Snail nutrition facts

[Hardwarehank]

How nutritionally complete are common pond snails for say a chinese firebelly newt? I have a colony in my red cherry shrimp tank that are overstaying their welcome.

 

[SludgeMunkey]

"nutritionally complete" they are not. While they may be a good addition to a well rounded diet, newts cannot live on snails alone.

They average about 1.3g of ash, 16.1g of protien, 1.4g of fat, 10mg Calcium, and 272 mg Phosphorus per 100g of snails (shell removed).

 

[Azhael]

Beware of pond snails if they come from a wild source, specially if close to cattle, as they are vectors for parasites, and that could potentially be a problem.
Otherwise, they are a nice addition to a varied diet, but as Johnny said, not good as a staple.

 

[Hardwarehank]

Thanks for the replies. I thought they would be ok nutritionally but wanted to make sure. They'll mostly just be used for grazing in between meals.

 

[Critter Mom]

I have witnessed mine eating them in between regular meals, and they seem to like them. They have had no ill effects and the snails have just seemed to help put a little extra weight on a skinny CFN in the tank that was a picky eater. The newts are all a healthy weight now and seem to be a little more inquisitive about their environment. The one I witnessed eating the pond snail ate one that was very small (about 1-1.5 cm), shell and all, so I can only assume that made it a better Calcium/Phosphorus ratio since the shell was on.

I think they leave the ramshorn and mystery snails alone and don't seem to be bothered by them either. They have all been together for months now.