Mystery Snail eggs not hatching?

[Jabberjaw]

I am having trouble with my mystery snail clutches. I was able to get 1 to hatch,  but I don't know what I'm doing wrong with the others. Nothing else is hatching. they don't stink, they were laid over a month ago and just sit there, doing nothing. This is what I do to hatch them:

I take a tupperware container, pole holes in the top. wet a paper towel (not soggy, just wet) and put in the bottom. take another and fold it, put clutches on it with a flap over the top. every day, wipe off the condensation.

and they don't hatch. they don't stink. they start getting holes in it, but nothing happens. the one i crumbled, it's all goo. 😞 what am i doing wrong?

[TheSwissAquarist]

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea @Guppysnail @TeeJay might know what you’re doing wrong. 

[Cinnebuns]

This is exactly the method I use to incubate my mystery snail eggs and have never had a problem. I do have some ideas tho. 

The one that did hatch was it laid AFTER the ones that haven't?  Often a female will lay a few infertile clutches before she lays a fertile one. Its possible the other ones you have are her infertile ones and the one that hatched is her first fertile. 

Is there any progress to the development at all?  Can you share pics?  

Is it also maybe possible that a female that hasn't mated laid some and a female that has laid the others?  Do you happen to know how many males and female you have?

[Jabberjaw]

On 12/15/2022 at 1:32 AM, Cinnebuns said:

The one that did hatch was it laid AFTER the ones that haven't?  Often a female will lay a few infertile clutches before she lays a fertile one. Its possible the other ones you have are her infertile ones and the one that hatched is her first fertile. 

no, it was before. that the one that hatched had over 400 babies :0 gold f/chestnut m. i think that female died. i had 1 gold die.

On 12/15/2022 at 1:32 AM, Cinnebuns said:

Is it also maybe possible that a female that hasn't mated laid some and a female that has laid the others?  Do you happen to know how many males and female you have?

purples i have 2m/1f magenta not sure about 1 but i know i have 1m/1f for sure. have not gotten any purple or magenta to hatch. gold/chestnut i have a bunch of each, not sure which ones laid the clutches on those.

each color has their own 20g with some guppies or platy's in it. except the gold/chestnut. they're in different tanks and most have either platys or Florida flag fish in them.

 

i'll get pics in the morning when i get home. thought i had pics on my phone but....

[Guppysnail]

Temperature plays an important role as well as humidity. This time of year it is colder so even floating in a tank the air space cools quickly. Colder means drier air so you may need a moister paper towel. Temperature for hatching 78-80 is optimal 75 is the lowest temp I’ve had them hatch at. I have had them take upwards of 21-24 days already. Temp and humidity alter hatch time. 
If you have seen them mating then you do have a boy but as mentioned sometimes girls lay infertile clutches. 
Clutches will also not develop if the snail laying them is not getting enough protein, calcium or vitamins. Feed a varied diet for them including vegetables. 
Hope that helps. 

[Jabberjaw]

Temperature helps a lot that might be part of my problem. I have to turn the temperature of a tank up and put them all there. I have seen them mating I have a lot of them that just go at it like bunnies LOL I have switched them around until I know I have mated pairs. I'm attaching pictures of the ones that are in the containers but I bet it's temperature I bet they're too cold I will take care of that now. Do you think it's too late for the ones that are currently in the containers?

[Guppysnail]

This one is a few days to a week away from hatch. Give the others a try. If not more will be laid. 

Let me correct myself. Expanding the photo some of those should hatch in a day or so on that one. I can see the babies inside. 

Post a picture tomorrow if they don’t hatch you may need to assist. If they get too dry they have a hard time getting out. 

[EVoyager31]

It seems like you have a better understanding of how this works than me... but if I ever want to hatch my clutches, after about a week I just push them off the glass and into the water and they hatch... hasn't failed yet xD

[Cinnebuns]

Oh I just thought of another factor. I cannot confirm this, but I have heard and experienced both that this time of year mystery snail egg fertility is lower. You will get more infertile clutches and sometimes clutches will come with only a few fertile eggs. I haven't seen any hard evidence of this other than that I have noticed it myself and others have stated it. 

@Guppysnail have you heard of this?

[Guppysnail]

On 12/15/2022 at 6:54 PM, Cinnebuns said:

Oh I just thought of another factor. I cannot confirm this, but I have heard and experienced both that this time of year mystery snail egg fertility is lower. You will get more infertile clutches and sometimes clutches will come with only a few fertile eggs. I haven't seen any hard evidence of this other than that I have noticed it myself and others have stated it. 

@Guppysnail have you heard of this?

I can’t say I have ever noticed this though my actually hatching clutches is so random I can’t say. I think that thought may come from less heat and humidity available in winter so lees eggs can hatch out of each clutch 🤷‍♀️

[Jabberjaw]

On 12/15/2022 at 11:18 AM, Guppysnail said:

This one is a few days to a week away from hatch. Give the others a try. If not more will be laid. 

Let me correct myself. Expanding the photo some of those should hatch in a day or so on that one. I can see the babies inside. 

Post a picture tomorrow if they don’t hatch you may need to assist. If they get too dry they have a hard time getting out. 

Only the circled one hatched. The others didn't and when I squished them, they were gooey inside, no babies. At least I have about 100 beautiful purple babies. So I've started floating the tubs in an aquarium that is warmer than the rest. We'll see how the next batch does. They're magentas so hopefully they hatch, I'm very low on them. Why are they holey like something came out of some of the cells but nothing did. Have I done something wrong or is this normal?

soooo, now that I have my beautiful purples, my last few batches had thin shells even though I fed them kale and other high calcium veggies. I have very hard water, almost brackish. I bought calcium powder but not sure if I actually need to add it to the water  but I have been making snello with it and feeding them the snello as well. BUT i had them in an aquarium that was warm and they grew very quickly. this time once these guys are big enough to be go in the grow out tank (they're in a breeder box ATM) the tank is a cool water tank so they grow slower. Is this a bad idea? what is an optimal grow out temp? I have this tank set at almost room temp (70f).

Thank you all for the help.

[Guppysnail]

I’m glad one hatched. Unfertilized eggs make the holes. They sort of disintegrate. Temp is responsible for metabolism in all cold blooded critters so also responsible for growth rate. 
Shells are thin when they do not have enough consumable calcium. Crayfish empire calcium chips, Zoomed nano blocks, in repashy etc. 

Either @Chick-In-Of-TheSea or @Katherine posted a thing about best shell growth temps. Mine I keep at 75-77. They are most active there for me and develop the best shell. 70 is on the cold side for them. 
 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I think that was @Katherine

i keep my tank at 78. I have snails in another tank at 75 and they are doing well.

[Katherine]

It wasn't necessarily super reliable info, but one of the youtuber's I was watching for help when I wanted to hatch some said that she found 75 was the best temp for strong shells while still growing at a reasonable rate.

In addition to what everyone else has said, how often are you changing the wet paper towel? They could be getting too dry in the Tupperware. I changed mine every other day. (Mind you, I've only done this once, so I'm certainly not an expert.)

[rockfisher]

On 12/15/2022 at 2:46 PM, EVoyager31 said:

It seems like you have a better understanding of how this works than me... but if I ever want to hatch my clutches, after about a week I just push them off the glass and into the water and they hatch... hasn't failed yet xD

That’s odd because it shouldn’t work unless they were starting to hatch before going under water. I’m glad that seem to work for you but I would recommend to others.

I tend to defer to @Guppysnail I get the best hatches at the 80 degree range but that all my snails have ever known. I also just let my clutches hatch on the covered tanks. Guppysnail has this down and I think a lot of people here trust her advice. 

Edited December 22, 2022 by rockfisher
Spelling

[Katherine]

On 12/22/2022 at 9:07 AM, rockfisher said:

I also just let my clutches hatch on the covered tanks.

I'm not sure why but this has not worked for me. They always fall into the tank or get too dry.

[rockfisher]

On 12/22/2022 at 12:04 PM, Katherine said:

I'm not sure why but this has not worked for me. They always fall into the tank or get too dry.

I really think it depends on how tight the lids are. Some can be close so humidity is to high if mine are closed all the way. It can basically rain in the tank. I have openings and I raise the door on the lid some to keep humidity about 70%. I have a tank outside and during the summer it produces all summer, in south Fl.  I could see how a tank in a northern are where heat is on in winter would easily dry out. There could be a lot of reasons thought. I using the Tupperware is one of the easiest ways to control things that can go wrong. I’m at a point that I have more snailsof the (blue)than I can sell and give away so I let things take there course. It may not ever work for you. If you can hatch them at all be glad. I hope you can hatch some anyway possible. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 12/22/2022 at 12:04 PM, Katherine said:

or get too dry.

This happened to me also.  Therefore I will also go the incubator route in the future.

[Jabberjaw]

On 12/22/2022 at 5:59 AM, Guppysnail said:

I’m glad one hatched. Unfertilized eggs make the holes. They sort of disintegrate. Temp is responsible for metabolism in all cold blooded critters so also responsible for growth rate. 
Shells are thin when they do not have enough consumable calcium. Crayfish empire calcium chips, Zoomed nano blocks, in repashy etc. 

Either @Chick-In-Of-TheSea or @Katherine posted a thing about best shell growth temps. Mine I keep at 75-77. They are most active there for me and develop the best shell. 70 is on the cold side for them. 
 

I had to increase my temp it's 74-75 i think, will look tomorrow when I get home. I have cuttlebones, feed high calcium foods, and add calcium powder to Snello, so i'm hoping I have that fixed. Thank You

On 12/22/2022 at 6:30 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I think that was @Katherine

i keep my tank at 78. I have snails in another tank at 75 and they are doing well.

when I had mine at 78-80, they grew too quickly so i'm trying cooler. I'll move it to 75, see if that works. Thank you

On 12/22/2022 at 9:38 AM, Katherine said:

It wasn't necessarily super reliable info, but one of the youtuber's I was watching for help when I wanted to hatch some said that she found 75 was the best temp for strong shells while still growing at a reasonable rate.

In addition to what everyone else has said, how often are you changing the wet paper towel? They could be getting too dry in the Tupperware. I changed mine every other day. (Mind you, I've only done this once, so I'm certainly not an expert.)

I keep it damp, if it dries out, i add more water to the one below to dampen it. if it's too wet, i wring it out or change it for a new paper towel. I try to keep it damp, just not soaking wet. Is that right? Thank you

[Katherine]

On 12/26/2022 at 10:16 PM, Jabberjaw said:

I keep it damp, if it dries out, i add more water to the one below to dampen it. if it's too wet, i wring it out or change it for a new paper towel. I try to keep it damp, just not soaking wet. Is that right? Thank you

I think I would call how I kept mine 'very damp'. Definitely not dripping if you picked it up, but more than just a little water. Again, I'm not an expert for sure. 

[Jabberjaw]

On 12/27/2022 at 9:01 AM, Katherine said:

I think I would call how I kept mine 'very damp'. Definitely not dripping if you picked it up, but more than just a little water. Again, I'm not an expert for sure. 

I'm trying that now on my magenta's. I'm pretty desperate for a hatched clutch, I'm down to 1 female and don't want to have to buy more. my other female died 😞 But i haven't had a successful clutch from them yet and they're not laying that many either. maybe 4 clutches so far, none have hatched. we'll see if this small one I have will hatch, they're pretty close.