The Puffer Forum

My two puffers refuse to eat snail shells. One of my puffers actually slurps the snail meat out without having to even break the shell. I'm feeding pond snails so they die pretty quick in the saltwater.

I've also tried putting in a small marine snail and they didn't even bother with it. Though it still ended up dying on it's own. Same with the tiny hermit crab, they just pulled it out of the shell to see what it was and left it to die. Clams are no luck either, they never gnaw on the shell.

Once in a great while I will see one of the puffers gnawing on my shell decorations but that is about it. The other never gnaws on anything. Any other suggestions on how to help them get those chompers trimmed? These little punks are outsmarting me.

cockles or mussels in half shell, crab legs? Starve them a for a few days first so they are good and hungry.

some people crush their snails first so that they can't avoid munching on a bit of shell.

You can also hold the snail in a pair of tongs with the opening pointing up the length of the tongs so they will have to break the shell to get at its meat.