I'm posting this just to get some advice for a friend so appologies if it sounds like I don't know what I'm talking about- I really don't!

So she had 3 giant snails, which have turned into over 250! I'm guessing that they were a bit naive & never realised how many babies they would have. They are trying to contact the people thy got the original ones from but I'm guessing they aren't going to take that many off their hands so what do people do with that many babies??

Try and contact your local reptile shops, and advertise them everywhere xx

I think they are in the process of doing that but people are probably only going to want a couple at most.

she can advertise online because snails are postable. (ok, that sounds cruel, but trust me it can be done safely and with no effects on the snails)

there are groups on facebook and people on there are always looking for snails.

tell her she should look for eggs regularly and take them out and freeze them in future, it wont stop here

i left my snails with a friend for a fortnight and came back and she'd had to buy another tank and i had waaaay too many snails... had to kill some of them unfortunatley

(theres an instant way of doing this too, and i can prove its instant, but im not gonna say unless you want and no it doesnt involve smashing them with a hammer, dont be so cruel!)

bet i sound right mean now, posting and killing snails

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in interested to know

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So why don't you stay for the night? Or maybe a bite?
I could show you my favourite obsession.
I've been making a man with blond hair and a tan
And he's good for relieving my tension[/COLOR][/B][/COLOR]

to know what?

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I have 92 snails, after having had a couple off a work colleague who's daughter had grown bored with them about 3 years ago. They were laying the occasional clutch of eggs which I was removing and chilling before disposing of, but I got a bit lazy and didn't check the substrate for about 3 weeks and missed a clutch.
I really wish I had killed off the tiny babies but I was fascinated by them.

I didn't think there were that many, but there were actually about 114, a few have died in the 18 months since they were born, but I now have 3 tanks for them, and religiously go through the substrate once a week to remove eggs (I would estimate that there are between 1000 and 4000 each week).

My garden is getting rapidly higher with old substrate and eggs, but I've managed to talk a couple of people into having the old compost ('coir') for potting plants.
The moral of the story being - look after your snails responsibly and don't let them breed! I'm resigned to having them now for the remainder of their lives, which I understand could be about five or six years. It's time I would prefer to spend looking after unwanted rodents really, but there you go.
I would like to know how your friend is doing with all those snails.
I would also like to know if people have humane ways of killing the snails.
A while ago I had two snails that appeared to have ruptures near their mouths. I ended up giving them a little diluted beer which they love, and putting them in the fridge (not the freezer - I read that this is not good for them and they can feel ice crystals forming in their bodies.)

thats easier said than done if you have ore than one snail!

as for humane ways of killing them... only when they are still small im afraid - ive never tried it with bigger snails though i have been told it works (i have a snail who had a prolapsed stomach and was taken to the vets on multiple occasions! my dad wanted me to just kill him)

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i think its great that your being responsible and looking after them even though youd rather be looking after rodents i bet most people would just kill them all and get them off their hands

can you only post small/baby snails? ive been interested in getting one or two

no, you can post adult snails too

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