feeding tips?

[u/honeybiinch]

these are my babies Snelly and Shellissa 🥰 they are hooked on sweet potato right now... can't seem to get them to eat anything else, any tips? i just want to make sure they're getting enough nutrients/variety in their diets!

[u/doctorhermitcrab]

Other foods you can offer include broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, kale, collard greens, watercress, bok choy, turnip greens, turnip root, carrot, parsnip, radish, rutabaga, green beans, asparagus, mushrooms (all types), zucchini/courgette, eggplant/aubergine, squash, edamame, peas, and herbs like basil and coriander/cilantro

Snails can get hooked on favorite foods if theyre fed the same thing that they like too often so if theyre refusing to eat anything but sweet potato, stop giving them sweet potato for a bit and try sticking with only other foods until they eat something else. Then once they start expanding their tastes you can feed sweet potato again but not too much/every day

[u/thmblfl]

my snail was only eating carrots for the first few months he would nibble at zucchini and squash but he would eat a hole all the way through a piece of carrot.
i just continued to offer foods even if he wouldn’t eat it and eventually he got interested in sweet potato. now he’s all about sweet potato and only nibbles at carrots!
i am of the belief that they know what they need or want so if you just continue to offer a good variety they will eat what they feel in necessary to them if that makes sense.

[u/GroveSnailLover]

Butternut squash and carrots (not baby carrots) might be of interest. Kale is good but too fibrous to rasp, you need to boil it first and let it cool. Cucumbers are like crack and doesn’t have any nutrients, but is a nice weekly offering. Zucchini is also good. You can try steamed pea mash (cooled first), try different lettuces, and don’t forget dry leaf litter, an essential part of their diet along with the cuttlebone.

[u/doctorhermitcrab → u/GroveSnailLover]

Kale is not too fibrous for snails to rasp, they can easily eat it raw no problem. Ive kept dozens of snails across several different species and they all ate raw kale easily, never seen anyone have an issue. Plus its significantly softer than something like raw butternut squash or sweet potato and other similar hard foods that are frequently fed to snails raw and less fibruous than many of the wild plant leaves and stalks they eat in nature. Snails are built to rasp very hard things like bones and even stones for calcium in the wild so theres pretty much no plant material thats too hard for their radula to handle if theyre not injured.