# Help With Apple Snail Eggs?.... (Pic Heavy)



## MrCollings (Aug 13, 2010)

Hey everyone, i'm looking for help with hatching apple snail bridgesii (aka mystery snails) eggs... I found eggs at the water line of my tank about a month ago (give or take), and i have been finding more and more clutches ever since, including a new one last night....

....However, I have yet to see Any babies anywhere, and it took about 2 weeks before the first clutch had any "opened" eggs, and even so, i still never see anything anywhere, and my tank is fairly bright, so i woulda thought i would have seen them by now.....

I have included pics of the clutches, can anyone tell me if they are still babies inside? Or if the eggs are going to even hatch? Or Anything i might need to know? Thanks in advance!!


Mixed Clutches


2 week old clutch


1 week old clutch


1 week old clutch


2 week old clutch


2 week old clutch on left, 1 week old on right


Very First clutch, over 1 month old...


Far left clutch is 1 day old, middle clutch is 3 weeks old, far right clutch is very first clutch, over 1 month old....


Left is 3 week old clutch, right is 1 month old clutch


Far left clutch is 1 day old, middle clutch is 3 weeks old, far right clutch is very first clutch, over 1 month old....


Left is 3 week old clutch, right is 1 month old clutch


Left is 3 week old clutch, right is 1 month old clutch


Very First clutch, over 1 month old...


Left is 3 week old clutch, right is 1 month old clutch


1 Day Old Clutch....


2 and a half week old clutch....


1 Week old clutch


Mixed...


Mixed...


Mixed...

Any help would be great, thanks!!


----------



## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

http://www.petfish.net/kb/entry/177/ hope this helps


----------



## bae (May 11, 2007)

You sure have some productive apple snails!

The one labelled 'very first clutch' is starting to hatch. In an open top tank, the humidity may be too low to get a good hatch, but if they all hatched, you'd have thousands of hungry snails, so it's just as well. 

Newly hatched apple snails are very small and almost transparent, so it may take them some time to become easily visible.

The clutches are surprisingly easy to snap off the glass with a little gentle pressure from the side. You can then suspend them over water in a covered container to keep the humidity up. I put a wad of java moss in about an inch of water in a 2 cup food container, and put the clutches on the moss, about half an inch above the water level. I covered it loosely with the lid to let some air circulate. As the snails hatched, they could crawl down into the moss and find something to eat. To remove them, I took out the clutches and rinsed the wad of moss into the raising containers. I did this every few days until no more hatched.

Btw, now that the hot weather is over, eggs will take longer to develop. You just have to be patient

Enjoy your snails. Be sure the young ones have plenty of calcium so they can form strong smooth shells.


----------



## MrCollings (Aug 13, 2010)

pat3612 said:


> http://www.petfish.net/kb/entry/177/ hope this helps


Thank you SOO much for the quick response!!

I checked out that site and it seemed to help a lot with the questions I needed answered!! 

Also, I did what it said about splitting the clutch in half to see if there was babies or goo due to infertile eggs.... But, i Only did it with the clutch that was Over a month old, and Unfortunately the only thing inside was goo 
So i guess that clutch was infertile, so i am Hoping the best for the other clutches!! 

I REALLY wanted some little baby snails!!


----------



## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

wow how many snails do you have and how big is that tank, my snails just crawl out and fall to the floor when they want to lay eggs on a hoodless tank..... I had my mystery snails for a long time now probably over 8 months and in that period I have only seen around 4 cluches. My most recent one has hatched I don't see many babies only a few maybe around 5-8 but they are like others say transparent to a ivory white colour.


----------



## MrCollings (Aug 13, 2010)

bae said:


> You sure have some productive apple snails!
> 
> The one labelled 'very first clutch' is starting to hatch. In an open top tank, the humidity may be too low to get a good hatch, but if they all hatched, you'd have thousands of hungry snails, so it's just as well.
> 
> ...


Wow, i don't know how but i managed to miss even seeing your post up till now x.x sorry about that lol.... It's too bad i didn't see this sooner though  but are you sure the first one was ready to hatch? I was pretty sure it was a bad clutch because there was just goo in it.... And thank you for the idea to help with the humidity, unfortunately though i don't even have any java moss, but i think i might give the eggs a spray with water once a day or so to keep their humidity up. Thanks for the reply!! 

p.s. To help with calcium i have a large piece of cuttlebone in the tank, and i occasional put in a piece of turtle vacation food, do you think that would be sufficient for the babies if i even do get any to hatch?



coldmantis said:


> wow how many snails do you have and how big is that tank, my snails just crawl out and fall to the floor when they want to lay eggs on a hoodless tank..... I had my mystery snails for a long time now probably over 8 months and in that period I have only seen around 4 cluches. My most recent one has hatched I don't see many babies only a few maybe around 5-8 but they are like others say transparent to a ivory white colour.


Haha, i just have two  One golden and one ivory 
They are both happily in a 10gal tank, and i've only had these two for about 4 months. I Have a hood on my tank, and my ivory one has managed to fall out onto the floor once for a day or two, but i check on them often so i noticed pretty quick she was missing lol.... They are both in a 10gal tank. And thanks for posting the pic!! Thats a cute little guy lol


----------



## bae (May 11, 2007)

MrCollings said:


> Wow, i don't know how but i managed to miss even seeing your post up till now x.x sorry about that lol.... It's too bad i didn't see this sooner though  but are you sure the first one was ready to hatch? I was pretty sure it was a bad clutch because there was just goo in it.... And thank you for the idea to help with the humidity, unfortunately though i don't even have any java moss, but i think i might give the eggs a spray with water once a day or so to keep their humidity up. Thanks for the reply!!


Well, I'm no expert, but in my limited experience it's when the clutch starts getting whitish and moldy looking that it's about to hatch. Then the surface seems to be starting to slough off, and that means they are hatching. That may be happening on the middle of the front and left side of the clutch in the picture.

Since both parents are light colored, the embryos and hatchlings will be even more difficult to see in the 'goo'. But don't worry, you'll have more snails than you know what to do with. I had a clutch this summer that took almost 2 months to hatch. Also, they don't all hatch at once, but over a period of days to weeks.

Spraying should help, but since you have so many, you might want to move some to a covered container. Just put the eggs on something that will keep them out of the water, but in high humidity. Some people float them on a piece of wood or styrofoam. A jar or plastic food container (cottage cheese carton?) will work.



> p.s. To help with calcium i have a large piece of cuttlebone in the tank, and i occasional put in a piece of turtle vacation food, do you think that would be sufficient for the babies if i even do get any to hatch?


That should be plenty. Your snails are certainly happy if they are breeding like this.


----------



## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/HatchingOutAppleSnailClutches.html here is another site I found.


----------



## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

When I used to have apple snails many years ago, I just used a piece of styrofoam and put all the clutches ontop. Keep the humidity up with saran wrap over your tank if you don't have a top. I never tried misting but it's worth a shot. Plus, you should be careful because without a secure cover you will have many runaways.

You'll hit and miss some of the clutches as not all get fertilized (jelly in eggs). You can poke the eggs carefully with a toothpick to help the babies out when you notice some are hatching. 

It's fun at first but eventually you will be over run by them lol. Have fun!


----------



## MrCollings (Aug 13, 2010)

Thanks for the reply's everyone!! I have taken all of them into account, and have appreciated every little bit of information you have all given me 

I have recently set up a portion of egg crate at the top of my tank, supported by suction cups holding it in place. The egg crate is about half in the water, half out, but not enough to "touch" the clutches. I put a few clutches ontop of the egg crate, and have been spraying them once daily with water, so we shall see what happens


----------



## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

MrCollings said:


> Thanks for the reply's everyone!! I have taken all of them into account, and have appreciated every little bit of information you have all given me
> 
> I have recently set up a portion of egg crate at the top of my tank, supported by suction cups holding it in place. The egg crate is about half in the water, half out, but not enough to "touch" the clutches. I put a few clutches ontop of the egg crate, and have been spraying them once daily with water, so we shall see what happens


Thats a good idea Pat


----------



## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

Oh wait, I remember what I used to do. For my brig clutches, I rolled them up in a paper towel in a sandwich bag. I kept the bag moist with another paper towel that was wet and rolled up in a dry towel. Then I would check on it until it changed colours. Once it changed and looked fertile I took it out and floated it on the styrofoam. That really worked well for me. I also fed them caltrate tablets for calcium. They seemed to love it...


----------



## bob123 (Dec 31, 2009)

A good thing to have in the tank with the baby snails is a cuddle bone you can pick one up at any pet store these are used for budgies or canaries. the snails need it for thier shell development just break off a few pieces and drop in the tank snails will get calcium from this.


----------



## MrCollings (Aug 13, 2010)

bob123 said:


> A good thing to have in the tank with the baby snails is a cuddle bone you can pick one up at any pet store these are used for budgies or canaries. the snails need it for thier shell development just break off a few pieces and drop in the tank snails will get calcium from this.


Hehe, i already said that i always keep a large piece of cuttlebone in the tank, i also occasionally add turtle vacation blocks  but thanks


----------



## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

Woah that is quite the snail factory! Here is some motivation for you:


----------



## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

nice video


----------



## MrCollings (Aug 13, 2010)

Will Hayward said:


> Woah that is quite the snail factory! Here is some motivation for you:


That's Awesome!! Love the video!! Thanks for posting it!! 

And yah, it is quite the amount of eggs  Actually, they have laid 3 more clutches since the pictures x.x


----------

