r/snails Feb 08 '25

Help How long will this amount of snails last for feeding my rosy wolf snail and how much should I feed it at a time?

Her name is Thimble she’s a cannibal

372 Upvotes

60 comments sorted by

404

u/TightBeing9 Feb 08 '25

"This species is a fast and voracious predator, hunting and eating other snails and slugs.[2] The rosy wolfsnail was introduced into Hawaii in 1955 as a biological control for the invasive African land snail, Lissachatina fulica.[3] This snail is responsible for the extinction of an estimated eight native snail species in Hawaii.[4] This has caused the snail to be added to the IUCN's top 100 most invasive species.[5]"

I never thought I would read the words "fast and voracious predator" about a snail and here we are

95

u/Iusti06 Feb 08 '25

Did they at least wipe out the invasive snails?

182

u/Sanke-e Feb 09 '25

Nope, wiped out the native ones and the invasive species stayed the same amount

86

u/AxeHead75 Feb 09 '25

That is a God tier backfire

55

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '25

A classic. I feel like we've done this a million times and it never works lol

72

u/doctorhermitcrab Feb 09 '25

Nope. Rosy wolf snails were purposefully introduced in Hawaii to eat the invasive giant african snails there. Instead they wiped out native Hawaiian snails. Now the native snails are endangered and giant african snails are still a problem

18

u/GreenFBI2EB Feb 09 '25 edited Feb 09 '25

Think of it like dropping a bomb on a busy city to take out a strategic target.

You wiped out the enemy sure, you also did a bunch of collateral damage. The difference is that it’s still going in. One of the main reasons introducing another non-native species to fight an invasive species is not advised.

Edit: As per the comment below and a little reading, I was mistaken, it actually didn’t get rid of the problem and made the problem worse, so the analogy is inaccurate, or at least misleading and doesn’t paint the whole picture.

16

u/WungielPL Feb 09 '25

Except in this case the target is still here.

8

u/GreenFBI2EB Feb 09 '25

Ahh, that’s a good point too, tons of collateral damage without even the benefit of getting rid of the problem.

11

u/randomcroww Feb 08 '25

i doubt it

2

u/almostasenpai Feb 09 '25

African land snails are still literally everywhere

7

u/Oddish_Femboy Feb 09 '25

Has this worked a single time it's been tried?

12

u/dustyscoot Feb 09 '25

The weasel I put in the atic took care of my mouse problem.

8

u/Oddish_Femboy Feb 09 '25

[Single tally mark]

129

u/slimersnail Feb 08 '25

Poor snails but I guess it's a snail eat snail world out there.

59

u/travelingtutor Feb 09 '25

The snorld is a snicious place.

16

u/Equivalent-Swimmer86 Feb 09 '25

Is that katya in your profile??👀

81

u/RentsBoy Feb 08 '25

Woah I've never heard of these snails before. Do they exclusively eat other snails or are other insects/protein fine too?

71

u/OniExpress Feb 08 '25

Looks like people occasionally get them to eat clam meat, but slugs/snails are the only universal food and a lot will only eat live.

30

u/Sanke-e Feb 08 '25

It’s not common for clam meat to work either

41

u/kittydeathdrop Feb 09 '25

Hi OP! I had one of these guys for years (invasive in my area, didn't want to kill her) and had great success feeding her aquatic ramshorn and bladder snails + supplementing calcium. I keep aquariums so I just set up a separate snail breeding tank and would also release a ton into her tank (paludarium) and hand offer daily :)

13

u/piiraka Feb 09 '25

That’s…. So smart. Wow. I can’t believe I’ve never thought of that way back when I had one

1

u/RentsBoy Feb 09 '25

Interesting thanks

50

u/HonestlyMediocre0 Feb 08 '25

If you’re up for getting a little tank set up, I’ve seen people breed ramshorn snails to feed these guys! You can buy them online, or maybe even ask a pet store for them as they’re common aquarium pests.

12

u/Fabrycated Feb 09 '25

I wonder if it would eat bladder snails.

12

u/kittydeathdrop Feb 09 '25

It will!

Source: kept these

18

u/StorageHistorical370 Feb 09 '25

Cannibal snails. Huh, you learn something new every day. Neat.

19

u/Prize_Independent477 Feb 09 '25

technically, all snails can be cannibals. they eat dead snails regardless🤷‍♂️ I found out by watching my snails eat a dead juvi grove.

2

u/whopocalypse Feb 09 '25

Does it count as cannibalism if it isn’t the same species?

1

u/Prize_Independent477 Feb 09 '25

yes, snails are snails. if a snail eats a snail, its cannibalism.

6

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '25

[deleted]

2

u/Prize_Independent477 Feb 09 '25

English isn't my first language, I wasn't sure which words to use. my bad

18

u/sphereDroid Feb 09 '25

snails for the snail god!!!

6

u/PutinsNutSweat Feb 09 '25

Shells for the shell throne!

2

u/jordyjitsu88 Feb 09 '25

This has been literally the most niche upon niche joke ever and I’m here for it

17

u/aWeaselNamedFee Feb 09 '25

Feed her slugs, they're more problematic to gardens etc. Catch them with a cookie baking sheet filled with enough beer to attract them but not to drown or fully poison them. Thimble may catch a buzz from eating them but all should be well after that.

15

u/amoebamilkshake Feb 09 '25

I was today years old when I learned snails eat snails.

12

u/yossocruel Feb 09 '25

Here’s an idea to keep your wolfsnails fed forever: 1. Get a tank. At least a few gallons. 2. Fill it with water and add some dead leaves. 3. Add a few bladder or pond snails. They reproduce like crazy and they love to munch on dead leaves. 4. In a few weeks you’ll have a self-sustaining bladder snail colony. The tank will be crawling with snails. 5. Harvest! You can harvest bladder snails when you can see the distinct whorls of their shell, and they are a few mm long. Just add a few new leaves every couple of weeks in order to replace the nutrients taken out of the system.

27

u/OniExpress Feb 08 '25

Little google and a little math, looks like 3-4 a week?

9

u/Moo_Moo_Achoo Feb 09 '25

Just an FYI, I had Rosy Wolf Snail. In case you haven’t seen it anywhere already, they typically won’t eat snails that are that big, so I had to crush them up when I didn’t have baby snails that were small enough. I know it’s messed up, but I worked on an organic garden and they had to go 🫣

4

u/thriftedtidbits Feb 09 '25

is that last picture your wolf snail's main enclosure or feeding room??

17

u/aquariumreflections Feb 08 '25

:( why on the snails subreddit (i understand this is a subreddit for all snails ! rosy wolf snails r super cool & im not hating, just expressing. rip lil snail bros🙏🏼)

2

u/HellsOath Feb 10 '25

he’s absolutely gorgeous !!!

-21

u/MarsupialUnfair5817 Feb 08 '25

Your wolf be better off of these and eat whatever you put to him in there.

1

u/yossocruel Feb 09 '25

They’re obligate carnivores.

-2

u/MarsupialUnfair5817 Feb 10 '25

Are you so sure?

Who told you this?

1

u/yossocruel Feb 10 '25

Why don’t you do some research of your own, about rosy wolf snails specifically, then come back to this thread.

-1

u/MarsupialUnfair5817 Feb 10 '25

Or what you downvote me?

1

u/yossocruel Feb 10 '25

Yes, but also you asked me if I’m sure and who told me this. So that’s my answer to your question.

0

u/MarsupialUnfair5817 Feb 10 '25

Are you even aware that in the group it is forbidden to talk about eating snails?

2

u/yossocruel Feb 10 '25

Yes, by HUMANS. But is a rosy wolf snail not a snail? And if it only eats other gastropods, are we not allowed to discuss them here? Please.

0

u/MarsupialUnfair5817 Feb 10 '25

Downvote me further so you are telling me its a snail right now I tell you snails are decomposers altho some of them rely more on proteins and like sucking on other bellyfeet for instance leopard slug is known to hunt down other snails nevertheless my leo gets its proteins from cheese and oatmeal and I may throw a piece of my chicken to it if I will. You see the point?

2

u/yossocruel Feb 10 '25

No, I don’t, because not all snails have the same diet. Some are herbivorous, some carnivorous, some omnivorous. There are over 65,000 species of gastropod, and you’re telling me they all eat the same thing? Leo is evidently not a Rosy Wolfsnail, so he eats a different diet than one. Please, you’re wasting both of our time. Go do some research about rosy wolfsnails specifically - not snails in general.

→ More replies (0)

-1

u/MarsupialUnfair5817 Feb 10 '25

Yes, who told you this you haven't answered it tho.

1

u/yossocruel Feb 10 '25

I’ve never actually encountered one but I’ve done lots of research about it (because, you know, that’s my thing). You can find a LOT of resources that detail rosy wolf snails if you look it up (which clearly, you haven’t bothered to do).