Lissachatina fulica

Lissachatina fulica is one of the most popular snail species in the hobby. On the one hand, this species is suitable for beginners and forgives one or two husbandry mistakes. The greater popularity factor, however, is their curious nature.

The colour variation “White Jade” means that the animals have a wild-coloured snail shell and a white body.

The animals originate from East Africa and mainly colonise areas there where the humidity is correspondingly high. The animals feel very comfortable in the terrarium at 80-90 %. Lissachatina fulica are crepuscular and nocturnal, but can also be observed during the day.

This species should not be kept alone, as they are very sociable and social animals. Therefore, a stocking of at least three animals is recommended. The terrarium size for three adult Lissachatina fulica is 80 × 50 × 50 cm. Disused aquariums are also very suitable for keeping snails. The substrate height should be 20 cm and the bottom should be well limed. Sepia shells must always be offered for building up the snail shells.

Snails like to run up the glass and sometimes fall down. For this reason, you should make sure that no stones or wood are used when setting up the snail shells. A layer of leaves and moss is gladly accepted as a shelter and additionally beautifies the terrarium.

Lissachatina fulica is not choosy when it comes to food. Cucumber, dandelion or overripe fruit is gladly accepted and is also occasionally found in the household. Protein should also be offered to the animals. Gammarus, Algea Snacks and our cockroach food are excellent.

The breeding of Lissachatina fulica goes almost by itself. Already after 5-6 months the animals are sexually mature and lay 4-5 mm large eggs after a few weeks. Depending on the size of the parents, there can be between 50 and 500 eggs per clutch. Therefore, you should consider beforehand whether breeding makes sense. If you don’t want offspring, you should check for clutches weekly and remove them from the terrarium and then freeze them.

The life expectancy of Lissachatina fulica is about 5-7 years.