GIANT AFRICAN LAND SNAILS
We still have some Giant African Land Snails in our care, below is a very brief outline of their care. If you think you would like one please do your homework and find out as much as you can before you consider taking one on.
The giant African snail typically lives for five to eight years sometimes more. The African snail is a hermaphrodite. Each individual has both male and female sex organs, but reproduction requires cross fertilisation. Young snails become sexually mature at about 3–5 months
Feeding:
Snails will eat almost any vegetable or fruit, just make sure that you rinse the food well to ensure that any pesticides are washed off. The darker green leaf vegetable is best for them, but they will eat most things. They will need a shallow bowl of fresh water, but can drown if it is deeper than a few millimeters. Snails need calcium, and to get this the best source is cattle fish bone (same as you use for budgies). Without this calcium the snails shell will not be very strong and maybe slow to grow.
Housing:
Snails are one of the easiest of the exotic pets to keep. All you need is a reasonable sized tank (plastic or glass) with a secure lid, air holes, some general-purpose compost, a small water dish and a heat pad. Please go for the biggest size tank you can, the more room the better.
Snails should have fresh substrate every week and this should be at least 1-2 inches deep to allow the snail to bury itself as it would in the wild. Snails must be kept warm enough, a temperature of 21-26°C is usually best (depending on species). You may need to use a heat mat to achieve this, especially in winter. You can get these from reptile centres or online shops like eBay. These should be attached to the side of the tank, with a sheet of polystyrene at least 5mm thick on the back to stop heat escaping. The heat mat should be big enough to cover one third to one half of the side of the tank.
If you think you can give one or two of our Snails a new home please get in touch. (viaJH120708)
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