Paralysis by analysis gets the best of us when we have a thousand pieces of advice to apply to simple inquiries, like how often we should feed our pets. With mystery snails, most often, the pieces of advice are all correct. The way to navigate the problem is by settling on what’s best suited for the relationship you have with your snails and their living conditions. The big mystery—pun intended—is finding out exactly which feeding routine suits you and your pet.
Mystery snails can eat every day, but how often they should be fed depends on how they live. They should have a nutritious and satisfying food source that they can either graze on or consume. This will ensure that your pet is gaining the nutrient requirement to stay healthy and live long, without overextending their biological resources.
This discussion will shed more light on the feeding methods and help you settle on the pattern that suits you and your mystery snail the most.
How Often To Feed Your Mystery Snails? The 4 Major Feeding Plans With Pros And Cons
Now, the main objective of feeding your mystery snail is to keep it healthy. These species of snails are heavy eaters, and whether or not you feed your pet every day, they will likely find something to nibble on, ranging from algae to leftovers, and even decaying matter.
Daily Feeding Pattern
This is the least recommended pattern of feeding mystery snails and, ironically, is most beneficial. It comes with a lot of work, but it ensures that your pet is healthy at all times. If you have a close relationship with your mystery snail and you’re seeking to be the parent of the year, this is easily the one for you. Snails under this feeding routine can easily be considered the elites.
As the name implies, it entails placing chunks or pieces of food for your mystery snail every day and removing the leftovers to prevent them from decaying and upsetting the water parameters, which in this case would be the ammonia and nitrate levels.
The negative side of having your snails fed daily is dealing with the tremendous amount of poop they will conjure. Mystery snails poop a lot, which in turn will require frequent water cycling to maintain a clean environment. It also means you have more work to deal with and more time donated to doing the work. At the end of the day, you’ll have the happiest and healthiest snail on the block!
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Ensures your mystery snail is the healthiest it can be. | It’s more time-consuming to perform. |
| Promotes a better immune system. | Demands more effort. |
| Delivers all-around nutrients for your mystery snails. | Daily feeding can get messy as it pollutes the tank easily. |
| Allows you to develop a better relationship with your snails. | It distracts your snails from eating the tank algae. |
| Allows you to monitor your snail’s well-being at all times. | Encourages breeding, which can be detrimental if you’d prefer to maintain the population you have. |
| Encourages breeding, which is beneficial if you desire more snails. | It is simply more expensive. |
‘Every Other Day’ Feeding Pattern
If you have less time on your hands and desire for your snail to be healthy without bagging an award for it, you can opt for this method. Also, this technique is best beneficial if your snail cohabitates with other pets like shrimp and fish, especially if you’re seeking to create a system where biomatter is consumed, reducing the amount of cleaning you need to do.
It entails skipping a day of feeding compared to feeding your pet daily, allowing you to manage the attention you give your mystery snail and its environment. However, this pattern mostly results in slower growth and inconsistent nutrition, which may be reflected in their activity level and immunity. It also encourages competition, causing the weaker snails to eat even less than they’re meant to.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Saves time and effort. | Causes the mystery snails to grow slower. |
| Reduces dirt buildup due to less pooping. | Can lead to inconsistent nutrition due to reduced resources and limited nutrient origins. |
| Encourages your mystery snails to eat algae and leftovers from tankmates. | Can lead to competition among snails. |
| Is less expensive and thus more manageable. | Tougher tank mates like fish may eat the food meant for the mystery snails. |
| Diminishes the chances of breeding. |
Bi-Weekly Feeding Pattern
While this pattern is not outrightly valuable, mystery snails are hardy enough to manage being fed bi-weekly. As long as you feed them the healthiest meals, you can benefit from feeding your mystery snails twice a week. Most times, this method is necessary to discourage breeding amongst them because mystery snails will not lay eggs where resources are scarce. Otherwise, it simply means less work for you to handle.
However, the downside of your pets eating twice a week is reflected in their overall health. Feeding twice a week will not deliver your snails the entirety of the nutrients they need since they would consume their satisfactory rations with the options provided. You’d find them sleeping or entering aestivation now and then to manage the resources they have. If your snails are hatchlings, they will end up with weak, fragile shells as they grow.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Helps you save resources. | Mystery snails may not be healthy. |
| Saves even more time and effort. | Terrible for hatchlings as it impacts shell growth negatively. |
| Prevents dirt buildup. | Snails become lethargic frequently. |
| Encourages minimal tank cleaning. | More aestivation is experienced. |
| Breeding will most likely be impossible in this state. |
The ‘No-Feeding’ Feeding Plan
As the name implies, mystery snails are not fed as they’re expected to rely on tank algae. The only benefit of relying on this method is that the caregiver has literally no labor to do aside from cleaning the tank when there’s a need to. It is extremely dangerous to place mystery snails on this feeding pattern, with one of the dangers due to how poorly they eat algae.
Eventually, the snails will enter aestivation to preserve their resources and die from starvation. I highly DO NOT recommend this method of cruelty to be performed on any living mystery snail, especially if you care about your pets.
What To Feed Your Mystery Snails Based On How Often They’re Fed
Now that you have figured out the best feeding pattern for you and your mystery snails, you also must figure out which diet works best for the routine you’ve chosen. This will ensure that your pet is healthy and happy under your care.
Mystery snails are omnivorous animals, so they require an animal-based and plant-based diet to survive. Whatever feeding pattern you choose must contain both food sources with the most nutritious food items at the top of the list. The less frequent you feed your snails, the more nutritious their food must be to deter them from malnutrition and untimely death.
Daily Feeding Pattern Diet
This plan gives your snails the luxury of options. With more choices, the nutrients your pets need are less likely to be compromised. The daily feeding allows your mystery snail to benefit from several sources, thereby improving their health. It’s safe to say you have no limit as long as you’re feeding your snail the right items. If you’re wondering what the right items are, I’ve listed them below:
Animal-Based Foods
Frozen bloodworms or tubifex worms, shrimp, fish (raw salmon or sardines), and parboiled chicken are all suitable for consumption to provide your mystery snails with the protein they need.
Plant-Based Foods
Spinach, kale, bell peppers, lettuce, carrots, cabbages, and steamed sweet potatoes are nutritious options. Also, you can feed your snails treats like low-acid fruits and flowers such as dandelions and hibiscus petals in between their meals. This will ensure that they have an all-round nutrition benefitting from vitamins and minerals that come with the veggies.
Pre-Made Foods
In this category, algae wafers, fish pellets, and snello are the most nutritious meals as they comprise all the nutrients your snail needs to thrive. Mystery snails can easily survive on these items, however, fresh veggies and animal-based foods yield more nourishment and are more suitable.
‘Every Other Day’ Feeding Pattern Diet
Here, the options are a tad more limited to the most nutritious meals alone, especially if your snails are growing from hatchlings to adults. Veggies like kale, spinach, carrots, and broccoli are your best bet for the bulk of nourishment your nails need to stay healthy. As for protein sources, focus on frozen bloodworms and shrimp to complement the vegetables.
In addition, pre-made food like snello is the best option compared to wafers and pellets since it allows you to combine vitamins and minerals from several sources, which is what your snail needs to be healthy. If your snail is cohabiting with other tank mates like fish, you can throw in extra fish pellets, and they will enjoy the bonus.
Bi-Weekly Feeding Pattern Diet
If you’re feeding your pets twice a week, I recommend snello as the best option. In addition to this, fresh vegetables can be thrown into the tank after your snails have eaten most of the snello cubes. This is to ensure that they don’t neglect the snello and eat the veggies instead, thereby reducing the variety of nutrients they would receive.
Here’s how to prepare a highly nutritious snello meal for your mystery snails:
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup of blanched vegetables (such as spinach, carrots, or zucchini)
- 1/4 cup of gelatin powder
- 1/4 cup of baby food (optional, for added nutrition)
- 1/4 cup of calcium supplement (crushed cuttlebone or calcium powder)
Procedure:
- Puree the blanched vegetables in a blender or food processor until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, mix the gelatin powder with water according to the package instructions.
- Combine the pureed vegetables, gelatin mixture, baby food, and calcium supplement in a saucepan.
- Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring continuously until the gelatin is fully dissolved.
- Remove from heat and let it cool slightly.
- Pour the mixture into ice cube trays or molds and refrigerate until set.
- Once set, you can cut the snello into small portions or leave it as individual cubes.
How Often Should I Feed My Mystery Snail In A Day?
Mystery snails do not overfeed, so there’s really no danger in giving them as much as they can eat. Nevertheless, since they can regulate how much they eat by themselves, you must feed them healthy options so that your pets are not at risk of malnutrition. Put the healthiest meals in the tank first, and when your mystery snails are done eating the portions, you can then provide extras like fruits and flowers for them to enjoy.
