Feeding and Nutrition :: snail bowl

[Billy Black]

I was thinking of maybe having some snails in a separate bowl so that I could breed them without my turtle eating all of them. This way, I could also prevent them from ever overpopulating the main tank.

But I'm not really sure how to go about doing this. Do they need oxygenated water, or can I just use a goldfish-type bowl? If I use a smaller bowl, I could just clean out the whole thing if it gets too dirty, so I wouldn't have to worry about a filter, but what about water temperature and such? Would it be feasible to do this, or would it be more trouble than it's worth?

[marisa]

One lone snail recently came in on some anachris I bought. I'm keeping "her" (Lucy is the name ) in a plastic popcorn container, changing most of the water when it starts looking dirty. The water temp is room temp. She seems to be doing well and has laid eggs all over the place. You can use a goldfish bowl. Have a few rocks on the bottom for them to crawl on/lay eggs on. They don't like a lot of light. I feed pieces of lettuce and other vegetable scraps. You can also get algae wafers and put a few pieces of one every so often in the bowl for them to eat (but they will foul the water more quickly).

[Billy Black]

Hmm, I'm reading various websites, and they mention that snails can easily escape. I guess I need to find something with a cover on it. But that arises another question. My actual turtle tank is generally wide open. Is it likely that they will escape this tank as well?

[marisa]

I don't know what size snails you're thinking of getting---this snail isn't that big (although "she" has grown size I've gotten her). She's never tried to escape the container (it's uncovered) and I've never had any problems with previous snails escaping when I had a 5-gallon aquarium with some in the past. It would seem to me that they'd dry out rather quickly without water. Don't know what to tell you---cover the container if you think you should (don't forget air holes, though).

[Billy Black]

Some of the websites I read say that they can survive up to a week outside of water. But either way, I got one of those carrying cases that's designed more for reptiles, I guess, but it's a pretty decent size. It also has a lid on it with plenty of holes. The only snails they had at the store were kinda big (half inch, maybe), but I'm probably just going to feed my turtle the baby snails, anyway.

I hope it works out well!

[scripta_elegans]

I have 2 kinds of snails in 2 tanks, and I have yet to see any in places they shouldn't be in the house. I have found a few in the filter, but none in say my bathtub.