how much should a snail eat?

[snailler]

how do you know whether a snail is eating enough? and is it possible that a snail can eat too much?

if a snail doesn't eat, what will happen? is it technically possible for snails to starve? if you keep many snails in a tank is it possible to know whether all are eating?

I know I'm asking an awful lot of questions, but to be honest, I'm just curious.

[pumpkineater]

I don't believe a snail would eat too much, they know when to stop eating. The only time they might accidentally eat to excess is if they have things like oats which swell up in the stomach.

A snail could definitely starve to death, they would probably aestivate if there was no food available but they can't do that indefinitely.

As for knowing if they all eat, i just make sure all mine are placed near the food when I feed them. ;D

[AlienSnail]

Like all animals snails can starve yes. If you were to never feed your snails, for example, they would slowly starve. They would probably go into hibernation, but they can only survive that for so long before they would need to come out and eat. (edit: sorry Pumpkin, I was typing as you posted your's and we've said the same thing pretty much)

How do you know they're eating enough? If it's active and doing all those things that snails should do then it's pretty safe to say it's eating the right amount for itself.
If it is losing weight/not growing/often retracting/small body for the shell size then it's probably not eating enough, for what ever reason (not the right food, environment too clean, parasites, too cold for it to have the energy to eat and digest etc).

[GlitterBug]

I always wondered that myself, I've never seen my fulica's retract into their shell's and when i showed a friend she said they looked fat :/ I make sure mine are woken up about 6ish when i feed them and place them near the food. If they don't eat i just leave them their since they will most likey eat late at night.

[snailler]

thanks for all your replies, I was just checking, one more question, do you think a snail should eat every day? or most days? or a couple of times a week?

[GlitterBug]

I feed my lot every day, or every other day if they havent touched the food. Sometimes I put alittle bit of fresh with the old stuff too.

[AlienSnail]

Most of mine eat most days, though if they stuff themselves sometimes they chill out and rest for a few days. It's usually a daily thing, it's not necessarily a sign of anything wrong if not though.

[whodoesntlovesnails]

i feed mine around the same time every night before i head to bed, and that has always been my routine.

-miley