Snail Food Recipe

Little-Fizz

Awesome, thank you! This helps me for way more then my fish tank.

Lupin

Plaster of Paris is white cement but should be labeled as plaster of Paris. Use Dap brand for those in US.

Twistersmom

Will the calcium blocks make the water cloudy? Do they dissolve quickly? Wonder what the ingredient are in the plaster. Sound like it would cheap and easy to make.

Lupin

Use Dap brand. I used Bronco though and it went rather well than I expected. Plaster of Paris will not cloud the water. It does clarify the water well thus neutralizing the cloudiness that Tums (calcium pill) makes. The combo works very well. It takes weeks for plaster to dissolve but if the snails keep gnawing on them, then they go faster than you can expect so replace each worn out block with a new one when the old one is almost gone.

seriosbrad

How much water to boil for the gelatin recipe? Whatever the pack calls for?

Twistersmom

This is the snail jello recipe I use. No boiling water necessary.

Snail Jello
1 can of baby food (4-6 oz)
1 tsp+ fish food (may be omitted)
Calcium/vitamin supplements (I use 1tsp Jurassi-reptical powder w/out phosphorus)
1 packet (= 1 tablespoon) unflavored gelatin

You can select any fish food and any flavor of baby food that you like. Try to find baby foods with at least 4% calcium (vegetable medley has a higher %), either fruit or vegetable types are find. This is a good way to feed fish foods that are good for snails but don't sink, like freeze-dried shrimp, or fish foods that have a strong smell when cooked in other recipes. You can mix in much more than a teaspoon of fish food, and including the ingredients of a "snail trail mix" instead of a single fish food would make this snail treat more nutritionally complete.

Instructions

Open the baby food and pour it into a small bowl. Heat the baby food in the microwave for 60 seconds (caution, it will be very hot).

Stir in the unflavored gelatin (add it slowly to avoid unsightly clumps of gelatin; don't use a blender or you risk creating air bubbles that will make it float) crushing any lumps with the back of a spoon.

Add calcium supplements and vitamins if you have/want them. Stir thoroughly.

Pour this mixture into a dish with a flat bottom (tupperware-type containers work well; if you are doubling or tripling this recipe, you might consider a pie pan).* Fold in your fish food(s) if you are adding any.

Refrigerate for several hours, then return and cut into cubes.

One jar of baby food yields a good handful of snail treats. Keep them refrigerated until serving. These sink and hold up pretty well in the tank, but as with any food, large uneaten portions should be removed after the snails have finished. These can be frozen for up to a month.

*You can use an ice cube tray to create big treats for a tank full of snails. No slicing is needed in this case.

seriosbrad

Yeah I just used that recipe, it's in the fridge now! :)

Twistersmom

Your snails are going to love it!

La Reina

I have a very run of the mill calcium pill that I take every morning as a suppliment. Could I use it for my snails too? If so, can I just drop it in the tank?

Also, is a collard the same thing as a zucchini (sp?)?

paxt0n

I was out running around today, and I decided to pick up the ingredients for this. I was excited to come home and make it (I don't even make anything this complicated for myself - if you can't microwave it or just eat it, then I don't do it). My last stop was the Petco down the street from my place, on the way back home. This is when I realized that I didn't buy any ice trays!

Now that it's midnight, I just remembered that there was a tiny one in my tiny fridge when I moved here. I found it, but I think I'll wait until tomorrow to try it, and maybe get a regular-sized ice tray.

By the way, it was difficult to find pellets or granules at the small Petco I visited, so I looked in the reptile section and found Jurassi Diet Hermit Crab Food which has Calcium Pantothenate, but doesn't have calcium listed under guaranteed analysis. However, it does have Vitamin D and states that it "contains no soy, which can impair calcium absorption.

Anyway, I'll let you know how things go...

I forgot to ask. I've noticed that some things, such as the hermit crab food and shrimp pellets, contain copper sulfate. Will this be harmful to the snails, like copper medication?