Does Anyone Here Own Gals?

[KathyM]

I was just wondering if any of you own Giant African Land Snails?

 

[moray]

My son has one with his giant millipedes, it doesn't half grow quickly, he loves it.

 

[KathyM]

Awwww, do you know what species it is? We have quite a few here - 6 fulicas, 2 margies, 2 albopictas, 3 smithiis, a panthera, a reticulata and an iredalei. We also have two rescue Tiger snails coming to us soon. Can't tell we're addicted can you? I also have 18 margie eggs waiting to hatch (7 of which are unlikely to sadly, hence me incubating the other 11).

 

[moray]

gosh really have to show my ignorance of Gals, didn't even think about them being lots of different species, the ones I've seen have always looked so alike

can you show me pics of different ones, I'm not usually so unknowing about these things, and I would love to know the differences.

Thanks Lucinda

 

[KathyM]

Hiya Lucinda

Sorry, it's me being a nerd

Right, chances are if yours is like most sold in petshops/ebay etc, that you have one of these:

That's Keith, one of our lissachatina fulica (most common species kept as pets, lay hundreds of eggs, etc etc).

Other commonly kept snails:

Archachatina marginata (AKA "margies" - that's Vernon and he's a Brixton rescue).



There are tonnes of other species. I have:

6 x fulica + 5 rescue fulica waiting to go off to their new homes.

2 x margies + 19 eggs waiting to hatch + 5 babies (booked).

2 x achatina albopicta

1 x achatina immaculata var. panthera

3 x achatina smithii

1 x achatina iredalei.


I also have two Brixton rescue achatina achatina coming (Tiger snails), which I'm really excited about. I have some pics of some of mine here (not all uploaded yet, but have loads on Photobucket too so if there's any pics of mine you want to see, let me know):

http/www.landsnails.co.nr/

 

[moray]

certainly looks like the lissachatina fulica and I should think that being the commonist is probably a definate. Looked on your site, very interesting, there wasn't much I didn't know in the general husbandry etc, but it's certainly interesting to know there are several different species.

show pics of your tiger snails when they come, I image googled them and some of them are stunning. Hope you get them soon.

 

[KathyM]

Thanks Moray

Yeah as soon as the tigers arrive I'll take some pics of them together. They're each coming from different rescuers and here are the pics I've been sent so far to keep me going:

Tiger snail number 1 - apparently the smallest out of that rescue batch, but goes like a rocket apprently *lol*:

<he's in the middle, margie at the top, larger tiger at the bottom>

Tiger snail number 2 - see the top left snail? He's the one below to the right that's banana yellow (and large):

<he's the one eating the apple>


I've taken loads of pics of ours today, here's a group shot of our *permanent* fulicas (we have 5 rescues here waiting to go off to new homes too).

L-R: Hal, Claypole, Delilah, Lois, Jethro and Keith.

 

[starrynightxxi]

i don't have any but they're so ugly that I love them Though I didn't realize how giant they actually were until i saw the one in the woman's hand. what are the requirements for keeping that sort of critter?


i love the expression on that little dog's face in the second pic. Ball?! ...Wait...That's no ball....

 

[KathyM]

Fulicas don't get too big. Our biggest is 9.5cm (shell) and the average adult size is 10cm I think.

I wrote a care sheet on my website (link in post somewhere above).

Here are some more pics:

We were rotating who went on the plate and here is our iredalei and Dudley the panthera...(the iredalei is about 3.5-4cm and Dudley is about 8cm)

Sherman and Vernon (margies) joined them for a scoff (although Vernon wasn't really in the mood).

The iredalei was more interested in Sherms...

Vernon still wouldn't come out, so I picked him up to coax him out (he's tired after laying we think)...

And out he popped....

To say hello!

 

[samxx]

i have 6

2 fulica , 2 tigers & 2 i do not how do spell it

My son has one with his giant millipedes, it doesn't half grow quickly, he loves it.

i have a giant millipede to
does the gals live with the giant millipedes

 

[moray]

i don't have any but they're so ugly that I love them Though I didn't realize how giant they actually were until i saw the one in the woman's hand. what are the requirements for keeping that sort of critter?


i love the expression on that little dog's face in the second pic. Ball?! ...Wait...That's no ball....

Starrynight - A person after my own heart - they're so ugly that I love them - I know exactly what you mean

Angel - yes he only has one gal in with numerous (different types) of giant millipede, they have much the same requirements and get on fine, mainly by totally ignoring each other. I must admit to having a major softspot for his giant millipedes especially the big one (Archispirostreptus Spirosteptida) - just one great big fat millipede

Kathym - you certainly have a lovely collection of snails there - the tigers are beautiful. (and I think the name Vernon is just great)

 

[MegTheFish]

OMG those things are awesome! I want one now (or two, or three....) Never seen them around here before!

 

[grahamsokel]

I Just Adore GALS and even had a Large tank setup ready to take some from an ad on here but like other members i heard nothing back.
I still have the tank ready in the hope of finding some one day

 

[geo7x]

wow they look so cool! whats size tank/container do they need/what size do you keep them in? (please excuse my ignorance if this was on the website Kathy) Also, what kind of place sells them? because i for one havent seen these in my lps lol. edit: i notice on the site it says it depends on species, could you give examples of size for the more common species? thanks

 

[emma12321]

I Just Adore GALS and even had a Large tank setup ready to take some from an ad on here but like other members i heard nothing back.
I still have the tank ready in the hope of finding some one day

if you don't have any luck locally have a look on ebay, there are always loads on there.

Emma

I think i'd rather stick with apple snails, the GALs look too similar to the millions of snails we have in the garden