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so, I've seen people post on snails and I saw one reply about Apple Snails, that they eat what your turtles make a mess of. I was really interested in them but I don't know much about them and was wondering if anyone else did.

are snails harmful to your turtle? I know the snail has to be bigger than your turtle so your turtle won't be tempted to eat it, or can't eat it if it tries, but if the snail latches onto your turtle will there be problems?

just curious about anyone elses experiences with snails and apple snails.

I don't believe there is a snail that is too for turtles to eat, not one that you can buy in a pet store anyways. The turtle can just nip away at it until it bites the snail to death or the snail dies from the stress of multiple attacks. That being said, if your turtle did eat the snail, it wouldn't harm the turtle.

untsmurf wrote:I don't believe there is a snail that is too for turtles to eat, not one that you can buy in a pet store anyways. The turtle can just nip away at it until it bites the snail to death or the snail dies from the stress of multiple attacks. That being said, if your turtle did eat the snail, it wouldn't harm the turtle.

alright, very true. thanks. do you think if she bit it a couple of times and nothing happened do you think she would give up? or do you think snails aren't worth all the trouble at all.

I have a few Apple and Mystery snails in my tank. They are great for keeping the algae down and the tank spotless. Because of them and the filter my tank and water and crystal clear! Granted, a few have been eaten and sometimes Charlotte will try to nip at them or pop them off the sides of the tank, but for the most part she just leaves them alone. For people that have not had any success with algae eaters I would definitely recommend a few snails

I had a Japanese trapdoor snail in with Sid for a while (named Nancy). They're good snails because they're used typically in ponds and they can handle a wide range of temperatures. They also don't breed very often and have live births. You don't typically see them in pet stores so check a local horticulture or landscape store- they may have them.

The bottom line is that Nancy didn't last long... Sid may have thought she was a "moving rock" for a while, but one day all that was left was her shell.

yeah, filbert definitely demolished 2 mystery snails. they lasted for a while, until filbert "discovered" them. my slight mistake was to leave one of the shells in the tank for an extra decoration, but filbert decided that the shell would make a crunchy snack!

I guess it all realy comes down to each different turtle... I put three snails in the tank, and my turtle would nip at them sometimes but then I would see them moving and alive still. About five months later I found one snail was completely gone and the shell was left. Now within a week he has demolished the other. the last one still remains, its just a question of how long before he gets it. To be honest, it's kind of like a toy for them, something to nip at. There would be no problems with the snail bugging the turtle, a turtle would move much faster than the time it would take for the snail to latch on anyways. So as long as you are not going to get emotionally attached to the snails, then by all means try them