Q&A for How to Care for Snails

Make sure you cover the eggs or put them in a different container. I suggest having soil as the bedding, and keep the bedding moist. Snail eggs crack very easily, so be careful when moving them. Provide a lot of calcium for when the snail shells, as they are about as thin as wet paper. It will be about a week or two before the snails hatch.

Snails drink pure water. Avoid giving your snail tap water, as it may contain chemicals that could harm your snail.

There are many ways. First; your snail should be fairly active and curious in its home. Of course, it rests too but during the day it roams around. Your snail should also be eating very well. They should be excited and eager to eat. Your snails also needs other snails, since they can be sociable. Laying eggs from snails are also good since it shows that they like the place they live in and trust you.

Yes. We had snails in our large land hermit crab habitat. We had a 5:1 mixed substrate of play sand and coco coir, and they thrived. They laid clutches of eggs! Just make sure to thoroughly wet the substrate. Not soaking wet, just damp.

Depending on whether the snail is aquatic or a land dweller, determines what's best to do with them. If it is aquatic, watch a YouTube video about making a hatchery. If it's a land snail, you can choose to leave the eggs alone or extremely carefully dig them out and place them in their own container. Make sure to bury them again and leave small pieces of lettuce close to where the eggs are buried so that you can see when the eggs hatch because the baby snails would have eaten pieces of the lettuce.

You might want to leave them with a friend or someone you can trust to take care of them while you're on your holiday.

Put some lettuce in your garden and check it often. Another way is to look in places that are often damp and shady, such as under bushes.

Yes, snails can eat spinach. Just make sure it's not chemically treated or sprayed with pesticides.

If the hole is minor it should heal itself, but if it's a bad hole, then I suggest covering it with something, like a small piece of an index card.

They will be still, totally unmoving. When you pick them up, they retreat into their shell. So, if dead, they will not retreat or react to touch.

If it goes inside the soil for a very long time, it is most probably preparing to hibernate, keeping itself warm with the soil. If it only stays there for a short period of time, it might have laid some eggs.

Snails do come out in the day, but mostly in the night. They prefer to be awake at night because it is moist and they can roam without fear of birds. You should only use a cup as a temporary container.

They can, but most snails would probably prefer at least some light. They shouldn't live in complete darkness at all.

Yes.

Make sure they have their own terrarium, with no threat of the adults eating them. Keep the soil moist, and give them a clean, fresh and shallow water source. Make sure they have egg shells, cuttlefish bone or dead snail shells to harden their shells. Ensure they have relativley soft foods such as peeled carrots, lettuce, cucumber or peeled potatoes available at all times.

Snail poop is long, thin and slimy looking. It is usually brown and/or green, depending on the snail and what they eat.

They do, but they are fine with being alone, too.

Their inner temperature totally depends on their environmental temperature. That's why they need to stay in an environment around 20°C (68°F), because under 15°C (59°F), they will start to hibernate.

As long as you do not put it on a frozen or icy surface, it will be perfectly fine. It will just pop back into its shell.

Yes, but make sure to feed them real plants.

Leave some food next to the shell and keep checking to see if any is gone anytime you walk away. If after a few days no food is gone, chances are the snail is dead.

No, calcium supplements are made for humans and may damage snails.

It depends how big the container is.

Land snails eat grass, fungi and algae. They also eat vegetables such as lettuce, dandelion greens, cucumbers and carrots.

Yes. Replace it twice a month.

Snails are solitary animals and are used to loneliness. It won't be a problem if you only have one.

You can ask an expert at your local pet store, or consult the internet for snail-specific websites to determine what type of snail it could be.

Cuttlebone or crushed oyster shell grit. Please keep in mind that only about 20% of a snail's diet should be calcium.

Ask a family member or friend to care for them while you're away.

Maybe they don't have a mate or the conditions aren't cool/moist enough.