Last updated on August 6th, 2024 at 11:01 pm
A Short Guide on How to Care for a Pet Garden Snail
by Jane Lake
A garden snail is a small creature with simple needs. You can keep pet snails in a small container, providing you care for them properly and make sure they receive enough air, water, calcium and food.
Here, you’ll learn basic tips for housing and caring for pet snails and some interesting facts about snails as well.
If you are curious, or want a fascinating science project, you may also consider setting up an ant farm and watching how busy ants make their home in tunnels in the soil.
What You Will Need:
- two or more garden snails
- small container such as a clear glass jar or a small tank
- a lid for the container or cheesecloth and a rubber band to make a cover
- small amount of gravel
- small amount of potting soil, alone or with other substrate
- tiny pieces of bark and dried leaves
- some form of shelter
- cuttlefish, egg shells or chalk
- water
- food supply
- optional: small plants such as moss, creeping thyme, creeping jenny or other low-growing ground covers
Prepare the Snail House
1. Wash and dry the container. Make sure the container lid has vent holes large enough to allow air inside, but small enough to prevent the snails from escaping.
If you don’t have a lid, fold cheesecloth or gauze into a double layer then cut a suitable shape to cover the top of your container allowing a small overhang. Set aside your lid or cover for now.
2. Add a shallow layer of gravel to the bottom of the tank for drainage. Top the gravel with an inch and a half of soil or soil topped with another substrate such as spaghum moss, coir or peat.
3. Add a shelter for your new pets. A small plastic pot, placed on its side and half buried in the soil, works well. You could also make a miniature lean-to by leaning a piece of bark against the container wall. Snails love this kind of hideout.
4. If you like, tuck little plants, like creeping thyme and moss, into the soil. Add bits of bark and small dried leaves. Water the plants and soil until the soil is moist but not soaking wet. Essentially, you now have a small terrarium that is almost ready for its new inhabitants.
Move Your Snails Into Their New Home
If you haven’t already got the snails, now is the time to find some. Garden snails are plentiful in summer time. You’ll often them on the underside of leaves or crossing the lawn after a rain.
Gently pick up each snail by its shell and place it in the terrarium. A large mason jar can hold two snails; a small tank, like the one shown here, which is about six inches long by four inches deep and five inches high, is big enough for up to four snails.
Add a Food Supply
Add some food for the snails. Over a week or so offer as much variety as you can. They enjoy many fruits including apple, blackberries, kiwi, peach, pear, plum, raspberries and strawberries. Also offer vegetables like cucumber, tomato, a baby carrot cut in half lengthwise, lettuce, cabbage, kale, or dandelion leaves.
Observe snails outside and see what other leaves they enjoy eating; chances are, your pet snails would like the same lunch.
Small pieces of wet or dry cat or dog food, or tortoise food, can also make good snail food.
Snails need a source of calcium and minerals to build their shells, so place a piece of egg shell or natural chalk in the tank as well. Cuttlefish from the pet store can also be offered.
Remember to replace the lid on your snail house after adding food. If you’re using cheesecloth or gauze, tie it down or fasten it with a rubber band. You don’t want snails escaping into your house and hurting themselves or frightening other people.
Housekeeping for Your Snails
Change the food every day, removing uneaten leaves and replacing with fresh foodstuff. Every few days, wipe down the glass walls of the terrarium with a sponge or paper towels. If the soil is drying out fill a clean spray bottle with water and mist the inside of the tank (and the snails) with water until the soil is moist but not overly wet.
Once a week, remove everything from the tank, wash and rinse it, then build a new layer of substrate. Rather than planting new plants, try laying a bed of dandelion leaves across the top of the soil. The wilted dandelion leaves serve as a playground and as a plate for more food. In a day or two, when its time for clean up, just remove the dandelions and any food left lying on top of them.
Remember to wash your hands after handling your pet snails or after cleaning their terrarium.
Some Interesting Facts About Snails
Native snails can live up to 15 years. A nice thing about garden snails is that if you can’t care for them any more for any reason then you can just release them back into the wild.
Each species of snail has a shell pattern that is common to all its members.
Snails that live in cold regions build up natural antifreeze in their blood to prevent freezing.
Snails cannot tolerate sudden temperature changes, but their bodies adjust well to gradual climate change. During hibernation, their heartbeats slow down and the amount of oxygen they consume is vastly reduced.
AllFreeCrafts is reader supported! Many supplies are found at thrift stores so try that first! However, if you buy from an affiliate link on this site, I earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This has kept AllFreeCrafts.com online since 2002. Thank you!
For More Information About Snails:
Land Snails, Wikipedia; characteristics, hibernation, reproduction, predators, snails as human food.
Comprehensive Snail Care Guide – housing, substrate materials, feeding and watering, handling, cleaning and breeding.
How can I get rid of ants that have made their way into my snail’s tank? Something safe for snails but not for ants
I missed your comment, Anja, so I’m sorry for the late response. But what I would do is completely clean the tank, removing all the ants, then I’d look for their entry point. If the holes in the lid are large enough to allow the ants to come back then you need to find a way to fix that, either with a different lid or finer mesh fabric.
Would using mesh fabric work for covering the top of the container?
I would definitely try mesh fabric as long as it’s a fine mesh on the softer side. Some plastic mesh bags, for instance, are too coarse and could injure the soft underbelly of a snail.
would a wig cover mesh work? My friend told me to help her with some research before she got a baby snail and were trying to find different possibilities for coverings or would it become to airy and not enough humidity? It’s less than a centimetre long**
like a wig cap mesh (it’s fabric)
Sara, I was hoping someone might answer this question because, to be honest, I’m not sure. But if the biggest concern is humidity and the habitat tends to dry out too much, you could just increase the misting to once a day rather than every few days. I hope your friend’s snail enjoys their new home!
Yeah it is, don’t listen to that part, although they do enjoy other fruit. I found that my snails really like mushed banana, try that!
I thought they should avoid citrus? I feel like kiwi is bad for them.
I have checked into this and small amounts of kiwi should be fine for your snails. But do not overdo any one food source; offer a variety of different foods which is what they would get in the wild.
I don’t know if you are meant to – but that is what i’ve done, and my snails don’t seem to be dying yet!
Can I use dirt from outside where the snails around my house live instead of substrate? I love snails so much!
If the dirt is coming from the same area where your snail lived outside, I would think it would be okay. You should change the substrate every week anyway so try it when you clean the tank. Don’t forget to add soft material on top of the soil, like moss or leaves, so your snail has a choice of surfaces to move across. Adding a little hiding place on top of the soil is a good idea too.
Just one question: How often should you handle your pet snails? Is handling them too much bad for them?
Wash your hands before handling your snails and always handle the gently and carefully. Put your hand in front of your snail, perhaps holding a little bit of food, and hopefully the snail will climb onto your hand. Then move the snail slowly and carefully out of the tank. Try to avoid picking up the snail by its shell, especially if it is climbing the tank wall, but if you must do this, use two fingers to hold the shell avoiding the delicate area near the shell opening. It’s hard to say how much is too much handling but for more information on this see: https://www.petsnails.co.uk/care/handling.html
Hi! We have a pet snail that we found in the farmers market lettuce. We love him. But we are afraid that he is lonely. You keep multiple snails in one terrarium, but won’t they make babies? Because we don’t want 500 baby snails a year. If you keep different snail species in the same tank, will it combat loneliness but prevent snail pregnancy?
Your snail might not be lonely for long because most snails can self-fertilize their eggs. Snails reproduce quickly and, if there are too many, can sometimes destroy gardens (or lettuce crops).
You could still give your snail a friend or two. If you clean out everything from the tank once a week, you will also remove any eggs and that will keep the tank population under control.
I don’t know where I can find any snails as large as the ones that you are talking about, but I have found a few inch-long ones. Do these still need the exact same care, such as the food proportions, the cleaning, and the shelters?
Hi, Jonas,
You may be happy to know that the snails that I housed in my terrarium were about the same size as the ones that you have found. Take your cues from them! If they aren’t eating all that you offer, cut back the portions. If all the food is gone, perhaps you need more.
As for the shelter, again, watch to see if it is being used; if not, try something different!
Your inch-long snails will be great pets and enjoy their new home. You know how I know? Because you are taking the time to find out what best fits their needs!
Highly recommend reading “The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating” you’ll learn so much!
Thank you, Pepper. I just read the reviews; it sounds simply delightful! I really appreciate your recommendation and I’ve just added a link to the book on Amazon!
Where did you find the terrarium in the photos? Rught now I’ve got a smallish terrarium, but I want to upgrade to a 10-gallon tank, but finding a lid that allows for some air but also preserves humidity is impossible!
I bought this one at a local pet store but its smaller than it looks. I hope you find what you’re looking for!
genuine question, could it be considered cruel to take creatures like snails out of their natural habitat and keep them inside? i really like snails and might consider keeping some as pets (in the summer probably, it’s too cold right now), but i just want to be careful that i’m not harming them in any way? thank you
According to the detailed information on Wikipedia’s Land Snails page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_snail
most land snails are annual although some live 2 or 3 years. It also said that snails in captivity may live much longer than those in the wild.
Because you are obviously a responsible pet owner, I think your snails will be well taken care of and live happily in the home that you provide for them.
As long as you do your research and make sure the snails are active and happy there should be no problem.
I agree! That’s a great approach to owning and caring for pets of all kinds.
Just found 4 little snail babies adopted them on the spot
Aren’t baby snails adorable? Enjoy your new little pets!
I LOVE MY PET SNAIL!!!!!!! I hum to it every day. THANK YOU for this VERY GOOD INFORMATION.
You’re welcome, Lana. I’m happy that you enjoy your pet snail!
thx so much! We had lot’s of fun doing this activity together!