Snail house, Sofia, Bulgaria. Domestic land snails

So that such an unusual pet as the Achatina snail can live and reproduce for many years, you need to know the features of caring for it. Large decorative mollusks have managed to win the hearts of many animal lovers. They are no less interesting to watch than fish or reptiles, and the maintenance and reproduction of Achatina does not take much time.

Huge snails: where did they come from?

Large gastropods live in Thailand, the Caribbean, California and India: they have managed to spread throughout tropical zone all over the world. Initially, large domestic snails Achatina fulica and related species lived in African wet forests. They settled, crossing the oceans on ships along with cargo.

The giant snail is capable of for a long time do without food and water, hibernating, and awaken in favorable conditions. In tropical countries, African snails most often found the local climate quite satisfactory. The rapid reproduction of mollusks has made them serious agricultural pests, but in some countries the giant Achatina is valued for its exquisite taste meat.

In European and Russian conditions, a tropical animal can only survive in a terrarium.

But the pragmatic British nevertheless passed a law that prohibits throwing away exotic pets to the street. This was done not out of love for them, but in order to prevent the invasion of a new pest, especially considering how long Achatina snails live and at what speed they reproduce.

Achatina is different

Among the domestic Achatina snails there are individuals with different patterns on the shell, with different colors of the body (legs) and slightly different in size (the maximum size of the shell is 12–20 cm). It's actually simple different types Achatina and Arhahatina. In addition to the most common type of fulica (giant), in terrariums you can find a variety of reticulata (reticulate) and representatives of another genus, the already mentioned archachatina.

The snail Achatina fulica, despite its name, rarely reaches a shell size of 12 cm. Most often, individuals are about 10 cm long. The color of this species in nature is dark, stripes of brown and brown are clearly visible on the shell. yellow. Fulics are slow and rest more often.

Reticulate Achatina has high speed growth and can reach a length of 14–15 cm (shell size) even when kept in a terrarium. Its leg is light beige in color, while its head is almost black. Convex ribs are clearly visible on the shell. The color of the shell is light, with uneven dark stripes and strokes. This species has interesting feature: The snail reacts to an object that attracts it by extending its head and examining it. Reticulates are more mobile than their counterparts and more often escape from the terrarium. Their lifespan in captivity, like their counterparts, is 5–10 years, depending on the conditions of detention.

The largest are the archahatines.

They differ from previous species by the blunted top of the shell. Its coloring resembles the stripes on the carapace of the fulica, but is not so contrasting. The length of the shell of an adult animal reaches 20 cm. At home, there are individuals with a light body, but the natural color is dark, almost black.

In addition, there are selective forms bred artificially: standard, black-headed, rhodation, hemeli, albino, which are distinguished by an unusual, lighter color of the leg and shell. The white jade snails are especially beautiful: their shells are the usual color with dark zigzag stripes, but their bodies are snow-white. The usual market laws apply to such snails, so the rarer the unusual varieties of Achatina are found, the more valuable they are. But caring for such rare mollusks is practically no different from what is needed natural views. Biologically, this is an ordinary Achatina, and keeping it at home follows general rules.

The breeding forms appeared as a result of the selection of unusually colored snails that were accidentally bred among the offspring of “wild” varieties. It may be interesting for a breeder to discover in the next litter a baby that is different from the others. He may even start his own breed by raising it and purposefully breeding and selecting the offspring of yet another unusual variety. Due to the extraordinary fertility of African Achatina, this can be done even at home.

How to keep a giant snail at home?

The most important thing that a breeder who is involved in keeping the Achatina snail and breeding interesting mollusks should remember is their constant need for calcium carbonate. This substance is the main component of the shell. With a lack of calcium in the diet, the shell becomes thin, breaks more easily, and the snail stops growing. The changes also concern internal organs which often leads to illness and early death pet.

In order for the snail to feel good throughout all the years of its life, grow well, reproduce successfully and produce healthy babies, you need to ensure that there is constant access to a source of calcium carbonate. In natural conditions, all types of Achatina snails eat soil rich in chalk, scrape limestone and bird egg shells with their radula.

At home, they are deprived of the natural variety of chalk sources, but a caring owner must artificially introduce them into the diet.

If you wish, you can buy pressed chalk for parrots at a pet store (it should not contain salt) and put it in the terrarium. The African snail itself will eat it in the right quantity. You should not use school chalk sticks - silicate glue is often used to press it.

Chicken egg shells are also a good source of calcium salts. It needs to be dried and ground in a coffee grinder. The easiest way to add the powder is to grain feed or sprinkle it on juicy vegetables. This feeding should be given to young mollusks, and large adult mollusks will be able to scrape off the shell particles themselves with their “tongue”. You can put it whole in a terrarium with large gastropods.

What else will Achatina eat?

The nuance of how to care for Achatina and how to maintain them is feeding. Being familiar with grape snails, slugs and other mollusks, a novice Achatina breeder can assume that they eat plant foods. He will be partly right, but this is not enough for good growth and development of gastropods.

Giant snails are omnivorous creatures.

Feeding them is not only about providing green plants. Some mollusks are quite capricious and have their own preferences. Only their owner can know how to feed such gourmets, if he is observant enough. But general principles feeding, as part of caring for Achatina, includes the following points:

When raising young animals, you need to remember that the snail feeds constantly, finding food during its travels. Having eaten, she rests for a while, after which she looks for food again. Therefore, recommendations to feed young animals once a day are not based on anything. Young animals should receive food in the amount they need. To do this, the terrarium must always contain fresh vegetables and fruits (carrots, apples, slices of cucumber or zucchini - depending on the season). Snails eat cabbage and lettuce well; in summer you can give clover, plantain, and dandelion leaves. It is better not to give large pieces to very small gastropods. There have been cases where a mollusk bit into the flesh and then died there, unable to find a way out.
Unlike young people, adult snails prefer not fresh herbaceous plants, but those that are beginning to rot. But at home it is difficult to provide such a diet so that Achatina eats what it is supposed to eat by nature. Therefore, the same fresh vegetables are used to feed adult gastropods as for young animals. Some owners spoil their pets exotic fruits. This is not necessary, but it is pleasant for both the mollusk and the owner watching it. Achatina can be given a banana, mango, a piece of watermelon or melon. Some people get too used to sweets, refusing to eat other foods.
It is very useful for both young animals and adults to give protein feed from time to time. You can offer them a piece of fish, chicken fillet or lean beef. Meat should be cooked without salt.
Among what Achatina eats, there are also grain feeds. At home, it can be rolled oats (oatmeal), egg or wheat, crushed corn. Grain feed can be given raw or cooked into a very cool porridge without salt.

Everything that contains salt should be excluded from the diet of pets: sausages, leftovers from your own meal, smoked fish. Inexperienced owners sometimes want to treat their Achatina to something unusual. They should remember that salt is for shellfish strong poison: garden pests (slugs and snails) are often destroyed very in a simple way, scattering it near the plants.

Do snails need water?

Adult Achatina not only drink water, but also bathe in it. Among the things needed for snails, there should be a wide flat vessel of small depth where the mollusks can refresh themselves. Gastropods need moisture to secrete protective mucus. Based on the size of the snail, it can be assumed that they require quite a lot of water, so you should not limit access to the source. If there is a lack of moisture, Achatina will not die, but will hibernate.

For young animals, the pond can be dangerous.

Like many land animals, snails breathe through their lungs, so immersion in water without the ability to quickly get out of there will result in the death of the Achatina baby. To provide them with moisture for drinking, you can place a piece of plastic on the ground, onto which you periodically spray water from a spray bottle when treating the walls of the terrarium. But young animals can get the bulk of their liquid from juicy vegetables (cucumbers or zucchini).

For gastropods, it is important not only to have water to drink, but also to have high air humidity. You can create it using a spray bottle, spraying the walls of their home 2 times a day. By evaporating, the water will maintain a normal microclimate in the terrarium.

How to equip a terrarium for shellfish?

When Achatina snails appear in the house, care and maintenance unusual pets become the main problem of a new owner of exotic animals. In addition to the pressing issue of what to feed Achatina snails at home, we have to solve another problem: providing favorable living conditions. Considering that these are tropical gastropods, the question of the appropriate temperature comes first.

Under natural conditions, snails live in hot regions East Africa. The temperature there rarely drops below +20ºС. Mollusks will be able to tolerate lower levels, but in order for them to live longer and not get sick, they should not be subjected to such tests: comfortable temperature there will be an interval of +20…+28ºС. In indoor conditions, this is quite difficult to achieve, especially in winter period. To maintain a microclimate you can use various types heaters for reptiles, which are sold in pet stores. They need to be placed outside the terrarium so that the snail does not suffer from electric shock.

It is better to use a large aquarium as a container.

For 1 Achatina measuring about 10 cm, a volume of at least 10 liters is needed. When keeping several animals together, their space requirements must be taken into account.

When deciding what kind of soil snails need, you should choose clean, damp sand. This is a substrate familiar to them, which is quite accessible to the owner. Its disadvantage is that grains of sand can stick to the mucous sole of the Achatina. Crawling on the glass of the aquarium, they will inevitably stain it. Leaf soil can also be used as soil in the terrarium, in which adult snails can find plant debris for food. Both peat and flower soil from the store (without fertilizers) are very convenient. The soil must be slightly moistened: this will promote optimal air humidity and relieve gastropods from the need to produce too much mucus for movement.

The decor in the terrarium can be anything. You just have to remember that sharp corners and edges can injure soft-bodied inhabitants. When planting living plants, you need to select species with pubescence. Among indoor crops you can find such a variety of decor that choosing the right one will not be difficult.

Breeding is an interesting aspect of keeping Achatina

Once they reach 6–9 months of age, snails can begin to reproduce. To avoid uncontrolled population growth and problems with the sale of young animals, you need to know several rules for breeding:

Achatina are hermaphrodites. This means that they have both male and female organs. But the reproduction of Achatina snails still requires the presence of a partner; they cannot fertilize themselves. If the appearance of offspring is undesirable, you need to keep 1 animal or provide a separate container for each pet from the collection.
When purchasing an adult gastropod, you need to be prepared for the fact that it has already had contact with a partner, so the appearance of laying eggs and young animals is quite possible. Mated snails can retain sperm for 2 years, laying fertilized eggs. They breed and mate up to 6 times a year, regardless of the season, if there are suitable conditions.
To provoke reproduction, you need to provide your pets with the most important condition: the presence of a moist, loose and deep substrate. Sometimes Achatina reacts to replacing the usual peat with wet sand. This is exactly their soil wild ancestors chosen for laying eggs. Mating occurs in the evening or at night, when the partners are most active. It's interesting to watch mating games snails, but this process absolutely does not require host intervention.
Lighting or day length does not affect mating propensity or egg laying. Achatina reproduces when it is satisfied with humidity and temperature, the availability of space for laying eggs and the diet.

Breed Achatina snails in large quantities can only be afforded by breeders or suppliers of their meat. There can be up to 500 eggs in a clutch, and when good conditions Almost 100% of the cubs are hatched from the parents. It is very difficult to give away or sell such a number of young animals, and it is not recommended to throw them away. By adapting to living conditions, snails can be resistant to external influences, especially in regions with mild winters.

Unwanted masonry must be destroyed in a timely manner by boiling them in boiling water.

But if the breeding of young animals is planned, then the intervention of the breeder is unnecessary here too. Small snails will hatch on their own 1-2 months after laying eggs.

Other aspects of snail life

Achatina has practically no diseases of its own. They can be injured if the owner carelessly drops them. In this case, it is often the shell that suffers, and not the snail itself. The edges of the crack or hole should be lubricated with an antiseptic without alcohol or chlorine. A solution of furacillin, for example, or another aqueous preparation is suitable. After some time, the wound on the soft tissues will heal, but a chip in the shell may remain.

There is evidence of such a disease of snails as the desire to gnaw on a shell (its own or someone else's). If pets damage each other’s shells or their own by scraping the surface with the radula, this means that caring for Achatina snails has one significant drawback. Most likely they lack calcium. By providing gastropods with access to a source of an element important to them, the owner is able to solve this problem.

How long Achatina live often depends on how satisfied they are with their lives. It is not difficult to comply with simple care requirements. Achatina snail, the contents of which correspond to its biological features, can live at home for up to 10 years.

Garden snails are one of the easiest and cheapest pets to have at home because they often live in large quantities in the garden, eating plants. Although snails need to be fed and watered at least once every two days, they are easy to care for if you know what they need. A snail can live for several years in a container with a constantly maintained environment.

Steps

Making a house for snails

If the snail will not live with you for a long time, take any container with holes for ventilation. If you are going to watch the snails for several days and then release them back into the garden, then it makes no difference what container you take, as long as the snail has access to oxygen. A plastic container or a jar with holes in the lid will work well. Instead of a lid, you can use a piece of gauze, wrap it around the rim of the container and secure it with an elastic bandage.

Remember that snails can climb vertical surfaces and may escape if the container does not have a lid.

If you are leaving the snail for a long time, purchase a larger terrarium or aquarium. If you are going to keep the snail for longer than a few days, use a container that will provide the snail with enough space for its size. Only baby snails or tiny adults can stay in the environment for a long time. plastic container. Most snails need an aquarium to keep them clean and healthy. At the pet store you can buy a terrarium designed specifically for snails.
- Use an aquarium of 19 liters or larger to give the snail enough space to move around. If you have several snails or are going to care for the young or the adults are breeding, buy a larger aquarium.
Make sure there is free flow of air into the terrarium. Just like humans, snails breathe air using oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. The terrarium must have holes through which air can pass, preferably different sides to improve air circulation. Some snail owners have noticed that they are more active when there is a tiny hole in the bottom of the terrarium for air to escape.

Keep the terrarium at room temperature. As long as the terrarium is humid, most snails will not be particularly affected by temperature. On the other hand, they will be most active and feel safe when room temperature. Keep snails in cool shade during hot weather and avoid exposure to frost.

Buy soil or soil for your terrarium. To reduce the likelihood of harmful bacteria, pesticides and other hazards, purchase soil for your terrarium from a pet store. One more good option will take natural land from a garden that has not been treated with pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Place a layer of soil on the bottom of the terrarium, completely covering the glass or plastic.
- Do not take soil from flower pots - there may be substances harmful to snails.
Add a layer of natural matter on top of the soil. Place a layer of sphagnum moss, peat, compost, or vermiculite on top of the ground. This will retain moisture inside the soil, creating favorable conditions for snails.

Decorate the snails' home. Place objects in the terrarium that the snails can hide under or climb on. This will make their home more comfortable, and it will be more interesting for you to watch them. Most pet stores sell artificial logs that small animals can crawl through, or short tubes for hamsters that are also suitable for snails. You can also find interesting materials to use in your garden! Stones are a wonderful addition to a terrarium. The bark and branches usually fall off after a couple of weeks, so you will have to replace them.
- Cardboard rolls from toilet paper also great for climbing.
Attach a heavy or snap-on lid. Snails are extremely strong relative to their size, and can climb to the top of almost any aquarium. The closing lid, which is secured with a latch, will prevent their escape. If the lid of your terrarium does not have a latch, weigh the lid down with a stack of books or another heavy object.

Feed your snails clean food every day. Most snails are not picky eaters and will happily eat almost anything. fresh fruit and vegetables. Wash all food thoroughly clean water before giving it to the snails and cut large vegetables into slices or pieces. Some foods, such as potatoes or carrots, need to be boiled for a couple of minutes to soften the vegetables a little. Always cool cooked food before feeding it to your snails.
Find out what foods can harm snails. The nutritional diet of snails has not been particularly studied by scientists, so snail owners have no consensus on which foods are harmful to snails and which are not. Below is a list of types junk food for snails, from most dangerous food to least dangerous:
- Salty food can kill snails. Completely avoid anything with salt crystals.
- Do not feed pasta, rice or millet. This Starchy Food May Cause Congestion digestive tract snails Do not feed snails these foods.
- Plants grown at home may be exposed to exhaust fumes from cars and can therefore be dangerous.
- Acidic foods like citrus fruits, tomatoes and kiwis can harm snails. Or maybe it won't hurt them. Use this food in small quantities, adding it to your main meal.
Clean the terrarium once a month or whenever it gets dirty. Gently pick up the snails, beckoning them under your head with your finger, and transfer them onto a towel into a temporary container. Clean up old land, pouring it into the garden. Use a damp sponge with a small amount soap to scrub the walls and bottom of the aquarium and get rid of the snails' slime marks and their waste. Rinse the terrarium thoroughly to remove any traces of soap, as it is harmful to the snails.
- If the temporary container is small, do not leave the snails unattended.
- Do not close the snails in a container without air access.
- When replacing soil and other materials in your aquarium, follow all the steps described above in the section on how to set up a snail's home.

If the snail does not come out of its shell, gently hold it for a while. Soon the snail will crawl out. Do this over and over again, and the snail will get used to you.
To pick up a snail from the surface of the terrarium, gently wiggle your finger under its head. If the snail tries to hide, place a piece of food to lure it onto your finger. Place your finger and entire hand under the snail's body so that it does not fall before you pick it up.
Place bunches of dry leaves in your snail's tank and keep them well moistened. Snails love to crawl on leaves and hide in them; they spend most of their time there.
If the snail constantly rises to the top of the terrarium, the whole point is that it lacks air. To fix this, drill holes in the terrarium for better ventilation or buy a new one.

Warnings

Do not attempt to decorate a live snail's shell with glue or other art supplies. These substances can kill the snail.
While giant African snails and apple snails love saucers of water, garden snails can drown in them. Use a spray bottle or spray bottle to moisten the terrarium, but do not place a saucer of water.
Supervise small children to ensure they do not eat the snail as it may cause serious illness.

A snail is a mollusk of the Gastropod class. It is difficult to confuse it with other animals due to the presence of a protective shell and a slow lifestyle. These unique mollusks take root well not only in the wild, but also at home. Aquarium enthusiasts often use them, but do not know how long snails live. This indicator depends on many factors with which you can significantly extend the life of your pet.

Snails can be kept in home aquarium

General information

Anyone who wants to keep a mollusk in their aquarium should know its structure, behavior and food preferences. Not only the life expectancy of the snail, but also its health will depend on this.

Structure of the mollusk

Less knowledgeable people often call all gastropods with external shells snails. However, this is not entirely true. The main distinguishing feature of these mollusks is their body structure. It consists of 4 main parts:

heads;
mantle fold;
internal sac.

In addition to the shell, snails have other distinctive features buildings

This aquarium inhabitant moves by contracting muscles that create wave-like movements. For smoother and more comfortable movement on a hard surface, the skin of snails secretes special mucus.

Inside the animal's shell there is a visceral sac twisted in the form of a spiral. In addition, the mollusk has gills, with the help of which it feels comfortable in aquatic environment. They are located in the mantle and consist of several parts (inlet and outlet siphon). Also in the mantle are:

renal ducts;
intestines;
excretory system;
genitals;
lungs (only in creatures living on land).

The snail's head deserves special attention. All the most important organs of the animal are located on it, such as the oral cavity, stalks with eyes and tentacles, which act as an organ of touch.

All snails, like many other molluscs, have a protective shell. It consists of the following layers:

Periostracum. It is the thinnest of all and consists of the protein conchiolin. This layer serves as protection against exposure external factors and covers the entire sink.
Ostracum. It consists of calcium carbonate and is the basis of the entire “house” of the mollusk.
Hypostracum. This is the inner layer of the shell that is in contact with the snail's body.

Snail nutrition

The food preferences of all gastropods directly depend on their habitat. Due to their low mobility, snails do not have the right to sort out food and eat everything they come across. The variety of their “dishes” is amazing. The diet may include the following:

fish fry;
crustaceans;
insects;
worms;

Snails are omnivores, but you need to make sure they have enough calcium in their diet.

carrion;
plant remains;
fresh plants;
smaller snails.

For land dwellers, typical food can be plant leaves, berries, grass, tree bark, fruits and vegetables.

The main mineral for all types of snails is calcium. It must be included in the animal’s diet, otherwise the creature will begin to eat its shell, which will lead to its destruction. Aquarium inhabitants can be fed with the following delicacies:

plants for the aquarium;
fish food;
finely chopped vegetables and fruits;
algae tablets;
eggshell.

Lifespan

One of the main indicators of proper snail care is their life expectancy. It depends on many components, if observed, you will be able to enjoy the beauty of these creatures for many years.

Main Factors

Each type of snail is unique and has its own characteristics, which in one way or another affect life expectancy. All of them have been studied for a long time and allow aquarium lovers to properly care for their pets.

To increase the lifespan of snails, do not limit their diet to fish food only.

How long snails live at home depends on several main factors. Among them it is worth highlighting the following:

Proper nutrition. It is the basis of a long and healthy life shellfish Some aquarium species They get used to the food very quickly and eat other foods without much desire. To prevent this from happening, you need to change your diet as often as possible and include new foods in it.
For the animals to live long life, they need to be protected from sudden temperature changes.
Shellfish need to be constantly fed with calcium carbonate. It is very important for their body and helps them develop normally. This substance is contained in the shells of chicken eggs, as well as chalk.
For snails living on land, it is necessary to maintain a comfortable level of humidity for them.
When breeding, it is best to place them in a separate aquarium. This way you can protect eggs and future young animals from aquarium fish who will happily eat them.

It is better to cover the aquarium where snails live.

It is very important to control the number of shellfish in the aquarium. In large quantities, they can harm other inhabitants or simply begin to starve.
When keeping and breeding snails, it is very important not to leave the top lid of the aquarium open. Some species are able to climb a vertical barrier and crawl out.
Under no circumstances should you give snails any salty food. Salt is for them deadly poison. When it enters the body, the animal quickly dies.

Diseases and pests

All gastropods do not have very strong immunity, so if not proper care they may get sick and die. This is what will determine how many years the snails live in the aquarium. To prevent negative consequences, you need to know what diseases snails have. The most dangerous among them are:

Cracked, holed or broken sink. This disease is much more common than others and can cause the death of the animal. If the slightest damage is detected, you must immediately transfer the mollusk to another aquarium and increase the amount of calcium in its diet. In addition, you need to provide him ideal conditions for life, such as complete rest, optimal water temperature, high humidity(for land species).
Shell lamination. In most cases, this problem occurs due to poor nutrition. Other reasons for its occurrence may be severe stress to which the animal was exposed (sharp temperature changes, starvation), as well as poor heredity.

Snails have a number of diseases that aquarium owners should know about.

White plaque on the “house” of the mollusk. Appears when the animal is kept in improper conditions or when the animal ages. Sometimes the cause of such an ailment is abrasion that appears as a result of exposure to any external factors on the sink.
Burns. If not properly cared for, the snail can get a chemical or thermal burn. Its first signs are minimal mobility and hiding in the shell. Increasing humidity and including juicy foods in the daily diet (cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkin, watermelon, strawberries, apples, pears, etc.) will help correct the situation.
Poisoning. This problem occurs due to poor quality or stale food. At the first signs, you need to immediately remove the remnants of the old food and add new (fresher) food.
Organ prolapse. Occurs when injured. It can be caused not only by any object in the aquarium, but also by the influence of its other inhabitants.
Self-chewing. There are often situations in which a mollusk begins to eat its shell. This unusual action occurs due to a lack of calcium in his body. Other reasons may be severe stress and bad heredity.

Natural enemies

Snails, like all gastropods, are one of the most favorite foods of many inhabitants of water and land. Because of this, they often die and do not live to their expected age. At home, exclusion from the aquarium will help solve this problem. natural enemies snails . These include the following aquarium inhabitants:

veiltail, telescope, lionhead and other representatives of the Goldfish family.

Some types of aquarium fish eat snails

IN wildlife snails still have more enemies. They all enjoy eating shellfish, as they are nutritious and easily accessible. In aquatic inhabitants wild conditions these enemies:

sardines, gobies, mackerel, herring;
starfish;
hermit crabs;
trout;
frogs;
herons and storks.

In the wild, snails have many more enemies than in an aquarium

Land dwellers are not deprived of the attention of predators either. They are susceptible to attack not only by mammals, but also by reptiles and birds. The enemies of snails living on land are:

thrush;
all types of lizards;
boar;
mole.

To determine how long large snails live and maximize this indicator, you need to try to provide them with comfortable living conditions. Each type has its own nuances of content, but in most cases they are very similar. These include:

Volumetric container for contents. For one big snail you need at least 10 liters of water.
An aquarium with snails should not be placed next to lamps or other lighting fixtures. In addition, you need to avoid direct sunlight.
Peat, tree bark, and sawdust can be used as soil.

One snail requires a space of at least 0.01 m3 (10 liters of water)

For aquarium specimens, it is necessary to constantly maintain the water temperature from +25 °C to +30 °C.
For land snails, you need to maintain a constant level of moisture and monitor the condition of the litter.
The container in which snails live must be cleaned regularly.

Aquarium or terrarium long-livers

Of all the types of snails that can be kept at home, several long-livers stand out. Many of them are large mollusks and can reach truly large sizes. The longest-livers are:

Achatina. This type of mollusk can please owners for at least 5 years, and with proper care and compliance with all maintenance rules - 10 years. In the wild they are quite rare and cause irreparable harm agriculture. Because of this, they often become victims of humans and rarely live to “retirement” age.

The maximum lifespan of a grape snail is 7 years

Grape. To understand how long a grape snail lives, you need to create the most comfortable conditions for it. If everything is done correctly, she can live from 6 to 7 years. This species has the ability to regenerate organs, so even with serious damage it can survive and return to normal.
Maryse. Natural environment its habitats are swamps, lakes, rivers and other bodies of water with rich vegetation. In an aquarium, she feels no less comfortable and can live up to 4 years.
Ampularia. For this type of snail, maintaining the water temperature at 23-25 °C is vital. Under such conditions, she can live for about 4 years.
Pokemon. These representatives of gastropods are very bright, originally colored and look great in an aquarium. Their main disadvantage is their life expectancy, which is only 1 year.

Tilomelania will decorate your aquarium with its unusual shape shells

Red reel. This freshwater beauty is unpretentious to food and can even feed on carrion. She can live for at least two years.
Thylomelania. One of the most beautiful snails that requires special conditions. Aquarium enthusiasts are advised to keep it separate from other species. This way she can live much longer and reach the age of 7 years.
Neretina. It lives for about a year, but during this period it often reproduces. It is very useful for an aquarium, as it eats up most of the rotten algae.
Helena. A special feature of this species is its ability to eat other mollusks. She lives for about two years and reproduces well.
Pagoda. This snail leads night image life, for which they don’t really like her. Over the 2 years of its existence, it is able to cope with excess algae and plants.

Snails are wonderful creatures that can not only decorate an aquarium, but also be useful. With proper maintenance and compliance with all recommendations of professionals, you can significantly extend their life and enjoy their beauty.

IN recent years People increasingly began to keep gastropods as pets. The most popular is the giant African snail - Achatina.

Snails (gastropods)- lat. Gastropoda is a class of mollusks, divided into three subclasses: prosobranchs, pulmonate and opisthobranchs and has about ninety thousand species, including marine, freshwater and terrestrial forms.

The snail's head usually has tentacles and a pair of eyes. The shell reaches a height of 0.5 mm to 70 cm, has a spirally twisted appearance, and may be absent in some representatives of the class. As the snail grows, so does its shell. It becomes hard, strong and thick, dark rings appear on it - coils. Snails grow up to a year. By this time, approximately 4-5 rings already appear on their shells. On average, gastropods live up to six years.

Most snails have a spiral-shaped shell, so in ancient times people revered the snail, as it was believed that the spiral was a symbol of life. The ancient Greeks used snails as medicine. The Phoenicians obtained dye for fabrics from red snails, and in Africa and South America shells large snails replaced money.

In nature, snails live in groups of several individuals. In the late afternoon, or at night, when the temperature drops and it becomes cool, snails crawl out of their daytime shelters in search of food. Due to the fact that they have poor eyesight, but an excellent sense of smell and touch, they search for food by touch using tentacle horns, guided by smell. The diet of snails is very diverse. They eat almost everything: leaves, worms, small larvae, etc.

Snails are an excellent and accessible object of observation in captivity. They are not at all as primitive as they might seem. Despite the fact that they nervous system The structure is quite simple, snails are capable of learning. Scientists conducted experiments with marine gastropods, as well as grape snails and land slugs, producing in them various conditioned reflexes. Besides this, grape snails flew into space. In England, grape snails are used for entertainment: they organize “snail races”.

Maintenance and care.

An aquarium, terrarium, plastic house for rodents, as well as food containers and other plastic containers are suitable as containers for keeping snails (snail cage). On average, one snail needs approximately 10 liters of volume, but it is advisable to allocate at least 15-20 liters so that it can grow to its maximum size. The lid should cover the container tightly enough to prevent the snail from escaping and to maintain the required humidity. For better container security fresh air, you can make several small holes in the lid (smaller than the size of the snail). It’s even better to cover the snail with a synthetic mesh for ironing (you can also use gauze, but its snails can eventually make a hole in it and escape). It is better to choose a tall, rather than wide, coop, since with the same volume a low terrarium has large area bottom and, as a result, a large area of moisture evaporation, which leads to rapid drying of the soil, which is unacceptable when keeping snails.

Snails do not need electric lighting, for this reason choosing a place for a terrarium in an apartment will not be difficult. However, if the terrarium is located near a window, then it is better to cover one side of it with something lightproof, since snails avoid direct sunlight.

Priming. A suitable soil for snails is regular flower soil. Also suitable are coconut substrate or regular sawdust, which are sold in any pet stores, bark coniferous trees or peat. Before adding soil, it must be treated - doused with boiling water, heated in a microwave oven or in the oven for several minutes (as for seedlings), thereby destroying the larvae of Drosophila and other insects.

The soil should be loose so that snails can easily burrow into it. It is not recommended to place stones and other materials in the terrarium. hard objects, since when snails fall from the lid, they can break their shell on them. Microclimate the volume for snails should be warm and moist. The ideal temperature for keeping snails ranges from +25 to +30°C. If the room where the coop is located is cool, then it is better to arrange heating near it using a regular light bulb. But to prevent the snails from getting burned, you should not place the lamp close to the glass.

Most domesticated snails (for example, Achatina) are land snails. And they feel great on land. But they cannot live long without water. To maintain a certain humidity in the coop, it is very convenient to use a spray bottle to spray flowers. It is enough to spray the terrarium and its inhabitants with warm water once or twice a day to maintain the required level of humidity for them, which should be 75-90%. It is best to purchase a hygrometer (a device for measuring air humidity) to easily determine whether there is sufficient humidity in the coop.

Young gastropods also have enough moisture on the walls of the terrarium. If the snails are more than one and a half months old, then they need to put water in some container so that they can drink or take a bath. It is necessary to compare the size of the pool with the size of the snail so that it cannot drown in it when swimming.

Snails such as Achatina love to swim. You can sometimes pamper them by washing them under the tap with warm water.

When the wrong conditions are created (too dry or cold), the snail can go into hibernation, while it closes its shell with a door, and it is extremely difficult to bring it out of this state. To do this, she will have to be bathed in warm water until she looks out of her house.

The terrarium should be cleaned regularly. It is necessary to remove excrement, and also, when dirty, wipe the walls and lid of the terrarium with a damp sponge. Should be done once every 1-1.5 months general cleaning: completely change the soil and rinse the terrarium well with disinfectants.

Feeding snails. The main source of food for snails is plant food. In the terrarium, you can place a plastic food tray with low edges so as not to place food on the ground, as it will quickly deteriorate on it. Snails eat well lettuce, cucumbers, zucchini, apples, pears, but they will not disdain dry rolled oats flakes or fish food (such as gammarus or daphnia). Snails will not refuse summer delicacy in the form of strawberry or watermelon. Large snails are especially fond of bananas, but such treats must be given with caution, as after them the snail may begin to be capricious and refuse all other food. IN winter time snails are great at eating dry rolled oats, pharmaceutical nettles and even frozen vegetables from soup kits, which can be easily purchased in many stores. There are cases where snails ate cottage cheese, raw eggs and even raw meat. It is forbidden to give the snail food containing salt, it is deadly for it. Flour products, sugar and fried foods can cause the same effect.

In order for the snail to grow beautiful sink, she needs to add a source of calcium to her food. To do this, you can buy sepia (so-called cuttlefish bone or cuttlefish comb) at a pet store. Natural chalk, ground, is also suitable eggshell or just crushed calcium gluconate tablets. With an acute lack of calcium, the shells can even become translucent and the snail’s body can be seen through them. If your pet chews on its own shell (or the shell of its neighbor), it means that it is seriously lacking calcium in its diet.

With proper maintenance, snails are easily domesticated and tamed. Mollusks have long-term memory. If you handle them with care, then they get used to you easily and quickly: somewhere from the first months they calmly fall into your hands. But there are cases when snails born in captivity never got used to being handled once again.