Snail Behavior

[theodidactus]

My snails seem to enjoy the walls and ceiling of their tank. They sleep through the day along the tank walls, and crawl around the tank soil at night. They also seem to enjoy the "forest pod" of their little terrarium, which is a small enclosed space filled with sticks and rocks. I'm noticing a general tendency to enjoy crawling on sticks and branches.

Anyone know why snails like the tank walls so much?
It might be easier if I could discourage this behavior. It's much harder to pick them up when they cling to the tank sides.

Also: its a well known fact that snails will fully emerge from their shells if they get wet. Does anyone know the exact reason for this? when I place mine under a continuous, gentle stream of water, they'll fully extend upwards as if trying to reach the spigot.

Anyways, I notice lots of other trends, tell me if your snails do this too! We ought to begin extensive studies on snail psychology:
- They definitely prefer to hang with the pointy end of their shell pointing directly to the ground along the length of their body. I've seen them crawl so that their shell is perpendicular to their body, but they don't rest that way...probably less comfy.
- They have the Ability to smell or otherwise detect new food (I experimented with this)
- They have a Tendency to sleep in clusters
- They have a Tendency to crawl upwards when placed in new containers
- Their Peak activity is between 7 and 9 PM, but I'm never at the office past midnight, so maybe they party after I leave

Finally, I hear that many snail owners feed their snails small amounts of beer. I find this hilarious and have tried at least twice: they don't touch the stuff. What's the story?

[GlitterBug]

I think (I say this because I'm not sure) that snails (And worms and slugs) come out when it rains or when they get wet for a drink and to keep their body moist. I've seen a lot of snails floating in peoples ponds, obviously the result in their attempt to get something to drink or to keep their body from drying up completely. (Again I'm not 100% sure on this but I'm sure this must be the reason)

As for them sleeping on the tank wall, again not 100% sure and some one might have an answer but I'm pretty sure its an instinct to hide away from preditors(sp?) Garden snails get slaughtered by birds when they are sliming across the garden but the ones that hang from the wall don't seem to get bothered as much. I've noticed garden snails love to hide in my ivy bush, some times they scare me because the ivy moves about.

[AlienSnail]

Yeah that sounds like normal snail behaviour

I'm not sure why snails climb upwards when introduced to a new environment, but I suspect it may be in order to detect more scents up high to get a bearing of where to go next.
Many species are climbers by nature, wild A.fulica can often be found up trees. Perhaps it's safer up there?
As for liking the smooth sides of the tank I supect you've answered the question, that it's harder to pull them off because they have better suction, they are therefore less likely to fall off when asleep (yep that happens at times), and less likely to be pulled off by predators.
Plus as Glitters says, perhaps they are somehow less noticeable to predators when on walls?
For getting snails off the sides I recommend nudging at the foot until they begin to let go

Have you individual snails established favourite resting spots yet? i.e. their own favourite spots?

[theodidactus]

They mostly seem to congregate in the forest pod I built for them, one guy really likes staying glued to the back of the pod...probably the best hiding place in the whole tank, it took me a while to find him!

I built a little cave for them when I cleaned their cage. Half an opaque milk jug, totally dark in there. None of them are using it...ungrateful things, really.

[theodidactus]

Nov 17, 2010 13:59:49 GMT theodidactus said:

I built a little cave for them when I cleaned their cage. Half an opaque milk jug, totally dark in there. None of them are using it...ungrateful things, really.

now they're using it. I think it just had to be "discovered" in the far corner of the tank.

El Macho was behaving strangely last night: instead of being stuck to a surface, he was completely retracted into his shell, using his foot as a door. I got him to come out, but it required holding him under a stream of water for like, five minutes. What's up?

[hurricanesian]

There might not be anything up at all, snails can be lazy at times, and just sometimes do not want to wake up
Aslong as it's not to cold or dry (I'm assuming it's fine if the rest of them are fine) and he doesn't stay acting strange then I wouldn't worry,
everyone has off days afterall :')
Just wondering? but did he seal off the shell? trying to hibernate maybe?