How to Breed a Pet Snail

Breeding captive, pet snails is a lot easier than it sounds. In actuality, it is a natural process that requires minimum intervention on the part of the owner. After providing your snails with the basic requirements of food, a pleasing habitat and a mate, the snails take over and answer the call of the wild!

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Spray bottle
• Habitat
• Food and calcium sources
• Soil
• Extra snail

1. Place loose, deep soil on the bottom of the snails' habitat. The soil must be at least two inches deep, not too heavy or dry and between 20-40 percent organic material. Keep the soil between 65 and 80 Farenheit with a soil moisture of 80 percent.
   
   
2. Recreate the temperature, humidity and day length of late spring and early summer. Replicating the conditions of these seasons convinces the snails that the present time is optimum for breeding.
3. Put the two snails in the habitat. Wait for signs of mating rituals and copulation.
4. Identify egg-laying behavior. Snails may lay eggs as soon as a few weeks or as late as an entire year after mating. They may also take breaks between laying batches of eggs and prefer to lay eggs in more than one place.
5. Watch the snail eggs hatch 10-30 days after laying.
6. Provide your young snails with a calcium source like cuttlefish bone, eggshells or calcium supplements. Young snails need lots of calcium to build their bodies and shells. Remember to include vegetable and fruit sources in their habitat.
7. Keep the young snails in a damp environment. Use a spray bottle full of tepid water to keep their habitat moist.
   
   
8. Handle and move your snails when they have reached approximately 1 cm in length.
   
   

Tips & Warnings

• Different species may find different environments and conditions favorable to mating. Double-check these factors when preparing to breed your snails by researching the species.
• Some behavior of the young snails may seem odd or seem to indicate signs of illness, but are actually necessary for their growth. Do not disturb young snails if they are buried for weeks and eat at their own shells, as this is a natural process.
• Make sure to provide plenty of moisture for your snail eggs. Dryness can be lethal to them.