TeeJays first mystery snail clutch has hatched!

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

In my experience the newborn baby snails were seeking biofilm first.

[TeeJay]

On 8/7/2022 at 11:23 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

In my experience the newborn baby snails were seeking biofilm first.

Well that's easy enough to do I'll sprinkle a little of that in there as well

[TeeJay]

Put in a fresh dry top paper towel in the incubator today. Trying to stay in top of it to give myself the best chance of viability. And when I did a water change today I left the water a touch lower than I normally do to keep it tucked under the lip of the tank. That way it stays in the corner I want.im keeping in my 29 gal so I can see it better 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Look at that lily go!

[TeeJay]

On 8/7/2022 at 3:41 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Look at that lily go!

Oh shoot it's. Only about a 1/3 of what it used to be. I'm pretty sure it went into its dormant stage about a month ago so it has slowly died back. Hope once the weather starts to cool down a bit it will come back like it used to be. At one  me time you couldn't see any of the sponge filter or pre filter on my hob behind it.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/7/2022 at 3:53 PM, TeeJay said:

Oh shoot it's. Only about a 1/3 of what it used to be. I'm pretty sure it went into its dormant stage about a month ago so it has slowly died back. Hope once the weather starts to cool down a bit it will come back like it used to be. At one  me time you couldn't see any of the sponge filter or pre filter on my hob behind it.

At 4:12 Irene says the dwarf lily is a very heavy feeder and she puts a ring of root tabs under it once a month.

 

[TeeJay]

On 8/7/2022 at 3:59 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

At 4:12 Irene says the dwarf lily is a very heavy feeder and she puts a ring of root tabs under it once a month.

 

Hmm that could be it. I usually only put one or two with it once a month or so. Guess I better up my root tab game 

[TeeJay]

Just checked on the clutch and put a fresh dry paper towel on top and wiped of the condensation on the inside of the lid. Best I can tell they still look good. The same color they have been since I found them so I'll take that as a good sign. Just put a tiny smidge of bacter ae in the 2.5 gallon to help for when there ready to go. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/8/2022 at 7:12 PM, TeeJay said:

Just checked on the clutch and put a fresh dry paper towel on top and wiped of the condensation on the inside of the lid. Best I can tell they still look good. The same color they have been since I found them so I'll take that as a good sign. Just put a tiny smidge of bacter ae in the 2.5 gallon to help for when there ready to go. 

Clutches start out off white, then they change to gold. They usually feel firm to the touch. As they develop, colors in the clutch will start to change. So you may then have some gold eggs and some white eggs, and some of the white eggs might break open with nothing inside (don’t worry, that’s normal, as some eggs could be infertile). No big deal. Then the clutch is going to start to look moldy. @Guppysnail recently posted in her journal what that looks like. It’s ready to hatch when it looks like that, and it should be gently crumbled into the area where you will raise them.

[TeeJay]

On 8/8/2022 at 8:26 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Clutches start out off white, then they change to gold. They usually feel firm to the touch. As they develop, colors in the clutch will start to change. So you may then have some gold eggs and some white eggs, and some of the white eggs might break open with nothing inside (don’t worry, that’s normal, as some eggs could be infertile). No big deal. Then the clutch is going to start to look moldy. @Guppysnail recently posted in her journal what that looks like. It’s ready to hatch when it looks like that, and it should be gently crumbled into the area where you will raise them.

Mine looks more like a pinkish color. I mean it looks healthy best I can tell. But it is pretty hard

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/8/2022 at 8:28 PM, TeeJay said:

Mine looks more like a pinkish color. I mean it looks healthy best I can tell. But it is pretty hard

That’s normal for a new clutch. Off white or whitish pink. Or just white. My snail laid this one yesterday. 

Edited August 9, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[TeeJay]

On 8/8/2022 at 8:30 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

That’s normal for a new clutch. Off white or whitish pink. Or just white. My snail laid this one yesterday. 

I think it's been just now 3 days so depending on how fast it takes them could be a week to a few weeks?

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/8/2022 at 8:32 PM, TeeJay said:

I think it's been just now 3 days so depending on how fast it takes them could be a week to a few weeks?

Yep, that’s right.

[TeeJay]

On 8/8/2022 at 8:35 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Yep, that’s right.

Well I'm impatient so tell them to hurry up 🤣

[Damo.Lo]

@Guppysnail If I can jump in, Is it necessary to intervene in order for the snails to hatch or does this just increase the survival rate? 

[Guppysnail]

On 8/9/2022 at 5:13 AM, Damo.Lo said:

@Guppysnail If I can jump in, Is it necessary to intervene in order for the snails to hatch or does this just increase the survival rate? 

 

On 8/9/2022 at 5:13 AM, Damo.Lo said:

@Guppysnail If I can jump in, Is it necessary to intervene in order for the snails to hatch or does this just increase the survival rate? 

If you mean for them just to hatch where the mom lays them not if you keep the water line low enough they are not wet but yet it’s still humid. My teenage niece missed removing a clutch and it hatched all on its own but there were not as many as when I incubate. But there may have been as many that hatched but did not find enough food 🤷‍♀️ I have never gone the just let hatch route. I tried this last time and another mom snail crawled over it and smooshed part of it 🤣 so I incubated it. 
If you mean intervene by crumbling when it is ready then yes and no. If it gets to dry and hard some of the smaller weaker ones may not escape. I have theories on that though. There are often 1-4/5 that stay small and sometimes pass within a month or so of hatching and a few of those only make it a few months more. So I think maybe the ones that can’t hatch were weak from birth. 
This recent one is the first I crumbled and assisted after a few started hatching in the evening because I was not set up to just take the incubator lid off and let them crawl out and fall  into the tank they were floating in. I did not want them on a to dry surface in the incubator all night. It did not seem that I got more than when I let them hatch in the incubator.  You never know though how many would have hatched. 
I hope I explained enough as I was not certain which intervene you were speaking of. It’s something so fun if possible anyone that has mating mystery snails should hatch at least one. I like helping folks be successful at it. 🤗

On 8/8/2022 at 8:38 PM, TeeJay said:

Well I'm impatient so tell them to hurry up 🤣

This last clutch was floating in a tank that was only 74 degrees with no lid so I’m sure the incubator was cooler …..almost 2 weeks maybe 3 I don’t remember. You conquered the patients to do such a marvelous job seasoning the shrimp sanctuary (I could have never waited that long). So you got this. It is worse than watching paint dry. Molasses running uphil in December 🤣

Edited August 9, 2022 by Guppysnail

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/9/2022 at 5:13 AM, Damo.Lo said:

@Guppysnail If I can jump in, Is it necessary to intervene in order for the snails to hatch or does this just increase the survival rate? 

I lost 22 snails on the clutch I DID NOT crumble. They weren’t able to get out of the shells, the eggs had hardened too much because the humidity was not ideal.

Once a snail hatches, that means the shells are at the proper hatching consistency and I suggest crumbling at that stage for greatest success.

Edited August 9, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Katherine]

On 8/9/2022 at 4:13 AM, Damo.Lo said:

@Guppysnail If I can jump in, Is it necessary to intervene in order for the snails to hatch or does this just increase the survival rate? 

I also tried letting a clutch hatch in place on the glass and it ended up falling into the water after less than a week. I know some people don't incubate but I think it does up the chance of failure significantly if you don't.

[TeeJay]

Put some fresh dry paper towels in the clutch incubator today. They still look the same so I think we are on the right track. I believe we are on about day 6 today so not expecting to see much difference yet. But we will keep checking in daily to see how we are doing. As well my Java moss will be delivered today. Woohoo. Ready for some new moss. Going to run it thru r/o for 12 hours to make sure no planaria came as an added bonus.

[Damo.Lo]

I hope the original starter of this thread doesn’t mind the hijacking 😂 @Guppysnail I meant intervene as in incubate, I think I have a male and female as the one spends a large amount of time getting “piggy back” rides… 

I am now super interested in breeding snails I never thought I would say those words. What do you mean crumbled? As in physically crumbled the exterior of the snail? 
 And thank you very much for your time to explain all this 

[Guppysnail]

On 8/10/2022 at 10:35 PM, Damo.Lo said:

I hope the original starter of this thread doesn’t mind the hijacking 😂 @Guppysnail I meant intervene as in incubate, I think I have a male and female as the one spends a large amount of time getting “piggy back” rides… 

I am now super interested in breeding snails I never thought I would say those words. What do you mean crumbled? As in physically crumbled the exterior of the snail? 
 And thank you very much for your time to explain all this 

No. If a clutch of eggs becomes to dry from not enough humidity in the incubator the baby snails cannot escape without assistance so lightly crumbling the casing is needed. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

@Damo.Lo Crumbling:

 

 

Edited August 11, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[TeeJay]

Just got home from work and checked on the snail clutch. Put a fresh new dry towel on top and put it back in the tank. I'll include a couple of pics. Maybe @Guppysnail or @Chick-In-Of-TheSea can tell if it looks healthy and will be viable. I believe we are on day 7 or 8 at this point.

[Guppysnail]

I can’t tell until a day or so before. I also do not continue replacing the dry towel. I use viva that are thicker more like cloth paper towels. I ring the bottom one out so it is not drippy but not the whole way out I put one fry one folded on top. I open the lid each day to give a full breath of fresh air since not much gets through the holes. That’s it. One of the ones hanging hidden in my tank I put in an incubator yesterday hatched this morning. I’m so glad I got it out of the tank before it hatched. 
my top towel stays relatively dry but is damp ish from the humidity. 

[TeeJay]

On 8/11/2022 at 7:02 PM, Guppysnail said:

I can’t tell until a day or so before. I also do not continue replacing the dry towel. I use viva that are thicker more like cloth paper towels. I ring the bottom one out so it is not drippy but not the whole way out I put one fry one folded on top. I open the lid each day to give a full breath of fresh air since not much gets through the holes. That’s it. One of the ones hanging hidden in my tank I put in an incubator yesterday hatched this morning. I’m so glad I got it out of the tank before it hatched. 
my top towel stays relatively dry but is damp ish from the humidity. 

Ok usually when I check it each day the top towel is not dripping wet but pretty wet none the less. I mean if I were to wring it out i might get a bit of water out of it. I was just afraid of the clutch getting too wet ahead of time and getting moldy for real.