How To Build A Perfect Snail Habitat?
The Easy Way
The easiest way to set up a snail habitat quickly is to buy a Giant African Land Snail Starter Kit online. The kit includes a box, a heat mat, a cork bark (where snails can hide and climb), a compact coco brick (which will become snail bedding when water is added), a thermometer/hygrometer dial, some moss, a cuttlefish bone, a small spray bottle. The whole set costs about £25 - £35. You can easily get it online or in pet shops.
The Fun Way!
I love setting up habitat by myself. It is creative and almost free. Why not? ;-)
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First and foremost, the house - free!
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Instead of buying a snail box, I used an old IKEA storage box with lid. The box is big, tall and FREE! Because snails need oxygen, I drilled a few air holes on the lid.
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Bedding - £3-£4 for one coir brick but you can buy in bulk to save money!
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Choosing the right bedding is very important for pet snails. Please don't use garden soil or compost even if your pet snail is picked up from your garden. This is because garden soil may contain harmful chemicals, insecticide, viruses and bacteria. Most owners buy coco coir bricks online or in pet shops. Coco coir brick is made of coconut tree, and it is contaminant and peat-free. Coir break has the similar size of a house brick, but it will expand to 10 Litter after water is added. From my purchase history on eBay, I found I only bought twice from the beginning of 2016 to today, and each time I bought 2 - 3 bricks. This made 40L to 60L soil, which is enough for changing snail bedding every a few weeks for almost 1.5 year! Today I just found a deal from Amazon and it only costs £7.99 for 5 bricks!
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Calcium - £1-£3 for one big thick cuttlefish bone
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It will take snails a while to completely finish one big cuttlefish bone because their mouths are so small! When they eat cuttlefish bone, you can hear that interesting scraping sound. ;-)
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Some people use ground eggshells as a calcium source, but I have heard eggshells are not as efficient as cuttlefish bone, so I only recommend owners to use eggshells when they happen to run out of cuttlefish bones. Read here to see how I grind eggshells.
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Decorations - Free
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It is nice to have a cork bark for snails to hide or climb, but you don't have to spend a single penny! A broken plastic plant pot will work as well as a cork bark. Plastic fish tank plants can also be good decoration material. Small, smooth pebbles can be used in the tank to provide variation. Avoid large stones which can cause injury if the snails fall.
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Others - thermometer, moss, spray bottle, etc
From my own experience, they are nice to have but not necessary. You can buy moss from pet shops. Alternatively, you can grow some plants which don't need a lot sunshine, but please avoid ivy because it is toxic to snails.
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How do you feel now? With all the information in head, I believe you can make an intelligent decision on owning pet snails. :)
If you happen to live in Rugby, UK and would like to collect pet snails, I have a lot healthy baby GALS for you here. Feel free to message me if you have any question!
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To view a full list of what food snails like eating.
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