home Auditorium 8 Ideal pets: how to care for snails. Learning to care for land snails at home Achatina land snails care and maintenance

Ideal pets: how to care for snails. Learning to care for land snails at home Achatina land snails care and maintenance

Land gastropod mollusk from the subclass of pulmonate snails. Widely distributed in countries with tropical climates, it is a highly invasive species and is a pest of agricultural plants, especially sugar cane. Currently, further expansion of the Achatina range has been stopped due to strict quarantine measures. An ongoing snail infestation in the United States was prevented. In Europe, including Russia, where Achatina survival in nature is impossible, they are often kept as pets.

A terrarium for Achatina can be made from a simple aquarium. The minimum size is 10 liters per snail. The larger the aquarium, the larger your snail will grow. The terrarium must have a lid, because snails can crawl out of it. It is advisable to arrange small holes in the lid for better gas exchange. As a last resort, you can simply lift the lid to create a small gap. You need to put bedding on the bottom of the aquarium. The bedding can be Begonia soil, or ideally a coconut substrate 5-7 cm thick. You can build a small bath with fresh water; Achatina loves to swim. The main thing is that the depth of the bath does not allow the snail to choke. In general, Achatina crawl well under water, but if it accidentally falls into the bath from above, a small snail can drown from fright. You also need to make sure that the bath does not turn over if the snail starts to burrow into the soil next to it, otherwise the water will spread out, which is not good.

The temperature and humidity required by Achatina are approximately the same as those in an ordinary city apartment. Soil moisture is determined empirically. If the snails sit on the walls of the terrarium all the time, it means there is too much water. If they prefer to be sealed (the evidence is hidden in the sink and closed with a lid), on the contrary, it is too dry. When the soil moisture is normal, snails crawl along its surface at night and often burrow into it during the day. To maintain humidity, it is enough to spray the soil and walls of the terrarium with a spray bottle twice a day.

To awaken a clogged snail, you can pour water over its mouth and carefully remove the cap, or simply place it in a terrarium with normal humidity. It is recommended to wash the terrarium at least once a week. The exception is a terrarium with a clutch of eggs, which must be cleaned without water so as not to change the humidity and not damage the clutch.

It is better to keep small snails without soil, covering them with cabbage or lettuce leaves, thereby increasing the chance of the snail finding food and making it easier to care for the terrarium.

Feeding the Achatina snail

It is better to feed as food is eaten and dried and remove any leftovers. Achatina eats vegetables, fruits and herbs, but in nature they do not refuse meat. Usually in captivity they are fed cabbage, carrots and cucumbers, but it is preferable to give them a more varied diet. This is necessary first of all so that at any moment you can switch to another available type of food. It is known that snails have certain food preferences, including many who prefer cucumbers and lettuce to other foods and, if they are fed only cucumbers from childhood, they often refuse to eat anything other than them, which can cause some inconvenience. Large snails can be given whole cores; they process food waste surprisingly quickly. Soft foods should be given only for a short period of time, otherwise they will flow and spread across the soil, causing it to become contaminated. It is generally not recommended to give soft foods to small snails. There was a case when snails buried themselves entirely in a banana and suffocated there. It is better to give very small newborn snails greens, grated carrots, and after a few days lettuce and an apple.

Can:

Fruits: apple, apricots, pineapple, avocado, bananas, pear, wild strawberry, strawberry, cherry, mango, papaya, plum, bunch of grapes, fig, watermelon, melon.

Vegetables: pumpkin, rutabaga, zucchini, broccoli, champignons, lettuce, cucumber, potatoes (boiled), carotel carrots, red peppers, celery, spinach, tomato, cabbage leaves.

Beans, peas (cooked or fresh), oatmeal.

Other: mushrooms, meadow plants/trees, nettles, daisy flowers, elder flowers, clover, dandelion, plantain, yarrow, sprouted oats, alfalfa, fruit tree blossoms (apple, apricot, peach...), bread (softened), milk (powdered) or natural), dairy/lactic acid products (without sugar, salt, spices), minced meat (minced meat, raw or boiled meat), egg (boiled), compound feed, meat and bone meal, peanuts (chopped), vegetable and meat baby food, gammarus.

It is important that the plants are not picked within the city, factories or enterprises, wastewater, or landfills. After you bring it home, rinse thoroughly in warm water!

You can’t (very important!):

Spicy, salty, sour, sweet, smoked, fried, pasta, potato eyes.

Effect of calcium on shellfish

Snails need calcium to build their shells. Calcium is a very common chemical element.

Lack of calcium in the snail's diet leads to curvature and deformation of the shell. The snail shell becomes softer due to lack of calcium; it is not protected from the environment. Since all internal organs are attached to the walls of the shell, any damage to it can lead to improper functioning of the organs or death. A mollusk that does not receive calcium from food, as a rule, lags behind in development: shell growth is disrupted or stops altogether, and puberty fails.

In order to prove how important calcium is for snails, I conducted an experiment.

Two groups of snails of the same age and species were taken and placed in the same conditions, but they were fed differently: some with food with added calcium, others with its complete absence.

Soon the snails of the second group stopped growing. It follows from this that calcium is indispensable for mollusks.

Breeding the Achatina snail (Reproduction of Achatina snails)

Snails are hermaphrodites, meaning each individual has both male and female reproductive organs. In the absence of a partner, self-fertilization is possible, but it is quite rare.

The snail can store sperm for two years after mating, using it to fertilize maturing eggs. The number of eggs in a clutch is about 200 (in some cases up to 500); the snail can lay 5-6 clutches annually. The size of one egg is 4.5-5.5 mm, its shape resembles that of a chicken. Egg development is possible at temperatures from 22°C and lasts from several hours to 17 days.

Discussion

I have such problems with snails...)

I bought sepia at a pet store and started giving it to the snails....and they gradually began to die.....)
the same situation with wild snails found on the street. fed... cucumbers and apples. I started giving sepia and 2 snails died immediately. At first they went limp, then they swollen and died.) There is 1 snail left and I don’t feed it sepia. I feed them the same apples and cucumbers. grass. and she’s fine....thank God) the conditions are the same....
Sepia is not so harmless. you can kill snails in a month....._ they really swell and don’t even hide in their house and die like that....)

07/22/2017 15:50:57, Lena

Hello, I bought turtle food at the pet store with minerals to strengthen the shell. I read the ingredients and I doubted it. Here is the composition: gammarus, granules containing shrimp meal, seaweed, fish meal, wheat flour, soy protein, mollusk shells, tubifex, vitamin and mineral complex. Do you think it is possible to feed Achatina snails?

01/11/2017 20:50:16, Ulka Akhatina

Hello! I have two Achatinas. Only for some reason they began to become clogged and did not come out for three or four days. I bathe them to wake them up and pamper them with treats! I would like to know more about them! How and where can I buy vitamins for my pets and everything they need for their prosperous life? Help me please!

16.10.2016 17:52:00, Guzel Khasieva

Thanks a lot! The article was very helpful!

01/02/2014 16:29:00, Ksyukha)

Comment on the article "Achatina snail. Maintenance, feeding, breeding"

See other discussions: Achatina snail. Maintenance, feeding, breeding. I'll give away the snails - Achatina. Keeping the Achatina snail (Terrarium). A terrarium for Achatina can be made from a simple aquarium. In the first months of a child's life, intestinal >.

Section: Other animals (Girls, who has Achatina at home?) I’ll ask about snails. We got these animals at work. Maintenance is simple: add soil for orchids or coconut shavings as a filler, be sure to spray it several times a day + put a plate with...

found 3 snails. Other animals. Keeping pets - food, care, treatment of dogs, cats, birds. found 3 snails. There were 3 live tiny snails in the arugula, we put them in a jar, covered the top with cellophane, and made holes. what to feed them and will they survive...

Achatina snail. Maintenance, feeding, breeding. Keeping the Achatina snail (Terrarium). A terrarium for Achatina can be made from a simple aquarium. There was a case when snails buried themselves entirely in a banana and suffocated there.

I watched with emotion for a week as they dug in the aquarium, and yesterday it dawned on me that all the snails had disappeared! And then I saw how this is all true: the bots of snails at once devour both large and small. They live peacefully with other fish, just don’t overpopulate them with bottom fish. they occupy this...

Help distribute Achatina snails. Situation. Pets. Keeping pets - food, care, treatment of dogs, cats There are 40 (!) pieces of Achatina snails, about six months old, the size of a shell is the size of a walnut. We give it to everyone who wants it, you can give it to everyone at once...

Snails 1-3 months of Achatina Fuliki. I offer baby giant African snails, the price for 5 pieces is 100 rubles. According to reviews of specialists who practice alternative methods of treatment and facial care, Achatina copes with this task perfectly.

Achatina snail. Maintenance, feeding, breeding. Keeping the Achatina snail (Terrarium). A terrarium for Achatina can be made from a simple aquarium. The minimum size is 10 liters per snail.

There is 1 snail left and I don’t feed it sepia. I feed them the same apples and cucumbers. grass. and she’s fine.... thank God) the conditions are the same.... sepia is not so harmless. you can kill snails in a month....._ they really swell and don’t hide 01/11/2017 20:50:16, Ulka Achatina.

Achatina snail. Maintenance, feeding, breeding. Keeping the Achatina snail (Terrarium). A terrarium for Achatina can be made from a simple aquarium.

We are distributing snail babies - Achatina. I'm looking for an Achatina snail... Hello, I can give you two snails, size approximately 4 cm. Children on Keeping an Achatina snail (Terrarium). A terrarium for Achatina can be made from a simple aquarium. In the first months of a child's life, intestinal >.

Achatina snail. Maintenance, feeding, breeding. Keeping the Achatina snail (Terrarium). A terrarium for Achatina can be made from a simple aquarium. Singing snail.

Achatina snail. Maintenance, feeding, breeding. ...sepia is not so harmless. you can kill snails in a month....._ are they real? Do you need snails in an aquarium?.. Pets. Keeping pets - food, care, treatment of dogs, cats, birds.

In order for such an unusual pet as the Achatina snail to live and reproduce for many years, you need to know the specifics 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 the tropical zone of the whole world. Initially, the large house snails Achatina fulica and related species lived in African rain forests. They settled, crossing the oceans on ships along with cargo.

The giant snail is able to go without food and water for a long time, hibernating, and awakening 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 the exquisite taste of its 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 exotic pets into 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 shell size is 12–20 cm). In fact, these are just different types of Achatina and Arkhatina. 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 Achatina fulica snail, despite its name, rarely reaches a shell size of 12 cm. Most often, individuals are found about 10 cm long. The color of this species in nature is dark, stripes of brown and yellow are clearly visible on the shell. Fulics are slow and rest more often.

Reticulated Achatina has a high growth rate 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 an 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 laws of the market 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 natural species need. 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 a breed of his own 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. Changes also affect internal organs, which often leads to illness and early death of the 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 shell particles with their “tongue” themselves. 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 the general principles of feeding, as part of caring for Achatina, include 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, pieces 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 pamper their pets with 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.

From the diet of pets you need to exclude everything that contains salt: 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 a strong poison for shellfish: garden pests (slugs and snails) are often destroyed in a very simple way, by 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, the care and maintenance of unusual pets become the main problem of the 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 of East Africa. The temperature there rarely drops below +20ºС. Mollusks will be able to tolerate lower values, but in order for them to live longer and not get sick, they should not be subjected to such tests: a comfortable temperature will be in the range of +20…+28ºС. It is quite difficult to ensure this in indoor conditions, especially in winter. To maintain a microclimate, you can use various types of reptile heaters, 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 in 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. It was this kind of soil that their wild ancestors chose for laying eggs. Mating occurs in the evening or at night, when the partners are most active. It is interesting to watch the mating games of snails, but this process absolutely does not require the intervention of the owner.
Lighting or day length does not affect mating propensity or egg laying. Achatina reproduces when it is satisfied with humidity and temperature, availability of space for laying eggs and diet.

Only breeders or suppliers of their meat can afford to breed Achatina snails in large quantities. A clutch can contain up to 500 eggs, and if the parents are kept in good conditions, almost 100% of the cubs are hatched. 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 hatching 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. The Achatina snail, the content of which corresponds to its biological characteristics, can live at home for up to 10 years.

Today, Achatina snails are popular among people. They are kept as pets.

These mollusks look exotic and require minimal care. They are quiet, non-aggressive and funny, able to please the eye and lift your spirits.

The Achatina snail is a gigantic snail found naturally in areas of the Republic of Kenya, Tanzania and some areas of Asia.

Clams excellent adapt to captivity. They reach 30 centimeters in length. African Achatina lives on average from 5 to 9 years.

Body structure:

Today large snails rank first in popularity among exotic lovers.

They are funny, do not require special attention from the owner, and keeping them at home consists only of proper nutrition and selection of suitable food.

The snail has a large brown shell. But its color changes depending on nutrition. These mollusks move quickly. In 1 minute, the snail covers a distance of 1 centimeter.

Content rules:

Ideally snails placed in a square or rectangular terrarium. But if you don’t have one, then use an aquarium or container.
The terrarium is selected based on the number of “inhabitants”. For one land snail you will need a terrarium of at least 10 liters.
The terrarium must be covered with a lid. This is done so that the land snail does not crawl out of it.
The lighting is dimmed. If you turn on a bright light, the resident of the terrarium will go blind.
The soil is made from a soft substrate: hazelnut shells, fallen leaves, forest cover moss, sphagnum moss.
Soil, neutralized peat, and coconut substrate are also suitable. The minimum soil layer is 10 centimeters. The snail lays eggs (eggs) in the soil.

Soft soil softens falling of a mollusk from the walls of the terrarium. If the bottom is not covered, the shell will crack when it falls. Because of this, the mollusk dies.

Do not use sand or sawdust to line the bottom. They damage the shell.

Presence aeration (oxygen saturation).
Temperature varies from 27 to 28 degrees Celsius.

Rules of care:

Daily spray the soil in the terrarium.
Priming changes 2 times a week.
Once a week The walls and bottom of the pet’s habitat are cleaned with a brush.
Once a month Achatina needs to be bathed. The pet enjoys bathing.
To do this, take the snail in your hand and hold it under running warm water, then carefully clean the shell from dirt with a brush.

The terrarium is decorated with fresh and artificial flowers. Remember that living flowers are quickly eaten by pets, so it is better to use decorative ones.

Place a container of water to maintain a normal level of humidity inside the container. Achatina loves to swim in containers with water. There must be a house.

Important! Do not put Achatina in round terrariums.

The terrarium must not be placed in a place with direct sunlight. Ultraviolet radiation negatively affects shellfish.

What to feed Achatina snails?

Achatina are not picky creatures. You don’t even have to feed them for 2-3 weeks, but in this case the snail will go into suspended animation (a state in which life processes slow down).

In other words, suspended animation is hibernation. If they fall asleep, the only way to wake them up is with water.

What do Achatina eat:

Snail nutrition should not be monotonous. Leftover food is always removed to prevent mold and fungal growth.

To improve the color of the shell, Achatina is fed with carrots, pumpkin, sweet peppers, tomatoes, nettle and plantain leaves.

Reproduction: how to care for eggs?

Snails are hermaphrodites. They reach sexual maturity only after 7 months. Reproduction begins with mating dances. Achatina circle around each other.

Reproduction process:

Contact with copulatory organs.
The incubation period is from 7 to 14 days.
Laying from 100 to 400 eggs in the ground.
After 21 days, small snails hatch. The length of their body is from 3 to 5 centimeters.

Use in cosmetology: benefit or harm?

Today, mollusks are actively used in cosmetology. Scientists have discovered that Achatina mucus contains a lot of allantoin, elastin, collagen, peptides, glycolic acid and arathan sulfate.

Note! Many components of mucus perfectly rejuvenate human facial skin.

Table: benefits

Snail mucus is usually not harmful. It is not recommended to use them in cosmetology for people with hypersensitivity or allergic tendencies.

Before the procedure With snails, apply some slime to your wrist to test for allergens.

If the skin is covered with red spots, itches and itches, then it is undesirable to use snails.

Massage procedures are very popular in cosmetology. The snail is washed and placed on the person’s face for a certain time.

Massage helps:

Narrow pores.
Get rid of expression wrinkles.
Get rid of bags under the eyes.
Prevent skin peeling.
Increase the elasticity of facial skin.

Varieties

Over 60 species of Achatina live on the African continent. At home, it is customary to keep only a few species.

Kinds:

Snails make great pets for children. Many children love to play with them, and parents do not have to worry that the pet will harm their baby.

Children are interested in calling Achatina names and caring for them. In reality, snails are much more beautiful and larger than in the photo. They have a more pronounced color and a longer body.

Achatina snails are popular not only in real life, but also in computer life. Today there is one game ARK: Survival Evolved, where these mollusks are the main characters.

Useful video

Achatina snails are very popular; caring for these mollusks attracts people, but not all beginners are familiar with the intricacies of this matter. If you want a long life for an exotic pet, then on the eve of purchasing it, be sure to study the conditions of keeping adults and babies, the diet, and methods of preventing major diseases.

How to set up a terrarium for Achatina?

These mollusks are inhabitants of the subtropics and in temperate climates they suffer even with minor cold snaps. It’s easiest to create ideal conditions in an enclosed space, so the best way to set up a terrarium is to use a familiar glass fish aquarium. It is easy to protect pets from drafts, maintain a temperature of up to 25°C around the clock, and create a humid environment. Achatina snails are very sensitive creatures; care without proper attention leads to the death of pets or a sharp decrease in their activity.

The volume of the terrarium is on average 10 liters per adult mollusk. The freer the space in the aquarium, the larger exotic pets grow. You will definitely need a lid with holes drilled for ventilation; without it, creatures can escape outside. Ideally, Achatina snails require a house with a height of 20 cm and a length of 30 cm. It is forbidden to install it in the sun; under open rays, the mollusks die from dehydration.

What is needed for Achatina snails in a terrarium:

We arrange the soil in the aquarium from soft material - coconut substrate.
You need to purchase several bowls for the terrarium to perform individual tasks - for grain mixture, for calcium-based supplements, for everyday nutrition.
We make bathing suits of such depth that Achatina does not accidentally choke.
In a ceramic container, a pet can damage the sink if it accidentally falls, so it is better to buy a plastic device.
We secure the baths firmly so that they do not tip over.
For Achatina snails, care is unthinkable without constant monitoring of the quality of the external environment. Be sure to install an accurate thermometer and hydrometer in the terrarium.
For cleaning you will need a good separate sponge, which is strictly forbidden to be dipped in aggressive detergents or used for other purposes.
Buy and always keep a spray bottle filled with clean water nearby.

Caring for Achatina consists of a variety of tasks that vary greatly depending on the age of the exotic creatures. Without good hygiene and periodic cleaning of the terrarium, mollusks may become ill or reproduce poorly. Many aquarium lovers try to combine washing their aquarium with bathing their pets; this procedure must be carried out carefully. It is recommended to replace tap showers with washing with boiled water or spraying the creatures with a spray bottle. A hot, powerful jet from the shower can harm Achatina!

Caring for the shell of the Achatina snail

There are various reasons that can lead to damage to the shell of a domestic mollusk. In order not to miss the onset of the development of an unpleasant disease, you need to periodically examine your pet, identify cracks and chips, and take immediate measures to eliminate them. Serious problems can be solved by a specialist or experienced amateur who can fix the sink using non-toxic glue.

Caring for the Achatina snail shell:

Calcium supplements or crushed eggshells strengthen the shell material, making it resistant to mechanical damage.
Minor damage near the mouth heals on its own; large splits near the top can be repaired with glue or plaster. Make sure that the glue does not get on Achatina’s body and cause chemical burns.
Aggressive individuals gnaw out pieces of shell from a neighbor; in this case, they need to be removed or the shell should be smeared with Vaseline, making it tasteless.
If the terrarium is not treated with a solution of potassium permanganate, then mites or fungi will grow in it, which can cause harm to the shells.

In the question of how to care for Achatina eggs, special attention is paid to the substrate in which the mollusk eggs are contained. Always keep it slightly moist; in a dry environment the embryos will die. Heavy moisture is sometimes harmful; if the nest is covered with water, the eggs may rot. Maintain the temperature in the aquarium to 28°C. Try not to touch the eggs with your fingers; the delicate shell is easy to damage.

Small domestic Achatina snails are easy to care for and do not cause big problems. The average yield of shellfish from eggs is up to 80%. The appearance of babies should be expected on the 21st day, sometimes this period can stretch up to 28 days. If the terrarium is spacious, then there is no need to transplant the brood, but if they become cramped in a cramped container, then it is better to separate in time. To prevent uncontrolled mating, sexually mature individuals at the age of about six months are seated.

Proper feeding of Achatina snails is the most important part of caring for these exotic creatures. Many lovers are well aware of the list of permitted products, but they are poorly aware of the list of fruits and vegetables that can cause harm to cephalopod pets. For example, the acid found in citrus fruits destroys calcium in shells. Eating salt is certain death for Achatina. It is forbidden to offer snails flour products, sour foods, sweet, smoked, fried, spicy and sweet foods. It is not advisable for Achatina to eat unripe tomatoes or sprouted potato tubers.

What to feed Achatina at home?

Often in care, Achatina gets used to one dish and categorically refuses to eat other vegetables or protein foods. It is advisable to make the snail table varied; a wide selection of menus helps to obtain more vitamins and useful components from the products. In this regard, give preference to natural food, avoiding semi-finished products and leftover dishes from your table.

What can Achatina eat:

What to feed newborn Achatina?

When thinking about what you can feed young Achatina, you don’t have to be afraid that the little ones will have to look for a special diet. They eat the same foods as their giant parents. Every day we offer the little ones thinly sliced carrots, chopped apples and lettuce, and various greens. Protein foods include dried gammarus, daphnia, and boiled eggs. Be sure to offer crushed shells for care, which are needed for the construction of the shell. Give soft foods to newborns with caution; crumbs can get stuck in the thick pulp and suffocate.

How often to feed Achatina?

Questions about how voracious Achatina snails are and how often to feed them are always of concern to beginners. The common belief that these creatures live normally with feeding only once every 7 days is erroneous. Experienced hobbyists recommend offering food to young clams daily or every other day. Adults can eat 2 or 3 times a week. Refusal of food or reluctant eating of it indicates that the snail receives food too often. An important point in care is to take away any remaining food, otherwise harmful bacteria will grow in the terrarium.

In recent years, people have increasingly begun 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, the shells of 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 their nervous system is quite simple, snails are capable of learning. Scientists conducted experiments with marine gastropods, as well as grape snails and land slugs, developing various conditioned reflexes in them. In addition, grape snails have flown 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. To better provide the container with fresh air, several small holes (smaller than the size of the snail) can be made in the lid. 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, snail cage, since with the same volume, a low terrarium has a large bottom area and, as a result, a large area for 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, conifer bark 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 hard objects in the terrarium, since if the 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 wipe the walls and lid of the terrarium with a damp sponge when dirty. Once every 1-1.5 months you should do a 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 a summer treat in the form of strawberries 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, 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 a snail to grow a beautiful shell, it needs to add a source of calcium to its food. To do this, you can buy sepia (the so-called cuttlefish bone or cuttlefish comb) at the pet store. Natural chalk, ground eggshells, or simply crushed calcium gluconate tablets are also suitable. 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.