Loved my apple snails when I could keep them. The water at the new house has too much hard metals to keep them here....
I was really into snails, and this is what I've learned.
1. Yes, they can be sexed visually, but it can be hard. You can find pictures online to show you the difference between male and female. One of the easiest ways to tell what sex you have is that females will almost always lay eggs even without a male present - they'll keep trying to escape the tank, and if they can't they'll lay eggs under the hood. Males like to "mount" things and will try to mate with just about anything, including decorations and equipment.
2. Yes, they do make pH testing kits. It's a good kit to have around, as are ones for ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite. (The higher the pH, the quicker ammonia becomes deadly, so it's good to know the pH of your tank.) You can also get kits for gH (general hardness) and kH (shows how hard or soft the water is). Snails need hard water in the realm of 8.0 pH or higher or they can have shell degredation. There are ways to raise the pH of your water naturally to help this from happening if the water is too soft or the pH too low.
3. Not really, no. They don't seem to care about anything except eating and pooing.
4. Yes, it's very safe. I've shipped live snails and fertilized eggs (all of which then hatched) and have also recieved snails in the mail. They just need to be packed in wet cotton balls or papertowels and stuck in a hard plastic container. They can live out of water in a damp environment for weeks. However, temperature is an issue, so in winter when shipping a heating pack is usually needed in cold climates. The same is true for the heat in the summer - temps over 80F can cook a snail, so an ice pack is used. In spring and fall temps are usually perfect for shipping without any packs needed, between 55F and 75F. However, in the states there are laws about transporting snails across state lines because plant-eating snails are now illegal. Permits are required so buy from a reputable source or do research before shipping yourself. I don't know what the laws are in other countries.
5. You could try and gently clean the shell off if you want, but it's kinda pointless - it'll just grow right back. If you have more than one snail, they'll clean each other off, but for the most part they're going to be a little algea-covered.
Daily feedings of vegetables and fruits should be given, and whatever isn't eaten in 12 to 24 hours should be removed and replaced to keep the tank fresh. Veggies and fruits tend to rot quickly and make the water funky. If it's a pomacea bridgesii (common apple snail), food should be gently microwaved or be previously frozen for up to 5 seconds to make it mushy. They'll eat spinich, collard greens, apples, potatoes, green beans, corn - pretty much anything we'll eat for dinner - but make sure to take it before it's cooked! They also like raw cucumbers, zuccini (this spoils FAST in water) and corn in the cob. Microwaved dandelions are also a favorite, as long as the yard has absolutely no fertilizer, weed killer, or road spray on it. For protein I would always toss in some cat food since I had it around, but dog food or buscuits can be used as well. Commercial sinking pellets used for bottom dwellers work well too. They'll go after flake food, but since they need to hold onto their food to eat, it's hard for them to get to becuase once flake is waterlogged it just dissolves. You can find veggie clips at the fish store (used mainly for salt-water fish to hold seaweed) so you can clip the food to the side of the tank and watch them as they eat. I think it's facinating to watch them as they rasp the food.
Snails make a lot of waste and will ruin water parameters quickly, so cleaning often is a priority. They are also very succeptable to ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite poisoning, so please read up on cycling a tank and watch the levels of these things in the tank water.
Hope this helps!
