question about feeding snails

[JuggaMidget]

Hi I just bought two apple snails from the pet shop yesterday to feed to my bluey I was wondering about feeding them though. They are pretty big and are covered in algae my skink is pretty big but I worried he would try to swallow them whole and choke on them. I also wanted to make sure it is ok to let him eat them if it has algae on it. I've never fed him live snails before but heard it was good for his jaw muscles I also don't know much about snails the pet shop said these were apple snails so I took their word for it. I don't have a camera so I can't take a pic. but are the snails supposed to be smaller? thank you for your help

[Blotch]

would love to be able to help you out here dude - but i feed mine garden snails. I don't even know what an apple snail is!

[Omega]

Apple snails are the bigger version of what I've got- mystery snails. I'm not sure really, I've have the same concerns, and have only been giving my guy fairly small pond snails to crush up. If you are really concerned I would help the effort, and tap the snail with a hammer or something similar before feeding it to help the skink. Even after yesterday's incident, Marley passed the 15+ snails he ate yesterday fine this afternoon.

But I've seen Marley give up on bigger snails before swallowing them whole. He will position the snail in his mouth and try to crush it before anything else. That makes me think your skink will either eat the apple successfully, or give up- in which case you can "loosen the lid" on his snack.

[JuggaMidget]

Well my boyfriend didn't want to wait for a reply so he tried it out. Milenko just grabbed it and tossed it around like it was a pinky and he was trying to break it's neck. Then i guess when he realized that it had no neck he tried biting down. After a little bit of a stuggle (but not much) he just chomped right through the shell. He continued to chew untill it was in small enough pieces to swallow. I was so worried he may try to swallow too much at once but he knew better i guess. After he was done my boyfriend opened his mouth and checked to make sure he didn't cut himself, but there was no bleeding or any other sign of problems. He pretty muched devoured it then was looking around to find more, lol. I have another one in my fish tank but I'm gonna wait at least a day or two to give him another one. I basically bought them as treats (I only got two).

[NomadOfTheHills]

Neo cut his mouth on a snail shell once. Little blood, but he was hungry for more!

[Lisa]

Blueys were born to eat snails. Their strong jaw and clamping down pressure (I'm sure there's a word for that!) is designed to eat snails. It is their main source of food in the wild. Blueys are the best thing to have in your garden because they eat all the bugs and grubs. Most people are coming around to that now, but they still often get mistaken for snakes and end up with a shovel through their heads

The bigger the better I say! (size does matter ). Not sure if the algae is a problem but, mine get fed garden snails.

Obviously when they are little, you start them on smaller snails, but a full grown blue tongue can and will eat the biggest snail you can find (except those massive ones in Africa that are the size of small boulders!).

Often when you feed them, you will notice them taking the snail to the nearest object such as their basking rock or their hide (or the skirting board under the kitchen sink!) to bash the snail against to break up the shell.

Some eat some of the shell, some none of it, some all of it. I have one of each!

For all those excellent foods on the food chart, (unbaited) snails, without a doubt, should be #1. Don't take my word for it, email Glenn Shea!

[Leigh]

I agree with Lisa, the snail will always get smashed, what you could of done is what Omega has and let them breed, then you can feed them all the time, the algea wont be a problem as its greens, you'll be giving meat and veg in one mouthfull , as long as you dont use medicine in the tank too often,if so let them clean themselves out for a week before offering.


LISA Nice to see ralphie in the lime light for a change{great avatar}

[DeadEye]

Yep my baby twins can smash and destroy a snail , they thrash there head round rubbing off the shell, some gulp them down shell and all..I feed mine bulk snails .
1 there is millions of snails
2 thats 1 of rugosa rugosa,s staple diet.. Its funny even a new born can wreck a snail .. instinct they go mad over them ..Not heard of an apple snail ..But these in australia go to france to be made into escargo or whateva they call it..So they must be good like Lisa said there born to manage them.

[Omega]

I got by far the biggest mystery snail egg clutch the other day. It's prolly 300+ eggs. But so far cleaning out petsmart's tanks and wiping off their weekend feeders(aka snail magnets) into a net every couple weeks and putting them in my 10g has kept Marley stocked. Even the month or so old mystery snails are relatively tiny, and i feel less guilty feeding pond snails. Mysteries have some personality!

[Blotch]

Without a doubt - Snails have all the goodness that blueys need. Anyone that argues this should probably come to Oz and pay attention to blueys in the wild. Unfortunately for blueys, they don't have the luxury of Cat food, pureed fruit, Green Vegies (other than Dandelions), and other assorted foods we feed them. Snails, Bugs, worms, occasional bits of fruit, water, Dandelions and the occasional rodent make up the blueys natural diet. So basically - if you are ever in a situation that you don't know what to feed your bluey - think about what has been said in this thread by Ian (deadEye), Lisa and myself. After all - we have wild blueys in our backyards!