Periwinkles

[LittleWiseOwl]

I was looking for a place that supplies snails and I found one but it's kind of far away. Then I found a grocery store that sells live bags of periwinkle snails.

Anyone ever fed "winkles"? lol

http://sites.google.com/site/elmseecenter/_/rsrc/1274062406643/critter-of-the-elms/periwinklesnailmay2010/periwinkleSnailB0510eO.jpg

[the enigma]

I have fed de-shelled canned snails to my blue tongue skink as well as my tegu when he was younger. I bought them from zoo-med...

[txrepgirl]

No, I have never tried to feed mine snails because I couldn't find any at a store. I didn't want to feed the ones you find at a pet store ( in a fish tank ) or the ones outside. If you feed them to your Tegu please let us know how it went. Thank you and good luck.

[LittleWiseOwl]

I just bought a bag of live periwinkles and froze them to kill off any possible parasites.

They should be ready to be fed in a couple weeks (if my new baby is willing to eat them in a couple weeks, haha)

[HernandosMom]

I don't want to tell you what to do and I'm no expert, but I believe a freeze is not sufficient to kill off the worst parasites. In nature there are different life stages of various worms and other little parasites, some of which are highly evolved to make it through the winter. This is especially true if the vector makes its living for part of its life in a small, cold-blooded, dampness-loving creature like a snail.

We have a reptile that subsists mainly on slugs and snails in her homeland, but we've never been able to feed her any because our soil is so infested with roundworm eggs, larvae, and adults. The eggs of roundworm, for example, can live for 2-3 YEARS, meaning multiple over-winters with exposure to freezing temperatures. Snails from aquarium stores have their own horrible parasites; it's just the nature of the genus.

I don't mean this as criticism of you, I'm just concerned that you are aware of the risks. Any way that you can get the snails tested at a veterinary lab, county ag advisor or nearby university?

[LittleWiseOwl]

These snails are from the local grocery store farmed for human consumption so I imagine the parasite risk is minimal.

And no, there is no way I can have them tested.

[Dana C]

While I haven't fed them, I have eaten a few prepared like escargo....pretty tasty I must say. ;-)

[txrepgirl]

Did they taste like chicken lol ?

[Dana C]

Doesn't everything? Hahaha.. I have eaten alligator and it really does taste like chicken. There is a small alligator farm close to here, along the Snake River. There are thermal springs which keep their ponds, (fenced of course), very warm. They sell some of the meat to a local restaurant who in turn sells gator abreaded and fried.

[txrepgirl]

Wow. I never had that before. But I did had some shark before. It was OK.