giant land snails

Magician

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 1, 2005
Messages
130
Anyone know where i can get (legal speicies) in the US?

ps. if ALL speices are illegal, someone please note this to me with the app. source, thanks!
 
Last edited:

Scythemantis

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 27, 2005
Messages
499
The african land snail would be the pet of my dreams if it wasn't so dangerous to have. A single snail will still eventually reproduce, fertilizing itself and producing hundreds of baby clones, which I personally would never be able to bring myself to kill.

I have no specific source, but trust me, I've searched. There isn't one land snail over a couple inches in length that is legal to keep in america. All "giant" land snails are generally part of the same group of snails all about equally adaptive and ravenous.

The biggest terrestrial mollusc you can get, as far I know, is just the native banana slug, which you can collect from outdoors in some parts of the country so they aren't really considered special/exotic enough to be in the pet trade. I want one, though. They're colorful, we don't have them in MD, and they live a lot longer than smaller slugs/snails. I just need to find someone who can mail me one.

If anyone can prove me wrong, I'll be quite happy about it.
 
Last edited:

Randolph XX()

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 10, 2004
Messages
1,458
very true, i can't agree more
they were introduced to Taiwan in 1950's as food source , but soon found out they are not tasty and full fill parasites , and they are the pests through Asian Pacific region
they can lay like 20 thousand eggs each time and grow pretty <EDIT> fast
they can survive in any condition souch as drought or harsh winter
i know bugsdirect.uk has those for sell
don't get them unless u r using them as feeders to some large snail-eating animals at home.However lotta snail-eating animals don't like them as well, such as snail eating ground beetles ,some box turtles,and some larger fire flies larva
think about it much more carefully
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Scorpendra

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 16, 2005
Messages
1,499
and here, i thought giant land snails would be a cool pet. then i entered this thread. now, i can only say {D. giant, slimey, destructive and reproductive as a weed, and nearly useless as a feeder! {D!
bugsnstuff said:
well, actually you would need a pair, they aren't parthenogenic, they're hermaphrodites, each animal being both sexes.
what happens is they fire a 'dart' of spermatophore into each other, hence fertilising each other.

the eggs are easy to dispose of by removing them and freezing them
ironic, since your site would lead one to conclude you'd know things like that, scythemantis.
 
Last edited:

bugsnstuff

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
234
Scythemantis said:
The african land snail would be the pet of my dreams if it wasn't so dangerous to have. A single snail will still eventually reproduce, fertilizing itself and producing hundreds of baby clones, which I personally would never be able to bring myself to kill.
well, actually you would need a pair, they aren't parthenogenic, they're hermaphrodites, each animal being both sexes.
what happens is they fire a 'dart' of spermatophore into each other, hence fertilising each other.

the eggs are easy to dispose of by removing them and freezing them
 

8 leg wonder

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 6, 2004
Messages
815
Scythemantis said:
The african land snail would be the pet of my dreams if it wasn't so dangerous to have. A single snail will still eventually reproduce, fertilizing itself and producing hundreds of baby clones, which I personally would never be able to bring myself to kill.

I have no specific source, but trust me, I've searched. There isn't one land snail over a couple inches in length that is legal to keep in america. All "giant" land snails are generally part of the same group of snails all about equally adaptive and ravenous.

The biggest terrestrial mollusc you can get, as far I know, is just the native banana slug, which you can collect from outdoors in some parts of the country so they aren't really considered special/exotic enough to be in the pet trade. I want one, though. They're colorful, we don't have them in MD, and they live a lot longer than smaller slugs/snails. I just need to find someone who can mail me one.

If anyone can prove me wrong, I'll be quite happy about it.

aren't snails and slugs gastropods, not molluscs?
 

Scythemantis

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 27, 2005
Messages
499
Gastropods are a class of mollusc, along with cephalopods, nudibranchs, bivalves and many others.


Slugs and snails are hermaphrodites but many (if not all) species can and often do reproduce without a partner. I'm 99% positive that giant land snails can as well. Everything I always heard said it was part of the whole "problem" with them.
 
Last edited:

Wade

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 16, 2002
Messages
2,929
Giant land snails fall under the same USDA ban that prohibits phasmids and many other invertebrates. The USDA's ban covers many harmless animals, but land snails aren't one of them. They've wrecked havoc in many other places, and are definately a critter the USDA wouldn't look the other way about. I know of a pet shop that got raided for having one!

Wade
 

bugsnstuff

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
234
some Aquatic Gastropods are parthenogenic, yes.

But i can say 100% that Achatina are not.
It is, however, possible a mated lone individual, if sexually mature, lays its' eggs at a much later time when conditions suit. Hence giving the appearance of parthenogenesis when, in fact, it is a Cross Fertilising Hermaphrodite, It cannot fertilise itself.
 
Last edited:

thedreadedone

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 22, 2004
Messages
298
randolph20 said:
they can lay like 20 thousand eggs each time and grow pretty <EDIT> fast
maybe thats a bit of an exageration, 200-400 is more realistic, still loads, but 20,000 is not true
 

Scythemantis

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 27, 2005
Messages
499
Ah well, I like snails but I guess I don't know a thing about them compared to insects. I thought the infestation in florida had originally started from a single snail that had never been housed with another.
 

IrishLad17

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 26, 2005
Messages
85
yeah, giant land snails are hermaphrodites but they cant fertilize themselves cuz it would be like a human trying to stick their elbow in their ear. just cant be done.
 

druid8783

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 22, 2004
Messages
132
Apple snails are not hermaphrodites. They need a male and female to reproduce.

I've tried for a couple years to get giant land snails and they are illegal so almost impossible to get. Once in a great while you'll see one.

I had some land snails from Puerto Rico last year that the USDA found out about from the breeder I got them from (he had to provide a list of all the people he sold to) and confiscated them from me. Not fun.
 

Scythemantis

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 27, 2005
Messages
499
I guess I should take a more active interest in snails then. I don't know near as much about them as I know about worms or insects, and I should, because I like them.

I wouldn't feel too bad owning one if I could know for sure it never mated, but still, a pet you have to hide is probably not worth that trouble...
 

Jesse607

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 29, 2002
Messages
715
I think there were originally 3 of them that were released, and who knows maybe all three had mated already. Some kid got them in Hawaii while on vacation and his grandma made him let them go (they lived in Florida). I think that is how the story goes. A whole bunch of them recently got confiscated in Wisconsin.
 

Scythemantis

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 27, 2005
Messages
499
I've tried to find out what North America's largest native land snail is, but to no avail. All I can find are pages mentioning various species as "AMONG the largest known"...
 
Last edited:

reptillian

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 7, 2005
Messages
118
Even Thought Snail Are Hermathodrite They Still Need Two Snails To Make Eggs But It Make Double The Amount Off Eggs Because They Both Get Pregnant!
 

Ecilious

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 9, 2005
Messages
149
There is one side to living on this cold damp island [of Britain]: exotic animals just can't hack it.

I have about a hundred little babies, about ten inch and a half long babies and the original two, needless to say future eggs will have to be frozen. They really do it a LOT, and what goes in must come out, so it gets pretty messy.



^^^Adult GAL compared to £1 coin (probably not as helpful comparison).


Cheers to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting
 

MizM

Arachnoprincess
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 13, 2003
Messages
4,915
Scythemantis said:
...native banana slug...

I don't know if that's the species we have in Southern California, but I've seen the gross little turds on my porch. They LOVE cat food, and I've seen 'em up to 4" in length... and FAT! Shivers.
 
Top