mystery snails, pining for greater horizons

Washington DC

Description

Thank you to Don for pointing out that I could post about these sweet lil aquatic snails in the "pets" section instead of the free section. They are free, though, *to a good home*. As I keep telling my mom, snails are friends, not food. TL;DR: I have 48 five-month-old snails that are dime-sized to quarter-sized that need homes. I've seen cuter ones, but these ones are rich in gumption. ~~~ Mystery snails/apple snails are fascinating creatures. According to snail scientists, the first snails likely appeared 350 million years ago. No one has ever specifically proven that there are not 350-million-year-old snails slinking about to this day. Mine are not that old: there's a timestamp on a timelapse video I took of one laying eggs on September 16th when I was cognitively compromised and I guess held my phone above the water for like an hour, filming the whole sickening process. I immediately got rid of these eggs, because by then I had learned my mistake. Here's the thing: mystery snails are super weird. Their little eyes peer into yours with absolute confidence and apathy. If one of their eyestalks gets hurt (or worse: expelled) they can grow them back. Testing this is illegal in all 50 states, so don't try it and don't google whether or not this is true. Like cats, they have big whiskers ("tentacles") that they use to navigate and search for food. They have terrible eyesight, which is why their penchant for launching themselves off of the side of the tank or tank decor as a quick way to get to the bottom of things is courageous and worthy of respect. They take l'appel du vide to the next level. In addition to the eyestalks and whiskers, they also have snorkels ("siphons") to get oxygen. Unlike many other snails, mystery snails require a male and female to reproduce. (Side note: Isabella Rossellini does a great job explaining how normie snails breed, which is horrifying, and you can watch her video on Youtube). When the water level is low enough, they crawl up to lay their eggs above the waterline. The first time I saw a clutch of eggs, I sincerely thought that it was the start of a sci fi movie. They can be enormous, making you question the law of conservation of matter. Hundreds of tiny pink eggs form a long, gross pink raspberry that hatches in 2-5 weeks, which seems arbitrary but what do I know: a ripening clutch looks grosser every day. The first one to hatch in my tank had dozens of tiny babies that disappeared. The second one I monitored more closely and put in a breeder box above the waterline: over a hundred snails hatched, but none survived the first few weeks. Determined to have a few survivors, I meticulously monitored the humidity, temperature, etc the final time and about 65 hatched. And then grew up. Dispersing them into different tanks = they have all grown to different sizes, some with different coloration, depending on which tank they grew up in. There are smollinis and big bois. There are blue dudes and ones that are rather green. Some are smoother and healthier, and more importantly, there are 48 of them that have not been rehomed and no amount of water changes and cuttlebone supplements can keep them healthy forever. They need you. They need your love and care. They need....honestly not much, in reasonable numbers. Does your kid want a dog? Consider this: snails are way cheaper and at this point have a predicted lifespan of perhaps 8 months to 2 years left ahead of them. It is a lesser commitment, and will eventually be a gentle way to show your child the realities of life and death. Or you can replace a mystery snail and they probably won't notice. Either way. Adopt don't shop. Thx for reading. ** the non-smooth snail is patricia highsmith, their mom, who came from petco. just sayin.