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Feeding newt/salamander larvae baby snails

Ste Holmes

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Does anyone ever feed baby snails to newt/salamander larvae? I imagine their shells are very soft as they are only a few days old but could they be a good source of calcium/protein? I've got 1000s of the little buggers hatching all the time. Are there any risks? My neurergus crocatus larvae are about 5-6cm long and take much bigger prey but if its a bad idea I wouldn't dream of risking it. Just curious if anyone has got any input.

They are ramshorn snails. Very prolific ramshorn snails.

Cheers, Steve
 

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xxianxx

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I add snails to all of my tanks , except for xenopus as i dont trust them not to try and eat the adult snails and injure themselves. If i dont restock the tanks with adults the populations die out as the babys all get eaten and the adults eventually die of old age. The species i have are T.cristatus, T.marmaratus, T.pygmaeus, T.granulosus, P.waltl, I.a.alpestris, A.mexicanum, A.andersoni. All batter the snail colonies.
 

Ste Holmes

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Wow thanks Ian! Just wanted to make sure first. I've got crocatus larvae that are developing nicely. And I got some ambystoma tigrinum off Mark that are absolute pigs but I wouldnt put the snails with them cause they're too small at the moment. Thanks for the response.
 

xxianxx

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I just went and did a snail count in my shed, got zero in 15 tanks, only tank with snails is a ten gallon with 4 x2" ribbed in. Have to restock lol. The bigger phibs take out adult pond snails, so axolotl, andersons. I havent seen the adult ribbed do it but i expect they do. My colony of greater pond snails has disapeared, i imagine they died of old age as they are too big to get predated.
 

Ste Holmes

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Zero!!! Well that answers that then. I'm glad I can make use of the little sods. Thanks for the info mate.
 

xxianxx

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Probably best to avoid hard shelled species like malaysian trumpet snails and any species with a trap door, they are sharp and could cut an investigating newt or trap and drown them. Ask Mark about the £50 batch of adult ramshorns he seeded an A.andersoni tank with, only to get them all scoffed in 24hrs 😂😂😂😂
 
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