I haven’t talked much about how my snails are really doing. I wanted to give you all an update on that.

As you might recall, I am dealing with a mite issue with only some of my snails. These are 9 of my Helix Aspersa, and my 3 milk snails. Sadly, the milk snails got the mites from the Aspersa. I wasn’t worried about putting them together because I had the hypoaspis miles (predatory mites) to treat the issue. But while those helped, the issue is ongoing. With that said, the milk snails are doing okay and eating.

The Helix Aspersa are not doing well. One died, another looks weak, and most are not eating. I would put food all over the tank, all sorts of enticing things, and nothing. I became very depressed over this.

Two days ago I had a lightbulb moment. I put the snails in an extremely small container full of food. The snails do not have much room to roam. Basically anywhere they move there is food, and perhaps since it’s not so hard now to get to it, they are eating. I do believe they became so weak over the mites, that they were too weak to get to the food. If I tried to put them on the food directly, usually they instinctively tried to climb to the top rather than eat. But if I leave them be in the container full of food they seem to start eating pretty soon after I leave them. Not all of them, but more than before.

I think perhaps my tank was too big for the number of snails. They even mated in that tiny tank lined with paper towels, but didn’t in the massive tank with soil. I think right now it is best for them to have a very small space while I continue to treat the mites. And continue I will.

Today while cleaning the container two of the milk snails climbed onto my hands. I was surprised to find that removing them was completely impossible. I would have had to pull so hard, I would likely have injured them in a way that would have caused them to die. They are SO strong. Their shells are also very thick and strong.

My Helix Aspersa adults, all of which I got from eBay seller lucky_gary, are nothing like this. Their shells are thin and weak, and so are the snails. I think perhaps due to poor husbandry on part of the breeder, these were already weak snails, and the minor mite issue threw them all over the edge. But I’m not giving up on them.

Their babies are doing amazingly, as are my wild-caught snails.

Here are some more baby pictures:

You can see how much cuttlebone they eat. My other snails never ate so much.

This is my big boy, my favorite little potato, so much bigger than any of the others (though they’ve caught up to him a good bit.)

I took a little video of them eating last night.

That’s all I have to share for now. I will soon offer more commissions in exchange for money for good mites. I just keep adding more until the issue is gone. Wish me luck.