No, they don't sing or chirp, and they can't be taught to speak. But snails serve a very beneficial audible purpose.
Today I did a snail clean-up of a few basement tanks. Nothing too strenuous, just walk around with a small container and throw in any snails unfortunate enough to be near the top of my tanks. This netted me about 40 or 50 ramshorn and pond snails ranging from newly-hatched to full adults.
These are brought upstairs and unceremoniously scattered across the half-filled 30-gallon tank housing my Stinkpot Turtle. I am now sitting next to his tank and basking in the delightful intermittent crunching as he gleefully paddles around his home, inspecting every little nook and cranny on the stonework and wood, hunting down the monstrous mollusks that are so thoroughly despised by many MFK members.
Tommy the turtle is dog tame, eagerly approaching my hand in search of a treat whenever I reach in. He has duckweed to nibble, wood and stones and sand to explore, and a basic diet of turtle pellets with frequent additions of frozen whole smelt and earthworms. He is normally fed in a small bucket with a few inches of water, allowing him to chow down on his food and produce his post-meal defecation outside of his tank which keeps it much cleaner than in-tank feeding ever could. Only the duckweed and the snails are available to him in his tank.
Grazing on duckweed is something he does regularly, but it's a pretty relaxed affair. But snails...wow! The excitement, the single-minded purpose he exhibits as he examines every possible crack and crevice...and that lovely musical crunching, which will continue for several days until he nails the last one, and well afterwards! I fully believe that environmental stimulation and enrichment is a huge benefit to anything with a brain...and this provides that in spades!
I'm not sure who enjoys it more...him or me.
Gotta love snails!
Today I did a snail clean-up of a few basement tanks. Nothing too strenuous, just walk around with a small container and throw in any snails unfortunate enough to be near the top of my tanks. This netted me about 40 or 50 ramshorn and pond snails ranging from newly-hatched to full adults.
These are brought upstairs and unceremoniously scattered across the half-filled 30-gallon tank housing my Stinkpot Turtle. I am now sitting next to his tank and basking in the delightful intermittent crunching as he gleefully paddles around his home, inspecting every little nook and cranny on the stonework and wood, hunting down the monstrous mollusks that are so thoroughly despised by many MFK members.
Tommy the turtle is dog tame, eagerly approaching my hand in search of a treat whenever I reach in. He has duckweed to nibble, wood and stones and sand to explore, and a basic diet of turtle pellets with frequent additions of frozen whole smelt and earthworms. He is normally fed in a small bucket with a few inches of water, allowing him to chow down on his food and produce his post-meal defecation outside of his tank which keeps it much cleaner than in-tank feeding ever could. Only the duckweed and the snails are available to him in his tank.
Grazing on duckweed is something he does regularly, but it's a pretty relaxed affair. But snails...wow! The excitement, the single-minded purpose he exhibits as he examines every possible crack and crevice...and that lovely musical crunching, which will continue for several days until he nails the last one, and well afterwards! I fully believe that environmental stimulation and enrichment is a huge benefit to anything with a brain...and this provides that in spades!
I'm not sure who enjoys it more...him or me.
Gotta love snails!
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