Snail ID

Lucky for me we don't own a video camera!

Oh, and one of the things I read on this snail said it eats "sessile snails" so that would be vermetids! It'll be worth it keeping him alive to find out when I get one of them as a hitchhiker!

 

How many handgrenades do you have? I wonder if I can buy some somewhere, Im really sick and tired of these vermetid snails. Is there any other snail that is widely spread in the hobby and easy to get that will eat them suckers?

 

Just the one. I just happened to spot him in the hermit crab tank at the LFS. I had only ever had a shell of one before that a hermit came in. I've never seen them for sale anywhere, and the guy had no idea it was in there, or even what it was...but at least he sold it to me LOL. Most snails that are available for hobbyist sale are algae eaters, except for the nassarius, and while I've had those kill "weak" shrimp and fish before (they eat them alive! :/) I've never seen them go after a vermetid.

 

OK, so yesterday he was doing the low tide thing in the refugium. Then last night & today he was doing the low tide thing in the return pump area LOL. I "high-tided" him with a cup of tank water, and he fell off...doh! So I netted him back into the refugium, saw him attach to the glass, then told myself when he started cruising I'd try to feed him. Well, he started cruising, so I put a little clam in the tank, which got his attention, but he was still cruising up instead of down. So...I held a small piece of clam next to him and he actually took it from me! Sure never thought I'd be hand-feeding a darn snail!
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Of course, he moved & lost that piece, so I presented him another & he proceeded to move over to it & start eating, but he wouldn't put his foot on it, so I was stuck there holding it with one hand and looking for his mouth with the magnifying glass. :-/ Enter the mag float!

This isn't the best pic, cuz it's a little grainy from cropping it, but you can see a little pink part, that's his tube-like mouth (kinda like a nassarius has), and he's happily munching away!
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So...now we all learned something today! ;D

 

I guess snails eat slow too LOL. He's still going at it, better pics of his mouth here.

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Just an update about this snail. After several times of hand feeding (he was even eating flake), when we went to New Orleans for 4 days I couldn't find him when I got home. A couple of days later I spotted him, but it was a hermit in his shell. So, no more handgrenade .

 

Aww that's too bad. Sorry for your loss.

please excuse wrong words, I posted this from my phone that auto "corrects."

 

That sucks, sorry to hear.