Achatina Immaculate is considered one of the most popular snails, and there is nothing surprising in this - the Immaculate is very unpretentious and at the same time a beautiful creature, which, without a doubt, can become a decoration of any aquarium. Let us dwell on the features of this snail and the intricacies of caring for it.
Description
Translated from Latin, the name “Achatina Immaculata” translates as “impeccable” or “spotless”. Thus, a parallel is drawn with the peculiarities of breeding these snails. As known, they reproduce by self-fertilization, so you can make a reference from the name of the mollusk to the immaculate conception.
A distinctive feature of Achatina Immaculata is a small shell, which has a fairly smooth structure. The conical shape is conical, the narrowing is smooth, while the apex is pointed, usually of a sand or pale beige color. The total size of the shell varies from 10 to 15 cm, in adult mollusks it has about 7 curls, while the very first ones are light, but darken as they move away - the very last round is distinguished by a rich dark brown color with a pronounced reddish tint, smooth stripes without any either spots.
Columella is usually painted in pinkish, lilac or raspberry color. The body is beige with a slight red tint. On the surface of the neck there is an even light brown strip. The foot is quite soft with a pronounced network-like pattern, the horns are shortened.
In nature, Achatina immaculate lives in the east of the African continent, but it can be found in many other corners of the globe. Due to its unpretentiousness to living conditions, it feels great in home terrariums.
In total, there are 3 varieties of immunocullets:
- panther;
- Lamarciana;
- two-tone.
All of them can be adjacent to each other, as well as to reticules and fuliks, however, to plant several species in one container should be careful, constantly monitoring the relationships of individual individuals - Immaculants can bite their neighbors, and victims of the attack are stressed, which leads to stunted growth.
Conditions of detention
Achatina immaculate is extremely unpretentious and undemanding to the conditions of detention, nevertheless, there are still subtleties of caring for this creature.
These snails love space, so the aquarium for them needs to be selected based on the proportion of 10-15 liters per individual.
Despite the small size of Achatina, they are very active. As a suitable filler, it is best to take fallen foliage, coconut substrate or moss. It is important that the soil is of the highest quality, since the immune system loves to dig into it for daytime rest and lay eggs there. But unpeeled peat is not suitable - it will create an too acidic environment that has an adverse effect on the pet, and it is also not worth laying the bottom with clay and chopped tree bark. The soil is poured with a layer of 7-10 cm, constantly maintained in a wet state. Each month, the substrate should be washed and partially replaced with fresh.
Do not forget to maintain cleanliness in the terrarium and regularly clean old branches, get rid of rotten snags.
From time to time, the snails themselves need to be washed - it is best to use warm water for this.
In nature, Achatina live in a hot climate, so it is necessary to ensure the appropriate temperature, it is desirable that the air in the tank is warmed up to 25–27 degrees. At a lower temperature, achatins can become sick, and at a higher temperature, they fall into hibernation and stop growing.
The optimum humidity is 80%, in order to maintain this level, you should spray the terrarium from the spray bottle daily or put a small container in it with water.
Keep in mind that Achatina hardly tolerate abrupt changes in living conditions, the reaction may be a suspension of development or stress, such negative consequences can be quite long and last up to a month, and the weakest individuals can even die from exhaustion.
It is not necessary to place additional lamps in the tank, this is not necessary, since the level of illumination is not of fundamental importance in the content of snails. Moreover, it is in the dark that the immunomulcates are active, and during the day they dig into the substrate and sleep. However, if you have any plants in the terrarium, you still have to buy a lamp, otherwise green pets will not survive.
Some representatives of the snails are immunocultured from time to time, hibernating, usually the period of diapause lasts a couple of weeks. It is not worth disturbing them during the rest period - if you try to wake the snail, it will most likely wake up and fall asleep again, so all your attempts will lead to nothing. If your pet will sleep longer than 3 weeks, you should wake him up, offer food, and then leave him alone again.
Feeding
There are no difficulties with the content of Achatina immaculata even with feeding, since these representatives of their species are extremely undemanding to food. They will eat with great pleasure the fruits offered by the owner, fresh vegetables and juicy greens. In order for the mollusks to fully grow and develop, they need to regularly receive foods containing proteins, as well as rich in calcium - these micro and macro elements strengthen the structure of the shell and allow them to quickly gain weight. Usually, they add crushed egg shells, a piece of chalk and cottage cheese as food sources of necessary substances, and you can also buy ready-made vitamin-mineral complexes in any pet store.
It is strictly forbidden to include salt, semolina, as well as bakery and other flour products in the snail's diet.
Feeding young animals is no different from the diet offered to adult pets.
The very first food usually becomes pieces of the shell from which they hatched, in addition, from the first days of life, you can offer Achatina greens (lettuce or spinach).
It is very important that in the terrarium there is always a filled bowl with water. Please note - if the snail is small, then the saucer should also be small, in a deep bowl the mollusks that were born recently can drown.
Breeding
Achatina immaculate, like other snails, belong to hermaphrodites. These creatures reach puberty by the age of 6 months, although there are cases when young individuals made their first clutches at 4 months.
Usually, a snail lays about 100-200 eggs at a time, and they can have different sizes - from 4 to 7 mm, among them there is a rather large percentage of fat ones, of which new snails do not hatch.
To understand that the snail will soon make the clutch is very simple - usually 5-7 days before that, it begins to refuse food.
Quite often, after laying eggs, snails take care of a turn. If the mollusk has not gone too far, then you can give it time to recover and rest, at this moment you need to feed it strongly and variably and not interfere if the pet starts to sleep. If the snail creeps far beyond the turn, then she will need your help to return. In any case, at this time you need to feed your achatina with juices, fruit and vegetable purees, you can offer milk. It will also be useful to redeem your snail in a weak solution of blue clay.
The incubation period usually lasts from 4-5 days to 2 weeks, but depending on the level of humidity and air temperature it may deviate up or down.
Achatina Immaculate is a very beautiful, peaceful and very unpretentious snail. If you strictly adhere to all the tips on feeding the mollusk and create a favorable living environment, then your pet will delight you with its interesting appearance and excellent appetite for quite some time.
Tips for keeping Achatina Immaculate can be found in the video below.
