Giant African Land Snails (GALS)
Size comparison between the common garden snail, Helix aspersa (left), and the mighty Archachatina marginata.
Caring for GALS as pets
Many people, mostly in Europe, keep GALS as pets. Many people of all backgrounds and ages find them fascinating company. Achatina fulica is kept predominantly, but many other species are present in captivity as well. GALS aren't difficult pets to keep, and are cheap too, they are perfect for people on a limited income, or cannot handle larger animals. It can be very rewarding to see the snails eat, grow and breed. I will try to give an overview of caring for GALS in captivity, but this is by no means exhaustive. For more information on care, click here. I would recommend that for your first snails, you should keep Achatina fulica or Archachatina marginata - They are easiest to keep and there is a lesser chance of something going wrong.
Note: It is illegal to keep Achatina fulica as a pet in the U.S. and Canada.
For a quick video guide to caring for GALS, click here.
Obtaining GALS
It isn't common for pet shops to stock GALS, but some do, especially exotic pet/reptile shops. The best place to obtain snails is online, either from breeders on snail forums or from online shops (they're sold commonly on eBay). Make sure the seller is reliable. Snails will usually be sent to you in the post. Prices for GALS depend on size and species. A. fulica is usually quite cheap (about 50p for a baby, £2 for a juvenile, £5-7 for an adult). A. marginata and A. achatina will be more expensive (about £12-15 for an adult). More uncommon species can usually only be obtained through snail forums. For links to some snail forums, see the Links section.
Books
There is one book on caring for GALS. It is called 'Your First Giant African Land Snail' by Lucy Mann. It covers most aspects of GALS care and provides many good pictures of A. fulica. It is good for a first time snail owner, but does not go in-depth on aspects like illness and species. The book can be found on Amazon.
Housing
There is a wide variety of objects that can be used as snail homes. Here is a list of things I have found useful for snail housing:
Aquariums:
They must have a lid, which can be bought seperately. They come in many sizes, but they're heavy to lift.
Plastic tanks/Terrariums:
These are good as they are light to carry and have a lid, and there is a range of shapes and sizes. But some allow the inside of the tank to get too dry.
Plant propagators:
Brilliant as they are very humid and there is a range of sizes, usually 38cm or 57cm. Some are heated. The best ones have large, hard plastic lids, like in the picture above.
Storage tubs:
As long as they are not completely opaque. You can get large ones cheaply, and the snails do fine in them. You have to drill holes in the top first.
Always make sure your tank has adequate air holes.
It is important that the snails have enough room. For two Achatina fulica of 100mm shell height, a tank 45x30x30cm is acceptable. Larger tanks for more or larger snails.
On the bottom of the tank, there should ideally be around 5-10cm deep of compost, coir or peat. Sphagnum moss can also be used as a substrate, or can be added to the top of another substrate in a section of the tank to provide a 'bed' for the snails. Don't use garden soil or bark chippings. Beware of chemicals in substrates.
Snails must be kept warm enough, a temperature of 21-26°C is usually best (depending on species). You may need to use a heat mat to achieve this, especially in winter. You can get these from reptile centres or online shops like eBay. These should be attached to the side of the tank, with a sheet of polystyrene at least 5mm thick on the back to stop heat escaping. The heat mat should be big enough to cover one third to one half of the side of the tank.
Snails also need a lot of moisture. The substrate should be thoroughly wet, but there should be no excess water. The tank should also be sprayed with water once or twice a day with a spray bottle (these can be bought from garden centres). A water dish will also aid humidity, and the snails will like to drink from and bathe in this. Make sure it is shallow so the snails do not drown.
You may want to add something for the snails to hide in, such as a plant pot cut in half or cork bark. You should also have a plate or plates for the food to keep it off the substrate.
Change the substrate and clean the tank about once a month. Stale substrates can harbour pests like mites and nematodes which are bad for the snails. The tank and the food plates etc. should be cleaned and sterilized with boiling water.
Feeding
GALS are very easy to feed. They eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, greens and more. Achatina fulica, for example, is known to eat over 500 types of vegetation. Experiment with a variety of food to see what your snails like best. Most snails love lettuce, especially the Romaine variety (they prefer the greener leaves). Other favourites of GALS include cucumber, banana, aubergine, sweet potato, apple, carrot, mushroom, sweetcorn and dandelion leaves. The cucumber should be cut in half lengthways and layed down so the snails can eat the juicy middle. Snails usually like the inner parts of fruit and vegetables so cut or peel them. With sweetcorn, they don't seem to eat the outer layer of the corn kernel, so it's best to remove that. Snails also like oats and other seeds such as sunflower and hemp, which should be soaked first, and the hard seeds ground up. The oats can be mixed with other ingredients such as grated apple, mashed banana and the ground up seeds. Experiment with your own food mixes. Some more unusual foods can be given to snails as well, such as tortoise food, dog biscuits and raw meat. Foods with salt in and pasta should never be given to them. Snails should be fed every day, or at least every other day. You must experiment to find out how much your snails will eat daily.
Snails need calcium for their shell growth, it's very important. Without it the snail's shell will be thin and may grow in a strange way. Even if the snail is fully grown it should still have a calcium source. This is most convieniently provided in the form of a cuttlefish bone (above), these are cheap and available from most pet shops (they're given to birds as well). Other calcium sources include egg shells (remove the inside skin), calcium powder, powdered oyster shell, natural chalk and wood-ash. Some of these are not easy to obtain. Powdered oyster shell is the best source of calcium.
All food/calcium must be washed before being given to the snails, especially if it is non-organic.
Snails will get their food, food plates and calcium dirty by dragging their substrate over it. Cuttlefish can be cleaned with a toothbrush and water. Food plates must be cleaned whenever new food is added to them. Wash any dirty but otherwise okay food with water.
[picture: Ryan Williams]
Health
There are a few things that can go wrong with GALS:
Poisoning - Many things the snails come into contact with can be poisonous to them. Make sure the soil has no chemicals in, and that the spray can has never contained chemicals. Flea sprays etc. must be kept away from snails.
Housing - If the tank is too dry the snails will burrow and stay in their shells so make sure the soil is moist and spray them every day. If the snail is dormant, lay it in 1cm of warm water and it will slowly come out. Make sure the tank is not too wet either. There should be no excess water on the surface. Achatina fulica especially cannot cope in these conditions. Make sure the tank is not too hot or cold either.
Accidents - Be careful not to drop a snail, never hold them over high surfaces or place them on a table where they could crawl off and drop. Don't carry too many snails in your hand or you may drop one. Be careful of the new shell growth at the edge, this is very delicate and easy to break, although this is repairable. Holes or cracks higher up the shell are more dangerous, but it's sometimes possible for them to be repaired. If the shell is completely smashed, there is no chance of survival.
[picture: Vanessa Towers]
A snail can sometimes lose the top of the apex of the shell but still survive (see image above).
Retracting body - This is one of the more common problems and is usually fatal. It usually afflicts young Achatina, especially A. immaculata and A. fulica. The snail stops eating, gets thinner and retracts into the shell, slowly dieing. Sometimes the snail picks up and starts eating again, but this is rare. It's best not to mess around with a snail like this too much, maybe just putting it near the food every time you feed them. Make sure they are kept warm, this can help.
Torn mantle - This is where the mantle seperates from the rest of the body. This is sometimes fatal but often not. Usually this happens with old, weak snails as they don't have the strength to keep the mantle attached to the shell. Place a snail like this on its own, in a tank with not much height, if the snail starts eating again, it has a good chance of surviving. Many snails with this condition recover.
Calcium deficiency - This is where the snail cannot build it's shell because of a lack of calcium intake. This can happen whether the snail has access to calcium or not. Sometimes the snail's shell stops growing, or sometimes it grows strangely. To combat this, give the snail a wider variety of calcium sources, and mix calcium with the snail's other food.
For a more comprehensive guide to snail health problems, click here.
Washing the snails
You can wash the snails to get rid of any dirt and make them look nicer. Wash the shell with a soft, old toothbrush to get soil off. If you hold them in the sink, dont drop them in or it may crack the shell. Never use soap. Be careful of the new growth at the edge of the shell. Don't use water that's too hot.
Breeding
[picture: Lorna Mae Wyatt]
Most GALS species are fairly easy to breed. The snails lay two batches of eggs (one for each parent). Eggs are usually laid within a month of mating. For Achatina snails, there are usually 100-200 eggs in each batch. These eggs are relatively small - Achatina fulica eggs are about 6mm in length. Archachatina snails lay 6-15 eggs in each batch. These are large - Archachatina marginata eggs are about 20mm in length.
If you want to breed your snails, make sure the soil is at least 5cm deep for the eggs to go in. Achatina fulica reaches sexual maturity at about 80mm in shell height, and if you have two or more snails this big, and they are well looked-after, it will not be long before you are presented with some eggs. Eggs must be kept warm and moist. A temperature of 25-29°C will have good results. You can leave the eggs where they are, move the snails that are in the tank elsewhere to stop them disturbing them, or move the eggs out - put them in a plastic tub (with air holes) containing soil, moss or Vermiculite. Put the tub somewhere warm, e.g. an airing cupboard. Make sure to spray the eggs regularly. When the eggs hatch, the babies must be left in the soil to eat their eggshell. They stay under the soil for about a week and then come to the surface. Having adult snails in the tank with them is not a good idea, the babies should be in a tank of their own.
Gestation time is very variable. Achatina eggs can hatch in a few days, or take up to three weeks. Archachatina eggs take a long time to hatch, usually 30-40 days, depending on temperature. Archachatina eggs are much more difficult to hatch than Achatina eggs; they should be disturbed as little as possible and made sure to be very warm and moist.
If you don't want babies, the best thing to do is remove the eggs and put them in a freezer for several hours (or crush them). If you want to breed Achatina fulica, only hatch as many babies as you want to keep yourself as they're so common it's difficult to find homes for any unwanted babies.
Posting snails
To package a large snail (30mm+) place it in a plastic tub the snail can fit comfortably into. Fill the tub with moss (some people use damp kitchen roll) so the snail will not move around while in there. Then wrap the tub in bubble wrap or pad it with crumpled newspaper and place it into a box, which is sealed tight with tape. The tub must not be able to move around inside the box. For smaller snails (20mm or less), you can put them in the tubs for photograph films. Place the snail inside the tub with moss packed around it, then put the tub in a padded envelope. Don't post snails when if it's winter and too cold. Snails can be sent across the world and still be okay, although they probably shouldn't be in the post longer than 8-10 days. The snails must have access to air, so the inner and outer packaging must have airholes. When you recieve the snail, put it straight on some food.
Handling
Snails are easy and fun to handle, there are a few things to remember. Never hold them over high surfaces, never hold them by the delicate edge of the shell which could break, and never yank them off the side of the tank (spray around the snail's body with water, then gently slide them off). Never leave your snails anywhere and forget. Handling snails is good for them because it helps them become more used to humans and helps you interact with them.
Lifespan
Depending on species, GALS usually live between three and seven years, sometimes up to ten. Keep this in mind that they are a long-term pet.
Descriptions of GALS species
In this section I shall describe the Achatina and Archachatina species that are most commonly kept in captivity.
Genus Achatina:
This genus is prevalent throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. The shells of Achatina snails are usually quite elongate, the apex is pointed, and they usually lay about 100 3-6mm eggs in each batch, which can be white or yellow in colour.
Achatina fulica (Bowdich, 1822):
The shell height usually ranges from 100mm to 140mm. Shell colour can vary from yellow-brown to dark brown. In captive snails the body whorl is usually a uniform dark brown and the other whorls striped or flamed with white or yellow, the stripes becoming closer together toward the apex. The sutures are usually quite deep. The shell shape can vary, but is usually quite slender. The columella is white/white-blue. The shell is quite thick and robust. The flesh is usually a medium brown, but can be darker. Juvenile shells are usually brown with wavy yellow stripes. A. fulica are native to east Africa.
juvenile
This snail is the most common snail enjoyed as a pet. If you come across GALS, this is what you will most likely come across. Keeping this snail is relatively easy, although they can't cope with too much moisture. They are hugely prolific breeders, laying many batches of eggs a year. They lay 50-250 eggs in each batch, which are around 6mm in length and are yellow or white. They live 4-6 years.
There is a plain yellow-shelled variant kept in captivity, Achatina fulica rodatzi (Dunker, 1852):
There are also albino-bodied A. fulica in captivity. These are often called 'White Jade Snails':
Achatina fulica has been introduced to tropical regions all over the world, either deliberately or accidentally, and can subsequently become an agricultural menace, eating huge amounts of vegetation and crops. This happened in Polynesia where they were brought as a food source for troops in World War II and then escaped. The carnivorous snail species Euglandina rosea was introduced in an attempt to control the population. Unfortunately, they instead predated on the native Partula snails. Now many Partula species are extinct or very endangered, and many zoos have begun breeding programs for them. Other places they have been introduced to include Hong Kong, Hawaii, South East Asia, Australia, India, Brazil, Pacific Islands, and all over Africa.
Achatina achatina (Linnaeus, 1758):
juvenile
This is the largest land snail species on Earth. The average shell height is about 150mm, though it can be much larger. The largest specimen was found in Sierra Leone in 1976 and had a 275mm shell, a 375mm body, and weighed nearly one kilogram! The shell colour ranges from yellow-orange to dark orange and has wavy dark brown/black stripes. Because of the shell pattern, it is often called the Giant Tiger Snail. The columella and parietal wall are pink. The flesh colour is usually dark grey, but can be a lighter grey-brown (see images above). They originate in West Africa (Liberia through Nigeria). For more information on this species, click here.
The newly hatched babies (above) have tiny grooves on the shell.
They are much rarer as a pet than A. fulica, and are very sought-after. They aren't difficult to care for in captivity.
Achatina immaculata (Lamarck, 1821):
This species has a shell height of 90-140mm. It is one of the most polymorphic species in the Achatina genus. The shell colour/pattern varies immensely: dark brown with yellow/light brown radial stripes (top left photo above), uniform dark brown (bottom left), bluish-brown (bottom right), split-in-half yellow and brown (top right), medium brown, light brown, light brown with stripes. The body colour also varies, but with the A. immaculata in captivity it is usually light yellow-orange or light brown/beige. The shell shape varies from obese to slender. There are many subspecies and variants. The snails with slender or light brown-striped/bluish shells are sometimes called Achatina panthera. This is an obselete name; they are the same species as A. immaculata. For a more comprehensive guide to this species, see this page. Achatina immaculata have a pink columella, in contrast to the white columella of Achatina fulica. They are generally not as easy to keep as A. fulica, and babies can be difficult to rear. I would not recommend them for a first-time snail owner. The eggs are slightly larger than that of other Achatina snails and are slightly more difficult to hatch. Achatina immaculata and its variants all live in south-east Africa.
[picture on top right: Kevin Davies; picture on bottom right: Yuri Yashin]
Achatina iredalei (Preston, 1910):
This species is quite small compared to other species in the Achatina genus. Adult shell height is usually about 70mm. Characteristic are a yellow slender shell and a yellow body, which may or may not have a brown head. This species is unusual because it is ovoviviparous; it does not lay eggs, but gives birth to live young (the eggs hatch inside the parent). The young are slightly bigger than other Achatina babies that come from eggs (around 10mm length). I would not recommend this species for a first-time snail owner. From east Africa (Zanzibar).
Achatina reticulata (Pfeiffer, 1845):
This species has a shell height of around 120-130mm. The shell shape is quite slender and pointed. The shell colour is white with wavy dark brown stripes and dots. Some shells have more brown colouring than others.
The distinguishing feature of the species is the radial and spiral grooves on the shell (see image above). The body colour is cream with a brown head. There are albino-bodied A. reticulata in captivity. They are native to east Africa (Zanzibar).
Genus Archachatina:
This genus is from western and southern Africa. Archachatina snails all have a rounded apex and lay large eggs (usually over 15mm) in small numbers (6-15 in each batch).
Archachatina marginata (Swainson, 1821):
[picture: Sarah Fowler]
This is the second most common GALS kept as a pet, and also one of the largest species in the world (and the largest of its genus). Adult shell height is usually 140-170mm. Shell pattern and colour varies, but is usually dark brown with varying amounts of lighter brown and yellow stripes. Flesh colour varies from light brown to almost black. There are many white and pale-fleshed specimens in captivity too. The flesh feels quite coarse to the touch. They make very good pets, but do prefer damper conditions to Achatina fulica. The species is native to central western Africa (around Cameroon).
There are three subspecies commonly found in captivity:
Archachatina marginata marginata (Swainson, 1821):
Has a white columella.
Archachatina marginata ovum (Pfeiffer, 1858):
Has an apricot coloured columella.
Archachatina marginata suturalis (Philippi, 1849):
[picture on left: Kevin Davies]
Smaller than A. marginata marginata and A. marginata ovum, having a shell height of about 120mm. The columella is red, and the apex is usually reddish. Native to São Tomé and Principe.
There are many other variants of A. marginata. For more information, click here.
Archachatina degneri (Bequaert & Clench, 1936):
juvenile
Adult shell height is around 120mm. When the snail is fully grown the lip becomes everted. The body whorl is large in proportion to the rest of the shell. The columella, parietal wall and inside of the lip are a deep red/violet. The shell colour is almost uniform medium-brown, with some lighter brown/yellow/greenish stripes. The flesh is softer than that of A. marginata, and a light brown colour with a darker head. There is a very defined dark stripe along the 'neck' down to the head. They are from Ghana. They make excellent pets, but are uncommon in captivity.