The marmite pet - love it or hate it! (Giant African Land Snails)

Member Name: Katy_roberts85

Product:	Giant African Land Snails
Date:	19/10/09 (163 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Inexpensive, low maintenance pets

Disadvantages: Don't do a lot - can't really 'pet' them

~~Introduction~~
We got a Giant African Land Snail from our friends for Christmas 2008, he is now affectionately known as Mr Slow.

~~Description~~
Mr Slow arrived with us about the size of a small marble. He liked burying himself in soil and hiding away. With much persistence he has grown - his shell is now the size of a tennis ball and when extended his both is the length and thickness of a small banana.

I think they are really odd pets but he does serve up some amusement. He slurps his way around his tank, we like his feelers that pop out as he searches his way around. It's also pretty cool to see his body rippling (the muscle wave) that enables him to move around, you can see this clearly when he travels around his tank.

~~What does he eat?~~
Apparently land snails eat everything from apples to carrots. However our Mr Slow is a little fussy. He loves cucumber and lettuce. He eats pears but wont touch much else! This is fine by us as a 70p cucumber lasts all week! Cheap as chips.

We also give him a cuttle fish which provide the much needed calcium forhim to continue producing his shell and maintaining the current shell.

~~Does he drink?~~
We spray his tank with warm water every day, this adds to the tanks humidity and also gives hiim water to drink. You cannot put a bowel of water in for him as he might drown in it.

~~What does he do?~~
He likes burying himself in soil to sleep. Or travelling to the top of his tank and hanging upside down to sleep.
He likes travelling around his tank from top to bottom, side to side, generally looking around with his cute feelers.
He also likes baths. We hold him and put him in warm water, careful not to leave him too long otherwise he will drown. But if you submerge your hand so he is only just in water and then alow water to spill over his shell - he loves it!!!

~~What do you house him in?~~
We got him in a small plastic animal tank but have since upgraded him to the extra large plastic tank. It needs to have a roof else he will go everywhere in your house. We got his tank for about £7 from a large pets superstore.

We also have a little aquarium cave for him which he likes to hide in when it is cold. You can have a heat mat to keep the tank warm but we don't. His tank is in the kitchen so keeps quite warm from the heat of the kitchen itself. He seems to prefer it there then other places in the house we have tried.

At the bottom of the tank we use some soil - just regular stuff you buy from a garden store. We fill it with several inches of soil

~~How often do you clean him out?~~
We dig over his soil every few days and spraying the tank cleans the sides. We then change the soil every few weeks (ot too often really)

~~Life expectancy?~~
You can expect a Giant African Land snail who is well cared for to live for several years - up to about 7 is average.

~~Where can I buy one of these fine creatures?~~
You can buy them from losts of places, people my advertise on small ads locally or online. I think our friend bought Mr Slow from a seller on eby which makes me sad as Ithink he was transported in the post (I do not advocate this as it seems cruel to me!) You can buy them for 50p to £2 depending on the seller. You would expect to pay more for the larger ones (these are the older more grown ones)

~~Summary~~
I think they are actually quite good pets especially for children as they don't really need a huge amount of attention but they would work well to teach children about responsibility and how to take care of animals. They are pretty hardy creatures and don't really need a lot of imput. They also provide quite and interesting converstion and provoke different and comical responses from our friends. Combined with the fact they are relitively inexpensive I think these creatures are definate winners.

Summary: Interesting and quirky