snails for shinglebacks

[Chris1]

ive found a place that breeds escargot snails for human consumption and im going to try some for my shingles,...theyre fed a good calcium rich diet, purged for 7 days and sent down frozen in packs, (these are 3cms apparently)

so 3 cms sounds huge, do i cut them up before i feed them?

i also have the option of them being sent live, but i figure if the breeders go to so much effort to feed them well and purge them for 7 days before freezing that frozen would probably be better nutritionally, not to mention way easier than getting more feeders i need to care for.

are there any reasons anyone can think of why i should go for live over frozen?
they dont seem to require movement to chase food, not that snails move much anyway,..

what does everyone else do in regards to feeding blueys and shingles snails when we're not in snail season?

thanks, Chris.

 

[JAS101]

my garden allways have snails , i also have mates who collect snails for me too.

 

[LippyM]

I don't think it matters. Mine eat them either fresh or frozen.

I breed my own snails, and any left over at the end of the season I freeze so that I have some this time of year before they start breeding.

 

[Chris1]

ive got mum collecting them, she found 2 last week, i found 2 in her yard the week before, and searched under all the bromiliads and in the agapanthas in my yard this weekend with no luck at all.
plus, id prefer to leave the ones in my yard for the bluey who lives there, not fair to take his food since he'd be due to wake up soon,...
seems strange that mum has heaps of slugs but no snails,..(slugs werent as popular as snails)

been reading up on breeding and it sounds fairly easy, might get some live breeders and do it myself, does it smell? i cant find anything on the smell,....
do you do anything before u freeze them? im guessing the purging they spoke of for the human consumption ones means they just go without food till theyres no poo left,..


im gonna have to breed them i think, @ $28 for 2 dozen plus shipping it might be worth my while,....doh!!

 

[norwich]

Hi chris mate be careful agapanthus or toxic and i was told never to feed snails that may have eaten aggys and or olianders can anybody confirm this both these plants are toxic but the snail thing i would imagine its right

 

[LadyJ]

I've bred some snails and it was a slow and smelly process for me at least. Good luck!

 

[Chris1]

thanks fo rthe heads up Norwich, the plan was to put them in a container on lettuce for a week, but if i had found any i might have offered them straight away in my excitement, i'll make sure i never do that,....

dammit, i hate smelly, i have roaches for that!

 

[Chris1]

and a pic of 3 of my gorgeous babies from the weekend, just cos i love them to bits,....the other one was out there 2, just not on the right side to make the photo,...

 

[imalizard]

Hi chris mate be careful agapanthus or toxic and i was told never to feed snails that may have eaten aggys and or olianders can anybody confirm this both these plants are toxic but the snail thing i would imagine its right

Snails hardley eat aggys as its just a common spot to rest during the day. Ive had agapanthus in my lizard enclosures and fed snails on agapanthus for a couple of years and had no deaths. Not sure about olianders as I do not know what they are.

I also bred snails but growing them from egg to a decent size takes a long time. Mine weren't smelly but I had too many eggs in the soil and the sides were littered with tiny ones all the time time. I just used a plastic tub, filled it with clean soil, put around 7 snails in and waited. I streched a t-shirt over it for a lid. I fed them on kitchen scraps and cuttlebone. A mist every day was all I did to keep the ground moist and to get them moving.

 

[beeman]

Throw them in whole and live Chris, they love em and will crack them easily, We feed quite a few during the spring/summer, Thank god we have family friends that never use baits and are happy to collect for us.

 

[Chris1]

haha, i cant believe everyone has friends collecting snails for them, thats awesome!
they dont have any full sized snails atm,...so im waiting on a reply to see what sizes they do have, i figure if i get a kilo or so it should be a good amount to get me thru to snail season, when i can pester people to collect them for me too!!

cant wait, i was so excited to see how excited they were by the couple i did find!
but felt horrible when they kept re-checking the empty shells to see if they'd been re filled, hahaha
mmmm, snails, ewww!!