Life Along The Way: snails

So, as I said yesterday, I have a "strange" hobby. Most people don't understand why I love my hobby, or even find it interesting, but I have so much FUN with it!

I know what you all are saying right now.. "Can you just get on with it?! Tell us what it is already!"

Okay. My strange hobby is.... aquatic snails. I know it sounds really strange, but they really are so interesting to watch! I know you think that they don't move very fast because their land cousins don't, but, they're pretty quick! They also do lots of funny stuff. They will go up to the very top of the tank and "parasnail" to the bottom. They also like to play in bubbles. Another friend of mine does this too, and one time we were watching her snails get on top of the bubble wand, have it float them to the top, have the filter push them to the other side of the tank, and then parasnail to the bottom and do it all over again! It was really cute!

We've even named our snails, we have Talula, Stripes, Heart, Krabs, Spunky, Rainbow and Sandy. Talula, Heart, and Sandy are all Ivory (white), Stripes, and Krabs are purple, Spunky is blue and Rainbow is gold. Now, I have at least one female in there, and she(they?) have been laying eggs at the top of my tank. When they do, I take the eggs off the side of the tank, wrap them in a paper towel and put them in a zip lock baggie with a damp paper towel and put them in our other tank under the lights. The damp paper towel helps keep the eggs moist so that they can incubate and hatch baby snails! I have no idea how many baby snails I currently have, it's a bunch tho! I've managed to hatch 3 clutches (that's what you call the eggs) and I would guess there is somewhere between 50-125 baby snails in there right now! I have 2 more clutches incubating, and another was just laid last night. I have some people that are very interested in obtaining some of these snails and others I can sell online and to local pet stores.

I know that my hobby isn't for everyone, but I love it. I find them fascinating little animals, and they have so much more personality than fish! I admit, we have 2 tanks, a 20 gallon and a 30 gallon, and the 20 has 7 snails and a Betta (named Blueberry) and the 30 has 3 adult guppies, 3 juvenile, and 7 or 8 guppy fry with a bunch of baby snails and Spike the plecostomus (algae eater). The guppies are Bugs, the Betta is Monkeys, and the snails are mine. I guess that leaves the pleco to be Sams. I think they share the same attitude... hide until the sun goes down. LOL