How to keep hold of a blue backyard snail? ive made a small bio cube, and i was wondering, wat plants...
ive made a small bio cube, and i was wondering, wat plants should i feed him on a daily basis? how long should he live (he's a baby)? how do i take care of my kid. o, and i have to leave him outside.
Answers: Snails have need of lots of calcium or their shells will be weak/thin. Calcium comes in plants just close to most nutrients, but maybe throw in an egg shell, oyster shell or piece of limestone.
babe snails like lettuce. Boston loose leaf is great but other kind are prolly good.
snails in common like a diet of 80% vegetable/fruit and 20% bran (like oatmeal, bran cereal, cornmeal, wheat bread). They like their bran moist. They will drink enough food to equal 10% - 20% of their body weight respectively day.
snails might like brassicas profusely. because in my garden the slugs attacked my broccoli the most. Broccoli is a type of brassica, like cabbage, brussel sprouts, turnips and such. Snails similar to tomatoes and ripe fruit. The list of foods that snails like is a terribly long one.
here is a list under the subsection of "feeding":
http://nal.usda.gov/afsic/AFSIC_pubs/srb...
that page has a LOT of care info.
Snails stipulation water. like a trough they cannot leak into. maybe a pan occupied with small smooth pebbles <then pour contained by enough water so that it is rank with the pebbles. I recommend smooth pebbles because snails do not cross sand due to their soft bodies.
The pebble pan of dampen might help the humidity stay high surrounded by the cube. Snails need lots of humidity or they will have to hibernate/seal themselves against a wall or rock to preserve moisture. perchance a wad of wet moss within the corner would do it too? so it could emit moistness to the atmosphere. and you can re-wet it when it starts to get dry. Live moss might even be cool. Like a rock covered contained by it? anywhere live moss can grow is bound to be nice for snails. You could find such a rock by a creek maybe. or if you had a custom rock u can grow moss on it trouble-free. many recipes on the pattern; especially at bonsai forums.
with ^ some idea(s) like that, your cube should be fine and dandy if it is hermetically sealed. Occasional misting is okay too. like a nice sea fog or street light sprinkling but snails do not like water logged soil.
keeping the biocube within the shade would be good, since sun might cook or dry them out. I don't know if these guys can take a freeze so u better find out what to do surrounded by the winter.
snails breathe air. so the cube needs to be aired out once a daylight or every couple of days<airing it out will help to keep any fruitless fungi or rots from growing too.
The pan should only whip up part of the room because snails need their dirt. Most snails munch through dirt in addition to other food. They bring back nutrients from the dirt and maybe they even use it like chickens do? close to grinders/grit to digest their other food? idk. But they like certain kind of dirt. Like compost and leaf mold (which is old leaves moderately composted). maybe a little clay so here are plenty of minerals but snails burrow and so they like loose dirt, not dense stuff that is complicated to dig in.
if u do not hold a compost pile or bags of it, you can look for it under bushes and trees. It is the unlit dirt that gets made when leaves decompose. Also rich dirt can be found if you verbs around big grass clumps or creekside plants. You can use something with holes in it if u want to effortlessly sift/screen out the big chunks/rocks.
Changing their dirt every now and then to hold on to it fresh can be good. also it is good to put an earthworm within there. The worm will eat the snail's droppings and any little bits of surplus food. try not to leave lots of old food though because after rot and such can start.
make the dirt at least 4 inches philosophical i think.
he should live a few years I think. be ready in 6 - 9 months and begin wanting a girlfriend when he is two. i am not sure exactly how long they live becaue i really do not know snails but i saw one place voice some african ones live 9 years.
link to lots more snail info:
http://botw.org/top/Science/Agriculture/...
international links:
http://animalfocus.com/farming/helicicul...
those guys also have a "forum", it's small as adjectives get out but they actually own a board for pet snails.