THIS IS A BREIF CARE SHEET - FOR THE BASIC CARE OF GALS! IT'S ONLY WHAT I'VE LEARNT SO FAR - AND FURTHER RESEARCH IS ALWAYS BEST!


Intro

Giant African land snails (or GALS ) are easy to care for, low maintenance and make great pets.
If kept in the right conditions they will thrive and can live up to 10 years or more. Despite their name, most grow to a reasonable size. The biggest being the Tiger snail (Achantina Achantina) that can reach lengths of 20cm.

Housing

A plastic or glass tank is the best kind of housing which is easy to clean and widely available. I use a simple cricket tub for young gals.
Gals should be kept at room temperature but in the colder months a small heat mat should be used if the temperature drops to low.

Gals require humidity of around 60 -70%. The best way to do this is to have a substrate that holds the humidity well. Sphagnum moss is cheap, look natural and can be reused once washed. I like to use commercially available brands which expand once water is added.
Spraying the tank daily with water will also help towards keeping the tanks humidity high. I spray on the evenings and when feeding.

A shallow water bowl should be used for adults. Be careful it’s not too deep as they will drown. Young Gals will drink the water of the side of the tank when it is lightly sprayed daily.

Care and Feeding

Gals will tolerate handling, as they grow they do seem to enjoy it more and should be picked up by their shell. Be careful with the lower edges of the shell as that’s where new shell grows and it can be broken easily.

A run under the warm tap every now and again is appreciated. They seem to enjoy it and it keeps their shells nice and clean.

Gals are brilliant feeders and a handful of them can demolish a lettuce leaf very quickly!
A variety of food can be fed to Gals. I have found lettuce and cucumber to be firm favorites. However they will take most fruit and Vegetable and Here is a list of food that can be used

* Lettuce
* Cucumber
* Carrot
* Sweet corn
* Apple
* Melon
* Tomato
* Banana

There’s much more fruit and Vegetables that can be given. Just experiment with them and you’ll find out what they prefer.
Nothing from the onion family should be given however.

Other foods can be used too. Mine love weeds such as dandelions and clovers. All they need is a quick wash and best of all their free! Gals also love beer and a tiny amount every now and again as a treat can be given.

Cuttlefish or natural chalk is a must. It’s a great source of calcium and helps their shells grow. Mine will often sit on top of it and chomp away for what seems like, hours!

Breeding

I have no experience with breeding yet so here’s what I’ve learnt so far;

Gals are hermaphrodites (ie they are both male and female). You do need two or more to breed but both will lay egg’s or give birth to live young. It depends which species you have.
Gals reach breeding age at around 7 – 8 months of age.

The most common Gal, Achantina Fulica will lay up to 200 eggs at a time each. If you don’t want babies then take the eggs and freeze them for 24 hours before throwing them away.

After around 2 weeks the young will hatch, they will have soft shells at first but they soon become hard. The best way to transport them is to let them climb onto a lettuce leaf then lift them out. The young will grow quickly and should be given the same food as the adults.

Thanks for reading – hope this helped.

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0.2 Dogs, Tammy and Ellie
0.1 Royal, Savannah
0.2 Chinchillas Betty and Bubbles
1.0 Corn, Guss

Again - this is just to get a general idea.

Heres how i keep some of my young

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0.2 Dogs, Tammy and Ellie
0.1 Royal, Savannah
0.2 Chinchillas Betty and Bubbles
1.0 Corn, Guss