Large enclosure

Now that the danger of a late frost has passed we have moved some of our snails into our larger enclosure or the Snailarium. The Snailarium is a home made construction. We bought a wire compost bin and lined it with plastic. The top is hinged. The bottom of the compost bin was open so we have mounted the whole structure in a wooden base. This we filled with soil.

So far we have transferred about 15 snails. We move them when they are about thumb-nail size.

The problems of the Snailarium are now becomming evident. The Compost bin was a metre in height. We wanted this size as a metre cube will theoretically support 900 snails without any problems resulting from overcrowding. However it also means that it is very difficult to reach the bottom of Snailarium from the edge.

My second mistake to lay turf at the bottom of the Snailarium. My thinking was that this would be more comfortable and natural for the snails. I also thought the grass would break up any slime trails. When I put the grass in it was litle more than a centimetre or so high. I failed to appreciate that buy placing it in what was effectively a greenhouse would encourage it to grow. The base of the Snailarium now has a lush carpet of long grass. The snails love it, they snuggle down and are impossible to find. I am not sure how we will find them to get them out when they are big enough to eat!