Snail Care

[Caresteph]

Does anyone know of another supplier for snail milk other than karma farm acquatics? And does anyone know where I can order snail cookies? I ordered some a couple of years ago but lost the address. Hope someone can help me - thanks!

[jackiomy]

I don't know what snail milk is but there is a sticky with recipes for snail jello and snail cookies ant the beginning of the invert section.

[toddnbecka]

How do you milk a snail? For that matter, is baby oil made from real babies?

[vampie]

I think snail milk was just some gimmicky liquid calcium.

[Lupin]

I think snail milk was just some gimmicky liquid calcium.
It is. It's not necessary though.

[vampie]

Far from it. I don't think snails can even use the calcium in the water.

[rocker92]

Far from it. I don't think snails can even use the calcium in the water.
isnt that how they get calcium???

[vampie]

They get calcium from food.

[dixienut]

Far from it. I don't think snails can even use the calcium in the water.

yes they can use the calcium in the water if you have an overload of mts in your tank they can and will deplete the calcium in the water ,
and i for one use liquid calcium in my snail tanks as and extra supply for the snails and have seen a benefit to the overpopulation of pests are getting better shells because of it,..

the snail milk is a formula that replenishes not only calcium but also minerals that help build strong shells,

just as ro water in salty tanks needs to be replenished with what is taken out same with fresh,
water changes also do this but if your water is lack of calcium then replace some, also if calcium is used faster than water changes than add more,

i know this will start another debate about this but mother nature knows more than science can understand i had this same debate when i first came on here with another person,

all it can do is help, can't hurt,.. i use it ,...and i have high calcium water also, well water, but have many mts and pests so i use it regularly,..


as for snail milk i think karma has a patent not sure but it sells on ebay at times, also sells snacks for them as well but i think its still karma though,...

[7itanium]

Calcium is beneficial for snail shell growth-- tho its not needed in low-medium population tanks

if you were overrun with snails it could definately do a lot of benefit

[Lupin]

I find it hard to believe snails cannot use calcium from the water column. How can you prove that? I have noticed failing to replenish minerals by doing water changes allow MTS shells to become whitish to the tips indicating the minerals are getting depleted. Where else can they get calcium assuming we don't use calcium enriched foods as we don't have snails other than the MTS which we always consider to be relatively undemanding?

[vampie]

This is certainly the first time I've heard of more than one person using liquid calcium. You sure the calcium isn't helping indirectly by hardening the water rather directly?

[pik01]

donya and badflash discuss calcium in the water column and in the diet in regards to snail shell helath and GH/KH

Regarding GH and KH (http://www.applesnail.net/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16430&hilit=calcium+water+column)

I think you might have to register to see the thread so I'll just break it down, there's a long discussion about GH and KH (fascinating but off topic here). The consensus is that snails can efficiently extract calcium from both the water column and diet. The thread links a paper studying the calcium absorption of LIMNAEA STAGNALIS. Levels of calcium below 10ppm is when it starts to get too low and levels above 20ppm had little positive effect (saturated).

[vampie]

That was quite a read (then again, I'm dyslexic), but it seems if that snails can use the calcium from water, it's still rather unimportant, even more so than the effect of the calcium buffering the water. Though I am interested in knowing if all snails can do it, and how it's done.


Does anyone know of another supplier for snail milk other than karma farm acquatics? And does anyone know where I can order snail cookies? I ordered some a couple of years ago but lost the address. Hope someone can help me - thanks!

I apologize for dragging this thread off topic (as I often seem to do actually..), but you could rather buy liquid calcium from most LFS, which is probably a cheaper alternative than snail milk. Also, many of the sites that sold snail cookies (Rainbowsnails, Snailsnthings, and so on) seem to have gone out of business. Try one of the recipes in the sticky.

[dixienut]

saltwater snails in the ocean, use calcium from the water for their shells and they don't get jello,

so do the ones in saltwater tanks,..

[aman74]

I find it hard to believe snails cannot use calcium from the water column. How can you prove that? I have noticed failing to replenish minerals by doing water changes allow MTS shells to become whitish to the tips indicating the minerals are getting depleted. Where else can they get calcium assuming we don't use calcium enriched foods as we don't have snails other than the MTS which we always consider to be relatively undemanding?

What do you mean we don't have snails besides MTS? Plenty of people do no?

Also, maybe we can't prove whether or not they use it from the water column or not, but it sounds like you are implying it can't be proved or disproved in general. I would argue that it can be studied.

[Lupin]

What do you mean we don't have snails besides MTS? Plenty of people do no?

Also, maybe we can't prove whether or not they use it from the water column or not, but it sounds like you are implying it can't be proved or disproved in general. I would argue that it can be studied.
I should have reworded properly.:grinyes: Where else can they get calcium assuming we don't use calcium enriched foods if we have only MTS and nothing else since we consider MTS to be undemanding? There.;)

[aman74]

I should have reworded properly.:grinyes: Where else can they get calcium assuming we don't use calcium enriched foods if we have only MTS and nothing else since we consider MTS to be undemanding? There.;)

I see what you are driving at now.

Have you noticed this in practice? Meaning you feed them something without calcium and then notice the shells decline and then improve with a water change?

Do we know the shell discoloration to be a lack of calcium or could it be some other water condition that improved with the water change?

[Lupin]

Well, before when I had infestation of MTS (was not fascinated with snails back then), I can't help but notice some shells have white tips and upon close look, the shells look a little eroded. Water changes will replenish the minerals and the shells appear to recover. This had been confirmed when I read some topics in applesnail.net where people mix MTS with mystery snails. The mystery snails appear to have shell erosions as well as the MTS. It turns out later on to be lack of calcium in the water column rather than the MTS allegedly damaging the shells. I've never noticed my MTS to even damage their shells if some people think it's a norm for them to do that.

[aman74]

Interesting, thanks for your thoughts.