Snail And Its Egg : 6 Things To Know About Snails
All land snails belong to gastropod mollusks which means they belong to the octopus group, a part of the phylum Mollusca.
Snails are Gastropoda class with slugs. Snails are one of the slowest animals on earth with shells as protection against threat.
Snails have thousands of species worldwide among which are giant African snail, Milk snail, Garden snail, and White-lipped snails.
Snail’s lifespan depends on their species. Land snails do not exceed a year while others live up to 2-3 years. Except for some larger species among which is Roman snail called Helix Pomatia that lives up to 10 years before it dies.
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Snail eggs
Snail eggs are folded together in a translucent sack which gives them a safe abode against danger. Snail primarily lay their eggs inside the soil hence the need to have loamy or sandy-loamy soil which needs to be moist enough to enable them to lay eggs conveniently. Snails lay their eggs on the soil surface which has to be collected.
Snail eggs are colorless and measured at 3-6 mm in diameter. Snails produce close to 100 eggs while some species can have 400.
6 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT SNAILS
One unique feature of snails is their slow movement, they are the least fast animal on earth but that’s not the only amazing fact about them. A species of snails can grow up to one foot and a half in length.
Here are the 6 amazing things to know about snails.
• They are slug’s look-alike
• Snails live everywhere on earth
• Snails motivated medical glues
• Snails mucus provides skin healing
• Presence of lungs in aquatic snails
• A snail can kill a starfish.
1. They are Slug’s look-alike:
Shell is the only element that differentiates a snail from a slug. They possess an identical body structure and can be mistaken for each other if not for the shell in the snail.
2. Snails live everywhere on earth:
Snails have close to 150,000 species and they reside in all habitats across the world ranging from deep ocean trenches to deserts.
3. Snails motivated medical glues:
Boston children’s hospital and MIT researchers formulated an adhesive that imitates slug or snail slime’s thickness and stickiness which allows the marine snail to climb rocks This medical glue is formulated to repair heart defects and stick to jagged skins where formal seams might emit. This has been tested on pig hearts only since inception.
4. Snail mucus provides skin healing:
It has been medically proven that snail mucus helps in wound healing by activating the immune response which helps skin cells regenerate.
5. Presence of lungs in aquatic snails:
Some snail species that live underwater do not breathe with gills but lungs. Some have both gills and lungs.
An example is the Apple snail which has a siphon, a tube that is sloped up on the water surface to collect oxygen without endangering itself to predators.
6. A snail can kill a starfish:
A species of snail called giant triton (chronic tritones) grows up to feet and a half in length. Its favorite delicacy is starfish which paralyzes with its venomous saliva. This snail has a high sense of smell.
DO BABY SNAILS NEED THEIR MOTHERS?
Like human beings and every other animal, baby snails also need their mother’s protection for some months before finally weaning away.
Snails lay eggs like another mollusk family which finally hatches to produce young ones. Most of the incubation cycle takes place inside the eggs for few weeks and shortly after the eggs have hatched, the baby snail goes through various phases of development.
Snails lay eggs in the dirt for land snails and behind a rock for marine snails. The eggs will hatch and baby snails will be reproduced after 2-4 weeks.
Most snail stays close to their birthplace with their parents for like 3 months after hatching to facilitate maximum protection. Amazingly, snails hatched with their shells which continues to grow with them.
WHAT DO BABY SNAILS EAT AND DRINK?
Snails are vegetarian so they eat different kinds of foods ranging from vegetables, tubers, fruits, algae, and fungi. Leaves and vegetables are favorite foods of snails.
Baby snails feed on microscopic algae and bacteria in the water row but once they grow into adults, they eat plants and debris that adults eat. Baby snails feed twice more than their adult counterparts and they select soft leaves and shoots.
Snails generally drink non-chlorinated water.
HOW MANY EGGS DO SNAIL LAY?
Snails breed through sexual reproduction. Both individuals transfer sperm to each other during copulation but on rare occasions. So snails lay close to 100 eggs while some species can lay up to 400.
DO SNAILS DIE AFTER LAYING EGGS?
Snails reproduce during their second year of life and some lose a lot of weight after laying eggs.
Snails start to mate and lay eggs for months with at least 10 hours per day which leaves them vulnerable. Not all of them do recover from the stress so about one-third of them die afterward.
CAN I TOUCH SNAIL EGGS?
Snail eggs are coated in a slime-like cloth that carries a harmful parasite known as rat lungworm. These egg cartons contain a deadly neurotoxin.
Moreover, snail eggs are soft and delicate such that they can easily break so it’s best not to touch them.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR GARDEN SNAIL EGGS TO HATCH?
Garden snails lay between 30-120 eggs in a day, approximately a nest contains 80 eggs as researched by the University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Programs.
It takes up to 2 weeks for garden snail eggs to hatch in the summer. The shell of a newly hatched snail is soft and transparent.