savs and snails?

[Bartman]

I should have asked this before i fed him some, but can savannah monitors eat the snails id find outside. Their are no pesticides on them 100 percent becasue i collected them from some agriculture park...and the signs said no pectiside use here so im guessing im fine right?

I was reading in ravi's book that they eat a lot of snails in the wild, not hte same ones obviously, but figured this was close. He took them right away, about 5, and looked like he liked them. He crushed them all so theirs no possible problems right?

Thanks for any replies, and sorry for spelling mistakes..im tired lol :p

[V.hb]

African varanids love snails! all of mine enjoy them. Feed them some dark greens prior to feeding them to your monitor though..
Where did you collect them? Not to many in my area anymore...

[Bartman]

From dufferin and finch area..their is a nice big land deticated to a park...i honestly spoted 100 in a minute! I even found some near my house, what part of toronto are you in?

[V.hb]

Hey Adam,

iam in the don mills area.. near sheppard, for the time being..

[Bartman]

hmm...i dunno... I usually find them near water, even sewage areas and if you spot one you'll spot hundreds :) Good luck on the search! If you have the time, go down to the dufferin and finch park i went to...you can rack up hundreds their or even a small breeding colony

[liquid_dragon]

hey adam i am at duffrin and bloor how old is you sav

[Bartman]

He is about 8 months id say...im not really sure...hes about 13 inches with his tail and really bulky already. How old would you say he is?

[V.hb]

Maybe i'll come check out the area after the next storm., they usually come out after rain.. My savs, and blackthroats will love them. Thanks Adam.

[Bartman]

yep, when i was their it was poooring...i had my umbrella and was searching around lol.

[reptiguy123]

"Feed them some dark greens prior to feeding them to your monitor though.. "

Why?


Hey Adam, do you know what type of snails they were? Good luck with Taz.:)

[Bartman]

Nope no idea, that’s what i was also trying to get out of this thread. I think he says to feed them greens to gut load them so their even more nutritious. I think he you take them from outside and give them to him right away they'll be extremely nutritious because there from the wild. Right?

[reptiguy123]

LOL! I thought he meant feed the savs greens before you feed snails to them!:D

[V.hb]

I dont know what native plants we have that would be of any benifit really, i could be totally off on that.. Thats why I recommended feeding them kale or something. It would also flush any crap out of their system before the monitor ate them.

[Bartman]

oh thats very true..didnt think about it that way...will do for next time :)

[reptiguy123]

Can you boil them? Maybe that would flush out the crap.
Kinda like scungilli or escargot. Mmmmmmmmm. Tasty.

[V.hb]

blech!! snails, yuck :P

I would imagine boiling them would take away too much of the nutrition. I suppose freezing would be an option to. I wasn't so much worried about them having bacteria, more concerned about what they may have eaten that a monitor lizard would react funny to. Like i said, i don't know our native plants, or any plants for that matter hahahaha.

I figured something healthy, that I already use to gutload my other insects may help them flush out their previous meal. Sorta leave them for 48 hours to defecate and eat fresher food.

[reptiguy123]

Well, I'm pretty sure snails wouldn't taste too good, but your cleaning method sounds good. Foolproof, at least.

[mbayless]

Hi,
V. exanthematicus, V. niloticus, and V.albigularis all eat snails - its their natural diet espoecially good in lean times across Africa. The species they eat mostly is Achatina fulica - but regretably, the african natives/people eat them too and compete, so numbers of these animals has dropped significantly....

Snails of any kind are good for Varanus, and if you want to feed them prior some good clean fresh vegetables/leaves do so....try to avoid garden snails (Helix aspersa) that have been sprayed with bug killer, pesticides of any kind as they pass onto the lizard after eating!

cheers,
markb

[reptiguy123]

Are there any snails that need to be deshelled?

[Chelydraman]

I am going to get an african land snail and get it to lay eggs and feed the babies to my sav's.

[likeal0stchild]

not a bad idea there how many do they lay at once???????

[Chelydraman]

A lot
The person who sold them to the pet store I work at had two and now they have 300 or so.

Blake

[reptiguy123]

After how long?

[Chelydraman]

Not exactly sure but they grow fairly quickly so I dont; imagine very long. Plus the snails are easy to maintain.

[Matt_K]

Originally posted by Chelydraman
I am going to get an african land snail and get it to lay eggs and feed the babies to my sav's.


You might wanna think twice about that.. There's been a couple raids of schools throughout North America recently and fines handed out.... You can't own them..


http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/plaveg/protect/listpespare.shtml

I'll have a look for the news article for you and everyone else that thinks it's a good idea..

[Matt_K]

OKay, the link to the story is dead, but here's a thread from last month about this topic..

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43161&highlight=Land+Snails

[Chelydraman]

Ok won;t be doing that then. Thanks for the heads up Matt I had no idea.

Blake

[Matt_K]

anytime :)

[the_frog_man]

hey bart man did you get those snails from earl bales park?

[Bartman]

hmm, i cant remember the name...but its around finch and dufferin. Its the only park like it around, big park with a pretty large body of water...

[bistrobob85]

My sav eats snails all the time, i've come to breed them, feed them cuttlefish bones and vegetables...

[mbayless]

Hi,
the snails you are feeding him are probably "Helix aspersa" = European brown snail; in Africa they feed upon "Achatina fulica". A high amount of minerals are within the shell/snail, and when the snails are larger, they often deshell them and swallow the tasty gastropod (what! without garlic??)...
cheers,
markb

[DocMan]

I own 3 Savannas....1 2 1/2ft....2 babies.

Can I find them in the US of A? Do you know? IF not any breeders from USA that you know of. I would love to offer my guys them!

[reptiguy123]

Lol! US of A:)
I'm sure there's someone that you can buy them from in the USA. If not, order them online. Perhaps you could do a google search?