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Thread: Landsnails, anyone have access ?

  1. #1
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    By the way... does anybody have access to landsnails? If you are close by maybe I could pick them up, or you could try to ship them?

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    I'm in California and have snails in my back yard, but I think I'd be arrested by Homeland Security if I sent you any. They are terrible pests.

    What's worse, I'm afraid to feed any to our lizards even though we live in a pretty non-pesticide using area. Our yards are full of squirrels, raccoons, 'possum, little rodents, and all the cats that chase them. All those animals leave awful stuff in the ground, most notably ringworm from the raccoons. I assume the worst about the snails and slugs being vectors that would carry parasites and disease to our precious babies.

    Anyone out there find a source of lab-raised snails? Or a process for purifying them?

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    That's an interesting point. I wonder if it's valid. About the snails being disease vectors, infested. They aren't for my tegu, they're for my chams. How do the animals safely eat the snails in the wild? They really love them, and seem to even require them.

    It might be worth to risk, especially if I raise a new generation myself. Maybe I would test them first... on something expendable... some feeder.

    I was told that I could get Land Snails in Chinatown, but I haven't found them yet. ):

    You can ship snails to NY, by the way, no problem.

    Maybe I could find a live source for the escargot snails, those ought to be disease-free.

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    OOps, sorry, I think we got off-topic of the original post :oops:

    I know snails are good food in the wild. But in the wild, neither of my lizards live with urban California-borne parasites and diseases, so they have evolved no immunities for them. Also in the wild, most reptiles die much younger than I hope mine will live. And I don't want to get ringworm, etc. from cleaning out Hernando's terrarium.

    The thing about snails sold for human food, the standard assumption is that these will be cooked. Cooking would kill anything but toxins secreted by certain bacteria, that may already be present. But I'm not sure if cooked snails are ok for tegu digestion?

    We tried feeding Hernando and our sheltopusik canned snails from a big brand reptile food company, and they would not recognize them as food. these are presumably cooked in processing.

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    I am not so sure about what you, that snails may be sold live, with toxic bacteria present. That is not the case with eggs and meat for example, even though, those are generally cooked as well. Cooking also cannot be guaranteed to kill all bacteria.

    Snails carry ringworm? Even if true, snails intended for human consumption could not be permitted to have ringworm.

    Nevertheless, if I can persuade you to send me the snails, I would make a project of getting them clean.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by sruli
    That's an interesting point. I wonder if it's valid. About the snails being disease vectors, infested. They aren't for my tegu, they're for my chams. How do the animals safely eat the snails in the wild? They really love them, and seem to even require them.

    It might be worth to risk, especially if I raise a new generation myself. Maybe I would test them first... on something expendable... some feeder.

    I was told that I could get Land Snails in Chinatown, but I haven't found them yet. ):

    You can ship snails to NY, by the way, no problem.

    Maybe I could find a live source for the escargot snails, those ought to be disease-free.
    Depends on what you are using the snails for, I mean, nutrition, or are you using them as a tiring, to wear down teeth and claws ect.? If nutrition, you might check for people that sell es cargo(something I like myself).

    The only lizards that I know of that seem to require snails in captivity are caiman lizards. Dumerils monitors also seem to enjoy them, but the shell is a dangerous liability when feeding because is can splinter, break, and cause all kinds of problems. If you don't have to feed the animals snails, then don't. I would even look for alternative sources for the same nutrition. It's kind of like people that say they need to feed their ferrets live rodents because ferrets eat live rodents in the wild.....eh I wouldn't do it.

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    [quote="sruli"] How do the animals safely eat the snails in the wild? They really love them, and seem to even require them.
    quote]

    Animals don't do anything 'safely' in the wild. That is part of what makes the wild well.....wild. All kinds of things can go wrong even eating appropriate food, or barring that there is none of that, eating available food. Bones, shells, fins, spines, claws, talons, beaks, and all other sharp protrusions, or oddly shaped hard things that your animal eats can be the death of it. If you don't have to risk it, and can supplement the diet with "safer" food items then do it.

    Even if an animal seems to like something, that doesn't mean they should have it. I do try to "read" my animals, and let them tell me to some degree what they like and don't like, but nutrition isn't one of them. If some of my lizards had their way they'd eat nothing but rodents the rest of their lives, and though that might not be bad for them, I see no reason to suggest that the eat their greens before leaving the table too! :lol:

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    Quote Originally Posted by sruli
    Cooking also cannot be guaranteed to kill all bacteria.
    Definately not, but monitors and tegus are rather hardy to a lot of food bourne bacterias. Not immune of course. I don't cook any of the food I feed my tegus but then, none of it needs to be cooked. I eat nearly raw steak, and raw fish myself, LOL.

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    * This topic was split from the original thread 'Hibernating' by sruli in General Care.

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    * This is posted by sruli. I had to copy and paste it. Evidently I split it at the same time sruli was posting.



    sruli
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    Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 12:41 am Post subject:

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    I specifically want snails for my Jackson's chameleons. They do eat snails in the wild, and the shells are probably an important source of calcium. They certainly would be, if I could feed them snails here.

    Land snails that I have seen... their shells are not so thick and sharp, perhaps comparable to eggshell, and perhaps more digestible. Again... these animals know just what to do with snails, and enjoy eating them.

    I actually don't feed my tegu anything live. Chameleons are another story... eventually I hope to train them to hand feed, but I am happy to get them to eat as many different kinds of food as I can, in general.

    As for 'safety' - I should have said 'relatively safely', that it is part of their normal living behaviours. It's about as safe as anything else that they do. It doesn't stress them out. I suppose that you are right about animals getting fooled sometimes, and not everything that they like being good for them. In this case, I've done my research, though. The snails are good for the chams.

    I should also add, that I might just like to have snails as a small exhibit by themselves, even if I wasn't using them as feeders.

    I know that, especially with my tegu, they do not some influence to eat some of the food that they need, not only what they like.

    *smile* I also eat nearly raw beef, and sometimes even raw beef, and fish. Most people eat raw eggs more often than they realize.

    So you think that the main danger from snails is from the shell. I would be skeptical of that. Just relying on people who I know to be much more 'careful' with their chams than I probably am, and no reported injuries from snails. Probably, any snail small enough to be swallowed whole, the shell is not thick enough to cause physical damage. *shrug*

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