Buzz
Snails can make excellent pets. They are also a great choice for biology projects in schools and can teach children how to care for a living creature. While there are slight variations among different types of snails, they are generally easy to care for. Whether you're keeping land snails, freshwater snails, or both, you can easily provide them with a nutritious and delicious diet.
Steps
Feeding Land Snails
Select safe fruits, vegetables, seeds, and grains for snails. Land snails enjoy a variety of foods, primarily fresh, raw options. When hungry, they may also eat water-soaked food intended for turtles. However, most of their diet should consist of fruits, vegetables, and cooked seeds or grains. The following are safe foods for snails:
- Fruits: apples, apricots, grapes, kiwi, mango, melon, spring peaches, raspberries, strawberries.
- Vegetables: cucumber, mushrooms, tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli, green beans, peas, sprouts, sweetcorn, radishes, watercress.
- Seeds: sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds.
- Cooked grains: oats, rice.
- Snails will find hard vegetables easier to eat when cooked. Be sure to let the vegetables cool before feeding them to snails.
Chop or slice the food into pieces smaller than a coin. Use a vegetable peeler or kitchen knife to chop all the food into small pieces before feeding it to the snail. Snails are very sensitive to chemicals and pesticides, so make sure to use safe, organic foods and wash them thoroughly before offering them to the snails.
Start by feeding the snail about 60 ml of food per day. There is no strict rule on how much food you should feed your land snail, and you’ll need to spend time figuring this out. If the snail eats all the food you provided, you can offer more. Be sure to clean up any leftover food within 24 hours.
Avoid processed and hard-to-digest foods. Do not feed your snail junk food or foods that contain sugar or salt. Snails have difficulty digesting millet, pasta, crackers, and bread.
Place a shallow dish of spring water in the snail's enclosure. You do not need to provide drinking water for the snails, but you must ensure the surrounding environment has the right humidity level. Place a shallow dish of spring water in the enclosure for the snails to bathe in and change the water every 1-2 days.
- Be careful not to use tap water, as it may contain chlorine that could harm the snails.
- If filtered water is unavailable, you can leave tap water outside for about 48 hours to allow the chemicals to evaporate.
Spray spring water on the snail once every 1-2 days. You can also help the snail avoid dehydration by using a mist spray. Fill a spray bottle with spring water and mist the snail as well as its habitat.
- If you live in a very dry climate, you may need to mist the snail once or twice a day.
Always maintain a calcium supply in the tank. Snails require a lot of calcium to keep their shells healthy. Cuttlefish bone is an excellent source of calcium, as you only need to crush it into small pieces and place it in the tank for the snails to nibble on. Other calcium sources should be ground and mixed into the snail's food. Additional calcium sources include:
- Dead snail shells
- Calcium powder
- Crushed oyster shell powder
- Natural chalk
- Natural limestone
- Bone meal
- Wood ash
Feed the freshwater snails
Keep freshwater snails with fish. Freshwater snails are omnivores, typically eating algae and food scraps in fish tanks. You can also plant aquatic plants in the tank for the snails to graze on.
- Consult with a veterinarian or a pet store staff to find out which fish species are most compatible with the freshwater snails you keep.
Feed snails algae wafers. If you're not keeping fish with the snails, you can purchase small algae wafers, follow the package instructions, and add the appropriate amount based on the number of snails in the tank.
- Algae wafers can be purchased online or at most pet stores.
Feed snails blanched and chopped vegetables. In addition to algae, freshwater snails enjoy blanched vegetables. To blanch vegetables, dip them in boiling water for about 2 minutes, then remove and place them in cold water. Freshwater snails especially love peas, carrots, cucumbers, and lettuce. Let the vegetables cool down before placing them in the snail tank.
- Chop or slice vegetables into pieces smaller than a coin.
- When first offering them, give the snails a small portion of blanched vegetables every morning and observe how long it takes for them to eat it.
- Adjust the amount of food until the snails finish the entire portion in about 12 hours or less.
- Remove any leftover food after 24 hours.
Provide a calcium supplement for freshwater snails. Just like land snails, freshwater snails need calcium to keep their shells strong and healthy. Make sure to add a calcium source to their diet. Some good calcium sources for freshwater snails include:
- Cuttlefish bone
- Dead snail shells
- Oyster shells
- Natural limestone (note that limestone may increase the pH level in the tank)
Consult with a pet store, expert, or veterinarian for feeding advice for snails. The amount, frequency, and type of food you feed your snails will vary depending on the species, number of snails, and other aquatic animals in the tank. It’s best to check with a snail vendor or veterinarian.
- You may need to experiment and make some mistakes before you find the foods your snails like best.
- If your snails leave too much food behind, try offering them less food or a different type.
- When starting out, you can give freshwater snails enough food to eat in about 3 minutes, twice a day.
- Some snail species may require different food sources, such as fish food or food for bottom-dwelling animals.
