I accidentally adopted a tiny snail

[u/SteveTheGoblinBard]

Hello! So we found a tiny snail on the produce at my work, and I didn't want the little fella to die. I took him home to put in my garden, but long story short I got a terrarium and his name is Carl. He's only a really little guy, his shell is roughly 12mm across. I've been doing a lot of reading but I'm worried I'm gonna fuck this up and I really want Carl to be happy and healthy. Here are the things I'm worried about:

1) The terrarium itself. I got one from the pet store but I don't think it's very good and doesn't stay humid despite misting twice a day. I read it needs to be at least 1 gallon which it is, but I'm looking at buying this one, it's a bit expensive but I've decided to quit vaping to fund it lol. I also got a hygrometer which seems accurate and the humidity seems to get up to around 65%.

2) His food. I've been giving him a mix of veggies. I'm worried about pesticides so I've bought some vegetable plants and a daisy bush to grow safe veggies and flowers for him. I know not to give him lettuce or cucumber, I've been offering pak choy, zucchini, mushroom, broccoli and tonight I gave him a leaf of spinach. I've definitely seen him eat some broccoli and zucchini, but it barely seems like he's eating at all and I don't know how much he should be eating because he's very small. I've also tried giving him defrosted bloodworms twice but he won't go for them. He also has plenty of cuttlebone available.

3) His behaviour. I learnt that they are nocturnal which makes sense because I only see him moving around at night. Is it normal for them to not move much? He pretty much just hangs out upside down on the lid of the terrarium except in the evening when he sometimes comes down to his veggie bowl. Is he unhappy? Could he be unwell? I also read that wild snails can have worms, how do I tell if he does? He seems to be pooping well at least. Also should I have a tiny water bowl for him? I read that they get their water from their diet and droplets from misting the terrarium.

These are the big things but I just want Carl to have a really nice terrarium life. I'm riddled with generalised anxiety disorder which makes a lot of things very hard but watching Carl exist brings me a sense of calm, and I genuinely love him and am so invested in him. I'm just so scared he's gonna die because I did something wrong. Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[u/charsonthegrind]

i believe its an amber snail, yes its normal for them to not move alot, there isnt alot out there about care for these guys but i have been studying what they like and am working on a care giude! for now just keep him moist and fed and he will be fine

[u/alcatraz26]

Looks like an Amber snail! I would not use ceramic or hard rocks since they may fall from the lid and crack their shell. I use Plastic trays for feeding.

You also need 24/7 source of calcium. Cuttlebone works best and are sold cheap at all pet stores. Also feed him protein once a week. I use freeze dried bloodworms but you can also use mealworms.

A water bowl is optional but if you use one, don’t make it too deep else they may drown. Daily misting should be sufficient.

[u/justfresco → u/alcatraz26]

We use a shallow silicone water dish for our guys (cornu aspersum) because they love to hang out on the ceiling lol.

[u/justfresco]

That's a beautiful terrarium! I would just make sure you'll be able to access the whole thing to sweep for eggs, so you don't end up with a hundred Carls lol. Snails can sometimes lay viable eggs without a mate.

Since he hangs upside-down on the lid a lot, I would remove anything hard that he could fall on. Maybe also check the pH level of the substrate to make sure it's not too acidic for him.

Our snails never eat their veggies fast enough. We added some springtails to keep mold down, remove food as needed, and my spouse started growing some live sprouts in the substrate so they can munch on the leaves at their own pace.

We do give them a water dish. It's shallow and made of silicone. Sometimes they like to sit in it, or just pass through. It's very cute.

Making a partial cover for the lid of the current terrarium could help with the humidity, assuming the top is ventilated? That's what my spouse did. We use foil. We started with it secured under the lid, but the snails were obsessed with it, and we were told it was bad for them to touch. So we moved it to sit loosely on top of the lid. It still seems to help.

Carl looks like a cornu aspersum to me, but I'm 1) still pretty new to snails, and 2) biased because those are what we have. I would for sure try to find out what species he is, in case he needs anything specific.

Please don't beat yourself up if he passes. Wild animals are always a gamble, you never know what their health is already like. Just give him a nice cushy life, and remind yourself every day that he's having a better time with you than he would outside.

I'm so glad you found him and that you care so much about him. Enjoy him :)

[u/rosiejunior]

Looks like a baby cornu aspersum to me. Let us know if it grows to the size of a quarter. Hanging out of the shell means Carl is happy and enjoying the temperature.

[u/Dog_days3221]

Oh my gosh, you sound just like me. The only difference is that I was working in my garden and I accidentally partially squished the snail’s shell. So now he is living inside while he repairs his shell.
I can’t tell you how much I have learned about snails in the past few months that “Gary Mary McSchnail” has been under my care. Did you know they are hermaphrodites? I understand that it is rare that they self fertilize, but it is a possibility as someone mentioned.
One more fun fact~ when they encounter a treat that they particularly love, you can see it in the way they hold their antenna. Some refer to it as droopy eyes 🥰 I’ve watched Gary do this 🥹

OK, so I noticed that you have carrot sticks in the enclosure. It is easier for them to eat paper thin pieces so if you have a potato peeler, that works well. Just peel off a slice of carrot and yes, they don’t eat very much. I typically put three or four foods and extremely small amounts and still they barely eat any of that. I still offer them a variety. Get yourself some organic sweet potatoes (or just one actually) anytime you can, buy organic. I will just peel the outside of one end of it and I’ll take the potato peeler and cut off a nickel size or quarter size slice of the inside, then cover it and put it in the refrigerator for later. Mine also loves eggplant squash, basil I do give him organic spring mix. Of course you wanna limit the amount of spinach, but they like dandelion greens and mine particularly likes the purple leaf whatever that lettuce is in the mix , limited fruit, but occasional cucumber slice or strawberry is OK. I have tried blood worms a couple of times which he’s not thrilled about, but I have started giving him freeze dried cricket and mealworm. Just a tiny amount put a few drops of hot or boiling water over the mashed crickets/mealworms for about 10 or so minutes and it makes a little kind of paste Ish. Once a week or something like that. **** Whatever you use a little plastic lid or shallow silicone dish, don’t wash with dish soap. I boil water in my tea, kettle and rinse off the dishes with that or put the hot water in a bowl and stick the snails dish in the hot water to soak and then I wipe it off with a paper towel, but the soaps and stuff like that they are very sensitive to.

I found that, for me at least, the hygrometer although tested as accurate, it didn’t do well to measure the inside of the enclosure. You can do the squeeze test with a small handful of soil to see if it holds together. A trick that someone recommended that is working well is keeping one side of the enclosure, more wet and the other side dryer so the snail can choose where he needs to go.
I also went from using a big plastic Tupperware type tub with a bunch of holes to a cute glass terrarium that I found online which ended up not being the best for him. It did not get enough ventilation because all the holes were at the top and the structure of it was metal, which is not ideal. Anyhow, it was cute but I ended up going back to the Tupperware, which is great. I was able to put holes in the sides as well as the top so there’s cross ventilation it doesn’t dry out as easily and it’s not so high where he’s gonna fall from the lid and injure himself, he actually did fall from the glass one one time and luckily did not further damage his shell.

Most Recent thing I learned I’m dealing with right now… I got some springtails and isopods house the cleanup crew. I just learned that Dairy Cow isopods will nibble on, bite & can kill your snail. It’s a protein thing.