Snail buddies are docile and easy to manage, and you get to watch them be in their world and crawl around their tank all day. Now, you have your mystery snail and you need to keep it healthy with the correct meals, but what do they eat?
Mystery snails are omnivorous creatures that rely on plant-based and animal-based foods to survive. In addition, they are detrivores; they have a distinct preference for decaying matter and may even prefer them to fresh foods. So, your mystery snails will also eat rotting food or the remains of their tank mates when they come across them.
Under the plant-based and animal-based foods mentioned, there are several items that your mystery snail will find absolutely delicious and nutritious to consume. This article will prepare you with all you require to feed your snails including what diet is best and how to feed them. Let’s get into it!
8 Easy And Nutritious Foods To Feed Your Mystery Snail
Although snails are omnivorous, they have a particularly different diet to keep them healthy. Due to their constant demand for nourishing meals and their relatively tiny diets, mystery snails are only healthy when they have a stable supply of nutritious food. Here’s what to feed mystery snails:
1. Blanched Veggies
Mystery snails enjoy vegetables and obtain their daily nutrients from them. Particularly blanched veggies because they are easier for them to consume. You can feed your snail carrots, cabbages, kale, and spinach- basically most of the items you eat at home. You can even feed them the scraps of your meals as long as they’re organic. Just don’t leave the bits in the tank for over 24 hours.
2. Algae Wafers
Algae wafers are compressed discs of algae and a blend of plant-based ingredients such as seaweed, moss, and vegetables. They come in different quality ranges and are highly recommended for mystery snails. The fewer preservatives the wafer contains, the healthier it is for your snail. Usually, the expiry date of the package tells us a lot about how much preservatives were used to elongate the shelf life. If your wafers can last over a year, you should consider a more organic option for your snail.
3. Fish Flakes/Pallets
Mystery snails also enjoy fish flakes as a regular source of protein. Most fish flakes/pallets contain a balanced diet required to feed omnivores like mystery snails. Some fish flakes may contain a mix of dried veggies, algae, and protein while others may be strictly protein containing larvae, shrimp, krill, fish, and other nutritious foods.
4. Worms
Your mystery snail will enjoy a few dried worms like bloodworms, black worms, and tubifex worms. They contain great levels of protein and calcium that your snail needs to be healthy and when fed to your snails, ensure a supply of happy and healthy years ahead.
5. Fish Or Meat
A common misconception about feeding mystery snails is that meat or fish is off the table. Absolutely wrong! You can feed your snails either salmon, sardines, or chicken in the right amount. That is, feeding them thin strips of the tasty treats twice a week without replacing any of their staple foods.
However, leaving them in the tank for too long can elevate ammonia levels and disrupt your snail’s health. Skewer any fish or meat pieces and place them at the bottom of the tank and as soon as they’re done eating it, remove it immediately. If it floats around, stab a fork through it and sink it to the bottom so that your snails can find it easily.
6. Snello
If you’re thinking of a food that’s homely and longer lasting for your pets, snello is the best choice for that. It’s a homemade meal that consists of baby food and gelatin as base ingredients with plant and protein sources for nutrition. As you guessed, snello is highly nutritious for your mystery snail, and if done correctly, you can use this as their staple food. It’s pretty easy to prepare and ration for your mystery snails, and highly affordable, too. We’ll delve into making delicious snail snello later in the article!
7. Cuttlefish Bones
Cuttlefish bone is a highly important source of calcium and is easily the best way to encourage good shell growth and overall nutrient absorption in your snails. Since they’re aquatic animals, they require a tough shell through and through to help them manage the extremities of living underwater. Comparable sources like ground eggshells or store-bought calcium powder may be too difficult for your mystery snails to consume or just may contain less calcium than they need.
8. Free Growing Algae
At some point, we’ve all fallen for the trick that mystery snails love and can rely on eating algae to survive. Well, mystery snails are algae eaters, just not the best compared to others. Still, your pet can benefit from the source of algae wafers growing naturally in their tank. Since they’re not excellent tank cleaners, you can leave a wall of algae for your snail to feed on while keeping the rest of the walls clean to manage the hygiene of the tank. Your snail will happily enjoy the variety of feeding options it has.
Rations And Portions: The Safest Ways To Feed Your Mystery Snails
Snails are delicate creatures and despite them being easy to handle and cater to, their feeding habits severely contribute to their lifespan. You must ensure that your snail employs the proper eating habits to prevent it from falling ill or refusing to eat at all. Here’s what to do:
Feeding Veggies To Mystery Snails
Vegetables provide the majority of your snail’s nutrients such as vitamins A and K including the all-important calcium, so it’s highly crucial that your snail eats their greens.
- Get clean vegetables of nutritious value preferably spinach, kale, carrots, or zucchini. Other veggies like cucumbers will produce fewer nutrients, so, they should be fed to your snails every other day.
- Cut them into sizable pieces and attach them to a feeding clip to keep the food from floating around due to the current or you can stab it with a fork to sink the food down. Using any of these methods will help your snails find their food easily without making an entire treasure hunt out of the case.
- Tough veggies like carrots and celery may be challenging for your snail to eat. If you find that it rather avoids eating these choices or takes longer time than it would with other veggies, you should blanch the greens to make it easier for your mystery snail to consume.
- Mystery snails have a slow metabolism, but not as slow as most “experts” paint it to be. You should feed your snails once a day with a few strips of vegetables. Usually, a fairly thin strip the size of your index finger is more than enough for two snails to manage. Once you’ve noticed that they’ve munched enough of it, you can either take out the leftovers quickly or within 24 hours.
Feeding Protein To Your Mystery Snails
Proteinous foods like sardines, shrimp, salmon, and chicken are easy to feed to mystery snails and snails love them! However, it’s necessary to keep it under control by doing as follows:
- Feed only every other day to prevent your mystery snails from suffering from falling sick.
- Use feeding clips to prevent the pieces from getting all over the tank. This would prevent ammonia from building up when it begins to decay.
- Take out the leftovers immediately after your snails are done eating, or after 4 – 5 hours to prevent ammonia from building up.
- A few thin strips of meat or fish is just enough for your snails as this wouldn’t and shouldn’t be their only source of protein.
Feeding Mystery Snails Algae Or Fish Wafers
Choosing high-quality food brands for your mystery snails is highly detrimental to their well-being. Brands like Hikari provide top-quality algae wafers and fish pallets that will sink to the bottom and make it easy for your snails to feed. Here are extra details:
- You can feed one to two algae wafers or fish pallets without wastage to one snail. So, according to the amount of snails you have, throw in an equivalent number of wafers or pallets.
- Remove the leftovers immediately after your mystery snails are done eating.
- Algae wafers can be fed daily.
Feeding Mystery Snails Worms
Mystery snails absolutely love wormy meals, and yours will too! Whether frozen or dry, you can pop some blood worms, black worms, or tubifex worms into their tank and wait for your little buddies to eat them.
- For frozen worms, you will have to defrost them before feeding so that your mystery snails don’t hurt their feet with the ice.
- Limit worm feeding to every other day, providing at most two worms for each snail to prevent malnutrition due to the high protein content. Usually, by disrupting your snail’s nutrient balance and appetite after overfeeding on it.
- Dry worms can easily be thrown into the tank. Since the worms will float, your snails will find them when they crawl to the surface and latch to the walls. If they don’t, use feeding clips to pin them in place or forks to sink the worms.
Feeding Mystery Snails Snello
If you’re unsure of what to feed your mystery snails, snello is easily the answer to all your questions. Let’s get into preparing snello:
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.
Servings:
Your mystery snail should eat one cube of snello a day. Always remember to take out the leftovers!
Feeding Mystery Snails Calcium
Feeding cuttlefish bone is quite straightforward; just throw it into the tank. No need for crushing, scraping, or any of that business. By popping the bone into the tank, your mystery snails will find it and nibble on it, gaining all the calcium they need. This is the best choice in comparison to other calcium alternatives like eggshells or worse, calcium powder. While these may be organic, the cuttlefish bone is the easiest and healthiest for your snail to consume.
This is because snails are highly sensitive to texture most times, and for some weird reason, cuttlefish bone is the only source of calcium that they eat comfortably. You’d have healthier snails by feeding them cuttlefish bones instead of eggshells under your care.
Can Mystery Snails Get Overweight?
Mystery snails cannot be overweight. They are not greedy and will not eat more than they need to. However, they can eat more of one nutrient source over the other leading to malnutrition, which is why it’s necessary to introduce a variety or take advantage of snellos. Removing uneaten food prevents the remnants from polluting their watery habitat which will then endanger your pet.
Are Mystery Snails Good Algae Eaters?
Mystery snails may eat algae, but they’re not good algae eaters. They prefer decaying or soft squishy foods and will eat those first before the algae. If you would prefer consistent algae eaters, the Nerite snails are your best bet! They can comfortably nibble on tough stuff due to their evolved anatomy more than mystery snails can. So, live algae would appear more delicious to Nerite snails than to mystery snails.
Can I Feed My Snails Decaying Food?
Snails are opportunistic feeders and while they would absolutely enjoy a delicious rotting meal, I do not advise you to feed your pet any. These are the kinds of things you let your pets do by themselves; there’s no need to meddle in such matters. This is because you may feed your pets dangerous bacteria-ridden foods mistakenly since the food has probably been touched several times.
