food as there may be baby snails on it.


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## Dee_Williams (Aug 15, 2010)

fantastically informative. wow.


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## tracy pearman (Mar 14, 2011)

Great post, I think this needs to be stickied to the top!:no1:


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## FeralWild (May 9, 2011)

I'm used to being informative when it comes to animals I keep or have in the past. I'm a regular on yahoo answers as well


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