Do you shine snails?

[Vida]

This might sound like a silly question, but I have only had snails for just over 3 months now, so I am still learning.

What do you use to polish snails? I read somewhere some kind of oil, but I can't find it and I'm pretty sure it was something odd, (I mean not everyday olive oil! ) and would like to know what you use.

Thanks.

[kab]

i only ever put water on mine if i want the shell to look nice in a picture , i dont know if theres anything else , i would have thought oil could get kind of messy the substrate would maybe stick to it

[Arno]

I do the same thing,and as it seems to work fine I wouldn't go around messing around with oily products.

[Vida]

Thanks.

I can't believe I have been looking around to see where I read this for days. Now that I have posted the question, I go and find it!

www.petsnails.co.uk/care/cleaning.html

It says:

You can polish the shell by gently rubbing sesame seed oil on the shell using a piece of non-rough cloth or lint.

Has anyone tried this?

Is it messy?

[AlienSnail]

I've heard of it before - I usually photograph mine as they are, but sometimes I use water on the older snails if their shells are a bit rough.

[Kevin]

Ive never used oil on my Snails shells, I used to sometimes spray they're shells with water before taking pictures of them of though, to show the patterns, shell colouration more.

[purplelynn]

I have used vegetable oil put on with a cotton bud. But its a very short term thing. Seems to do the shell some good as well - think I picked the tip up from Snail trail

[Tigs]

Iv used Olive oil for a photo shoot before - But enough about me ;D

Seriously though - Water has the same effect for the photos.

tigs ;D

[Vida]

I wasn't so worried about how the shell looks in photos. It's more about whether it's good/necessary for the shell.

Bambi's shell is rough and beginning to crumble a bit on the edges, even though he eats cuttlefish, so I wondered whether oil would help make it stronger and tougher. I just wondered whether all the spraying and water was making the shell weak.

[Val]

tigs said:

Iv used Olive oil for a photo shoot before - But enough about me ;D

tigs ;D

Ooooh can we see the photos!!!!

Val

[spook]

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha !!!!! ;D ;D ;D

[pinksnail]

tigs you snob whats wrong with chip fat oil i get the super large recycled stuff for my photo shoots have to make sure the scr@ps are out though they scrach your skin lol

my mate runs his old transit van on cooking oil smells lovely!

[manxminx]

Nail varnish. Anyone brave enough to try it? Something like Sally Hanson Hard as Nails with Nylon. It would protect the shell? I mean we know that Nail varnish is ok to use as many people mark their snails shells with it, so is there any reason why we couldn't paint the whole shell with clear nail varnish? Ok, got to be very careful not to get it on the snails skin, But in theory I can't see why not . . .

Ali

[Tigs]

Photos are available on my once a month subscription website

www.TigsHasBeenANaughtyBoy.com ;D

On Topic

I wouldnt personally paint the whole shell - Its a natural material and possibly needs to breathe and expand. I maybe totally wrong with this - Just a gut feeling

Tigs ;D

[pumpkineater]

Damn! 404 File not found!



And I wouldn't paint a shell either, too many chemicals and we don't really know the effects it could have, as snails climb over each other the other snails in the tank could absorb toxins through their feet.