Stephanie's Snail Pix

[Steph]

I've been snapping away with the camera for a few days, and have some nice pics of my snailies to share.

Here's Speed Racer showing off his whorls and colours. I still can't beleive how big he's gotten and how fast he is growing! He's added over 1/2 turn in the past month.


Here he is again, discovering a rich calcium deposit (caltrate) that magically appeared. I've noticed that a layer of snail-snot will keep the calcium from getting swished up into the water.


And finally, I got him to poke his head out while I was holding him. My friends think I am insane, when I say this is a cute picture...


This is my little golden snail, investigating some sweet-potato. The sweet potato proved to be unpopular with everyone other than the snail fossil that I used to weigh it down. I'm a little concerned that there hasn't seemed to be any growth at all with this golden, it doesn't seem to eat much and seems to be just as small as it was when I got it.


Here are a couple pictures of my blue snail. It's the newest addition (with me about 10 days) and it does seem to have started some growth along the leading edge of the shell.



Under the water it looks more grey than blue, but out of the water (with the flash) it really looks a strong blue colour.


And finally, one of my cats started to express an interest in the aquarium... but when I explained that the melted garlic-butter would not be forthcoming, she eventually gave up.


Cheers!

-Stephanie

[Mystery]

LOL. Great pictures

[Annie Anderson]

Beautiful pictures Steph, thanks for sharing . Your snails are so pretty. I have a yellow just like you--he's finally getting some new shell growth but it's awful, thin and whitish. I think he may have that thin shell syndrome. He's still alive tho!

And what is that beautiful black cat's name?

[Lupin]

I've noticed that a layer of snail-snot will keep the calcium from getting swished up into the water.

Haha! I've noticed that when I used Caltrate and Tums for the first time last year. I thought to myself, these snails knew what they were doing better to keep their calcium pile intact.

[Steph]

Thank you!

The kitty's name is Misha, she thinks she runs the place but lets me stay around as I bring food.

Hopefully your yellow will get to work on thickening the shell - maybe it's just taking a bit longer to get all the shell-building stuff up and running, if it's been out of service for a while. I was back at the LFS where I got my dso and golden, and I noticed that it seems to be something common to all their snails.. the gold ones are in one tank, the dark ones in another. All their gold snails seem rather quiet and listless, while the dark ones (a new brood, dozens of dime-sized youngsters) were all roaring around and sucking on vacation feeders etc. It was so hard not to get some of those youngsters... who'da thought snails were so cute and addictive.

-Stephanie

[Steph]

I added a new decoration to the aquarium recently, a replica coral thingy. It's relatively small so I positioned it front-and-centre in the tank, and set the base down under the gravel so it would stay put. Appearantly though, Speed Racer didn't appreciate my design decision...

Within an hour he went to check it out, then he started digging a hole beside it. He got down enough to get his shell under the edge of the decoration, then started pushing it upwards till he got the base free of the gravel. Then he got under it again and gave it a good header, and knocked it upwards enough to get it in the current, which washed it over to the corner. He chased it down and continued to push and shove, going from side to side to get the right angle and leverage.



It was amazing to watch, and he worked so hard at it! By the next morning, the fake coral was wedged in the back corner beside the airstone. The incredible thing is, it actually looks great there! There's a blue nightlight that comes on after dark in the corner and lights up the bubbles, and the coral has a nice blue glow back there.

So not only did he dig up the decoration and boot it around the tank, he ended up placing it in a better spot than I had!

-Stephanie

[pbgroupie]

They love to redecorate! Wait till your plants end up in that corner too. If they don't have a well-established root system the bridgesii/diffusa will bulldoze them up looking for goodies that get trapped there.

[lori]

That's too funny!

[Mystery]

Love the interior decorating snail --very handsome shell too! Ivy disagrees withme about where to put the filter. He has moved it twice now but it doesn't work so well on its side : /

[Annie Anderson]

I love it! Snail decorators! You really should submit those pictures to Better Homes & Gardens magazine--they may want to hire him! He might earn you a nice paycheck every week!

Misha is a beauty! It's nice she allows you to live in HER house too . My little yellow snail is still alive but his shell is still awful--it's developed a fissure in the middle but it doesn't seem to bother him at all. Since I re-homed my big Royal pleco and two bn plecos, all the snails are happier. Their shells and operculums were being rasped on a daily basis and their growing edges were damaged. The operculums developed holes too

It's been almost three weeks and the older canas--even Sheldon who's 3 years old!--are putting down new shell! They look double shelled, and the new growth is smooth, golden brown like their shells used to be and smooooth! Whoohooo! Even the old brigs look better!

[Steph]

Today I brought home a new snaily, a baby dark-striped-olive like my Speed Racer. He's about dime-sized at the moment, and shares the nice blue foot and orange freckled face of Speed Racer. I'm pretty sure they came from the same breeder, so they might be 'cousins'.





His shell is in good shape, aside from a few growth lines, and his operculum looks good too. Once he got settled in, he didn't waste time eating some algae wafer and then munched on some caltrate for a bit. He hasn't done much exploring yet of the aquarium, instead he's keeping near the food and calcium.

-Stephanie

[Lupin]

Beautiful pickup!

[Annie Anderson]

What a good looking snail from an lfs! Just think--if Speed Racer is a male and this little jewel is female, they may be more than "kissing" cousins

[Steph]

Here we see the elusive Pomacea diffusa stalking its favorite prey. Waferis algeaus is quietly relaxing, its back to the approaching threat. Clearly W.algeaus is unaware of the stealthy predator's approach. At any moment now, P.diffusa will pounce, striking its target from behind. It is truly one of the wonders of the animal kingdom. P.diffusa will attempt to pin its prey down using its mighty foot, at which point it will employ its fearsome radula and begin to rasp deep into the wafer's vulnerable neck. The wafer may struggle for a time, but ultimately there is no escape once it has been pinned by the snail's awesome foot.



Any moment now.

Wait for it.

It is an awesome sight, I promise.

You won't be disappointed.

This may take some time.

Cheers!

-Stephanie

[Mystery]

Oh, the humanity! Will no one save the poor algae from this terrible beast!