Some of the most popular pets are cats and dogs. But what if you want exotic? Take a snail. There are two types of snails: land and freshwater. Let us dwell in more detail on the first. These mollusks are unpretentious in maintenance, which is ideal for lazy hosts. In addition, if the owner leaves for some time, these animals can live in peace, without requiring attention and care.
One of the most popular types of land snails is Achatina snails (giant African snails). They are part of the family of Arkhakhatinaday. The Archakhatins similar to them are somewhat different from Akhatin.
So, for example, they have a blunt crown of the shell, the body itself is brown or brown. The maximum size of the shell can reach 12 cm. Achatina also have a pointed end of the shell. The shell itself is elongated, has a yellow-brown color with a striped pattern.
The body is gray or black with white tubercles. Another feature of Achatina is their great fecundity - in the clutch there can be up to 500 eggs that look like small chicken eggs.
How to care for them?
1. The snail carium.
Both a fish tank and a plastic terrarium can serve as a snail or terrarium for a snail. A prerequisite is a cover with holes so that fresh air enters. The size of the holes should be smaller than the snail itself. For the average snail of Achatina, you need a 3-liter aquarium for a comfortable stay.
2. Filler.
The filler for the container can be coconut substrate, sand, nutshell. Keep in mind that snails are very fond of digging into the ground, especially during the day. The minimum ground height should be 4 cm. It is important that the ground is always moist, so that the snails are comfortable moving. If the earth is dry, Akhatins will moisten it with their mucus, which will lead to contamination of the container walls.
3. The food.
The older the snail, the less often it can be fed. These animals feed mainly on herbs, apples, bananas, cucumbers. It is important that the food is not bitter, salty or very sweet. In addition, sometimes they can be fed boiled chicken. It must also be fresh. The top layer of food can be sprinkled with gammarus or daphnia - dried crustaceans designed to feed fish. It is necessary to provide snails with building material for shells. It can be cuttlefish shell, natural chalk or eggshell. Achatina is very fond of water, which they need to moisturize. For older snails, you can make a pool of water (the main thing is to make sure that the water level will not allow the mollusk to choke), but if there are small snails in the terrarium, you can spray the walls with a spray gun.
4. The landscape.
To diversify the home of a pet, you can put unsharp fragments of pottery, moss, wood. You can also plant live plants, on the leaves of which there are small villi, they will prevent snails from eating them. All these little things should be safe, without sharp edges and clean.
Thus, Achatina snails are unusual pets that are suitable for those who are rarely at home, or sometimes forget to feed and care for their pets. If you leave for a while, the snails will fall into a state of suspended animation (hibernation) and will not die of starvation. In addition, they are very cute creatures that are interesting to watch.
