# giant land snails



## Magician (Mar 4, 2005)

Anyone know where i can get (legal speicies) in the US?

ps. if ALL speices are illegal, someone please note this to me with the app. source, thanks!


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## Scythemantis (Mar 4, 2005)

The african land snail would be the pet of my dreams if it wasn't so dangerous to have. A single snail will still eventually reproduce, fertilizing itself and producing hundreds of baby clones, which I personally would never be able to bring myself to kill.

I have no specific source, but trust me, I've searched. There isn't one land snail over a couple inches in length that is legal to keep in america. All "giant" land snails are generally part of the same group of snails all about equally adaptive and ravenous.

The biggest terrestrial mollusc you can get, as far I know, is just the native banana slug, which you can collect from outdoors in some parts of the country so they aren't really considered special/exotic enough to be in the pet trade. *I* want one, though. They're colorful, we don't have them in MD, and they live a lot longer than smaller slugs/snails. I just need to find someone who can mail me one.

If anyone can prove me wrong, I'll be quite happy about it.


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## Randolph XX() (Mar 4, 2005)

very true, i can't agree more
they were introduced to Taiwan in 1950's as food source , but soon found out they are not tasty and full fill parasites , and they are the pests through Asian Pacific region
they can lay like 20 thousand eggs each time and grow pretty <EDIT> fast
they can survive in any condition souch as drought or harsh winter
i know bugsdirect.uk has those for sell
don't get them unless u r using them as feeders to some large snail-eating animals at home.However lotta snail-eating animals don't like them as well, such as snail eating ground beetles ,some box turtles,and some larger fire flies larva
think about it much more carefully


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## Scorpendra (Mar 4, 2005)

and here, i thought giant land snails would be a cool pet. then i entered this thread. now, i can only say . giant, slimey, destructive and reproductive as a weed, and nearly useless as a feeder! !


			
				bugsnstuff said:
			
		

> well, actually you would need a pair, they aren't parthenogenic, they're hermaphrodites, each animal being both sexes.
> what happens is they fire a 'dart' of spermatophore into each other, hence fertilising each other.
> 
> the eggs are easy to dispose of by removing them and freezing them


ironic, since your site would lead one to conclude you'd know things like that, scythemantis.


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## bugsnstuff (Mar 4, 2005)

Scythemantis said:
			
		

> The african land snail would be the pet of my dreams if it wasn't so dangerous to have. A single snail will still eventually reproduce, fertilizing itself and producing hundreds of baby clones, which I personally would never be able to bring myself to kill.


well, actually you would need a pair, they aren't parthenogenic, they're hermaphrodites, each animal being both sexes.
what happens is they fire a 'dart' of spermatophore into each other, hence fertilising each other.

the eggs are easy to dispose of by removing them and freezing them


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## 8 leg wonder (Mar 4, 2005)

Scythemantis said:
			
		

> The african land snail would be the pet of my dreams if it wasn't so dangerous to have. A single snail will still eventually reproduce, fertilizing itself and producing hundreds of baby clones, which I personally would never be able to bring myself to kill.
> 
> I have no specific source, but trust me, I've searched. There isn't one land snail over a couple inches in length that is legal to keep in america. All "giant" land snails are generally part of the same group of snails all about equally adaptive and ravenous.
> 
> ...



aren't snails and slugs gastropods, not molluscs?


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## Scythemantis (Mar 4, 2005)

Gastropods are a class of mollusc, along with cephalopods, nudibranchs, bivalves and many others.


Slugs and snails are hermaphrodites but many (if not all) species can and often do reproduce without a partner. I'm 99% positive that giant land snails can as well. Everything I always heard said it was part of the whole "problem" with them.


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## Wade (Mar 6, 2005)

Giant land snails fall under the same USDA ban that prohibits phasmids and many other invertebrates. The USDA's ban covers many harmless animals, but land snails aren't one of them. They've wrecked havoc in many other places, and are definately a critter the USDA wouldn't look the other way about. I know of a pet shop that got raided for having one!

Wade


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## bugsnstuff (Mar 6, 2005)

some Aquatic Gastropods are parthenogenic, yes.

But i can say 100% that Achatina are not.
It is, however, possible a mated lone individual, if sexually mature, lays its' eggs at a much later time when conditions suit. Hence giving the appearance of parthenogenesis when, in fact, it is a Cross Fertilising Hermaphrodite, It cannot fertilise itself.


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## thedreadedone (Mar 6, 2005)

randolph20 said:
			
		

> they can lay like 20 thousand eggs each time and grow pretty <EDIT> fast


maybe thats a bit of an exageration, 200-400 is more realistic, still loads, but 20,000 is not true


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## bugsnstuff (Mar 6, 2005)

and Achatina marginata only lay around 6 eggs at a time


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## Scythemantis (Mar 6, 2005)

Ah well, I like snails but I guess I don't know a thing about them compared to insects. I thought the infestation in florida had originally started from a single snail that had never been housed with another.


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## IrishLad17 (Mar 6, 2005)

yeah, giant land snails are hermaphrodites but they cant fertilize themselves cuz it would be like a human trying to stick their elbow in their ear. just cant be done.


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## druid8783 (Mar 6, 2005)

Apple snails are not hermaphrodites.  They need a male and female to reproduce.

I've tried for a couple years to get giant land snails and they are illegal so almost impossible to get.  Once in a great while you'll see one.

I had some land snails from Puerto Rico last year that the USDA found out about from the breeder I got them from (he had to provide a list of all the people he sold to) and confiscated them from me.  Not fun.


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## Scythemantis (Mar 7, 2005)

I guess I should take a more active interest in snails then. I don't know near as much about them as I know about worms or insects, and I should, because I like them.

I wouldn't feel too bad owning one if I could know for sure it never mated, but still, a pet you have to hide is probably not worth that trouble...


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## jezzy607 (Mar 7, 2005)

I think there were originally 3 of them that were released, and who knows maybe all three had mated already.  Some kid got them in Hawaii while on vacation and his grandma made him let them go (they lived in Florida).  I think that is how the story goes.  A whole bunch of them recently got confiscated in Wisconsin.


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## Scythemantis (Mar 7, 2005)

I've tried to find out what North America's largest native land snail is, but to no avail. All I can find are pages mentioning various species as "AMONG the largest known"...


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## reptillian (Mar 12, 2005)

Even Thought Snail Are Hermathodrite They Still Need Two Snails To Make Eggs But It Make Double The Amount Off Eggs Because They Both Get Pregnant!


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## Ecilious (Jul 7, 2005)

There is one side to living on this cold damp island [of Britain]: exotic animals just can't hack it.

I have about a hundred little babies, about ten inch and a half long babies and the original two, needless to say future eggs will have to be frozen. They really do it a LOT, and what goes in must come out, so it gets pretty messy.







^^^Adult GAL compared to £1 coin (probably not as helpful comparison).


Cheers to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting


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## MizM (Jul 7, 2005)

Scythemantis said:
			
		

> ...native banana slug...



I don't know if that's the species we have in Southern California, but I've seen the gross little turds on my porch. They LOVE cat food, and I've seen 'em up to 4" in length... and FAT! Shivers.


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## Schlyne (Jul 7, 2005)

Scythemantis said:
			
		

> I've tried to find out what North America's largest native land snail is, but to no avail. All I can find are pages mentioning various species as "AMONG the largest known"...


I found a sheet on the largest freshwater snail native to north America if that helps at all...
http://nis.gsmfc.org/nis_factsheet.php?toc_id=155


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## Scythemantis (Jul 8, 2005)

MizM said:
			
		

> I don't know if that's the species we have in Southern California, but I've seen the gross little turds on my porch. They LOVE cat food, and I've seen 'em up to 4" in length... and FAT! Shivers.


Aww, slugs are cute...

Banana slugs are usually yellow, but there's a lot of color variations and an infinite variety of black markings.


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## james (Jul 8, 2005)

*B. slug*

I was camping last week and heard some noise on the ground at night. I flashed my light over to see a racer snake eating a bannana slug. That slug was trying to grip everything, but in the end the snake won. Wish I had a beter camera because the pictures I took kind of sucked.
James


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## MizM (Jul 8, 2005)

Scythemantis said:
			
		

> Aww, slugs are cute...
> 
> Banana slugs are usually yellow, but there's a lot of color variations and an infinite variety of black markings.


Oh, I'm so sorry that I can't share your view of them. I don't know why, but they remind me of leeches.



			
				James said:
			
		

> I was camping last week and heard some noise on the ground at night. I flashed my light over to see a racer snake eating a bannana slug. That slug was trying to grip everything, but in the end the snake won. Wish I had a beter camera because the pictures I took kind of sucked.
> James


Now THAT would be interesting to see! I've never heard of a snake anything but vertebrates, but hey, they sure wouldn't have a problem catching them, huh? I have a 5' red racer, think I'll try her on a slug and see if she likes it. I've aways believed in a varied diet.


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## cacoseraph (Jul 8, 2005)

Scythemantis said:
			
		

> Ah well, I like snails but I guess I don't know a thing about them compared to insects. I thought the infestation in florida had originally started from a single snail that had never been housed with another.


i'm pretty sure i read that three were originally released and three years later something like 60,000 were destroyed


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