Wild food.

xvCODY · Post by **xvCODY** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 8:54 pm

I went to the creek earlier in search of new, cool rocks and driftwood. I didn't find any but what i did find was about a dozen large snails in the water, as well as roughly 5-6 crayfish. The crayfish are pretty small. About an inch long each, maybe a little longer. Anyway, i have them all, snails and crayfish, in a 1g bowl at the moment for observation. I snapped a couple of pics so you guys could help me identify them and tell me if they're suitable to feed to Smudge, my GSP.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g224/ ... ish005.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g224/ ... ish004.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g224/ ... ish003.jpg

The snails are kind of difficult to see in the pictures. They look just like normal nerita snails. There are the 2 kinds of crayfish, too. Black and brown.

I didn't go with intentions of finding crayfish or else i would've brought a net and a better bag for easy catching.

Post by **Pufferpunk** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 8:56 pm

I picked out about 500 nice, juicy snails out of a lake this summer. Froze them & then defrosted in vitamin water. The puffers love them!

xvCODY · Post by **xvCODY** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 9:23 pm

There were definitely hundreds of snails all along the waterline. I'll have to go back before it gets too cold and harvest a whole bunch. Any ideas on the crayfish?

xvCODY · Post by **xvCODY** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:04 am

Well, i know that Smudge will eat crayfish now.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g224/ ... sh2001.jpg

J-P · Post by **J-P** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:07 am

be careful crays can snap back. You might want to consider declawing it when it is that size.

xvCODY · Post by **xvCODY** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:28 am

For some reason almost all the black crays have 1 claw. I'll probably declaw them next time though. I wonder if it'd be possible to breed these crays.

goldielocke76 · Post by **goldielocke76** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 12:16 pm

xvCODY wrote:For some reason almost all the black crays have 1 claw. I'll probably declaw them next time though. I wonder if it'd be possible to breed these crays.

If I remember correctly, only having one claw denotes to the sex of the cray fish. I think it means that it is female. One small claw is female, and two normal sized claws are male. It has been a really long time since I lived in Alabama though, LoL. We used to go out after it rained all kinds in to the bottom half of the 6 acres and use our toes to find them xD then we would bring them home, clean them up and go fishing.

xvCODY · Post by **xvCODY** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 3:11 pm

I wonder how easily i could breed these crayfish

xrayjeeper83 · Post by **xrayjeeper83** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 3:23 pm

I bet they will breed easy, but keeping the babies alive will be the hard part.

Lots and lots and lots of hiding places, plenty of food and you should be good

sevenyearnight · Post by **sevenyearnight** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 6:13 pm

Make sure the snails aren't too hard

RVS · Post by **RVS** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 6:30 pm

Those snails looks like American phyla natricina, They have a very soft shell, no need to crush and very easy to breed and rise.

Just, i have to warn you about possible parasites... when i caught some live food from nature i never feed my puffers with this snails... i wait until the first generation specimens (called: F0, born in the wild) breed and rise their babies, then this new generation (Called: F1, With wild fathers but born in captivity) are ok, and free from parasites...

Or you can freeze if you are not interested on making a Snail Farm ñ_ñ

xvCODY · Post by **xvCODY** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 6:52 pm

I can confirm that these snails are extremely HARD. Took me quite a few smacks to crack it. (I have to crush them for Smudge to eat).

sevenyearnight · Post by **sevenyearnight** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 7:01 pm

I would definitely avoid them. It's possible that he could chip his teeth on them, even the shrapnel of a crushed shell. If you could extract the snail alone, that would be good. Just my suggestion. Crushing them may be enough if you feel he isn't trying to bite the shell.

RVS · Post by **RVS** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 7:43 pm

Im not sure about the snails kind... Lymnaea stagnates or phyla natricina... These are soft...
But I'm not sure.

Anyway if xvCODY has already try them, the best information is the one based on experience, avoid them could prevent a disgusting moment... try to crush one and see how hard are.

Pd: whats on the surlaW tooth? bacon? hahahaha ñ_ñ

Reaperpilot2014 · Post by **Reaperpilot2014** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 8:03 pm

I would just make sure to freeze the crays before feeding to prevent pathogens getting to your puffer.

@goldie ~ are there really crayfish species where the female only grows one claw? That seems awfully strange for crayfish. The marmorkrebs I breed lose claws occasionally, but they always grow back when they molt.

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