10 Things Mystery Snails Like to Eat Most (Diet, Care & Feeding Tips)

Have you ever thought of having mystery snails at your home? But what will you feed these snails to allow them to grow and keep them safe?

Well, here we will look at what do mystery snails eat. So, you’ll have fewer worries about what and when to feed them in your home.

But we’ll also focus on what these tiny animals eat in the wild. It will guide you to know the things they like.

There’s a wide range of foods that we’ve put to help you feed them. But before we go into the foods, let’s start with the habits and biology of mystery snails.

Habits and Biology of Mystery Snails

Before you think of bringing these snails to your home, you should know how they live and behave. It won’t matter where they are; the behavior and body of mystery snails remain the same. So, keep reading to see the habits of mystery snails.

Habits

These snails are not very much different from typical snails. But some things are unique to mystery snails. Below are the behaviors of these snails.

While in the wild, mystery snails like to stay in places with more freshwater with dead matter and algae. These places can be ponds, rivers that move fast, and even swamps.

Also, these tiny animals are very social. It won’t matter where you get them.

They are friendlier to the snails of their kind. Also, as you keep giving them excellent care, these animals will make good friends with you.

Mystery snails are never aggressive. They will always be kind. So, even if a fish attacks them, these snails can only defend themselves by hiding inside their shells.

Also, as you keep them together in an aquarium, don’t expect that they will fight. These animals don’t have social levels in their groups. It shows how much they love peace.

Sometimes, they do more things other than eating and sleeping. Remember, they have funny sleeping positions if you keep them in an aquarium.

Don’t get a shock if you see the following one another in a single line. This habit shows that mystery snails like being social with one another.

The snails tend to move on a water surface in dark hours. Well, it’s to allow them to suck some air to breathe.

Biology

After looking at how they behave in an aquarium and the wild, let’s look at how these animals live. So, read to see more about their biology.

Well, mystery snails are the less harmful members of the snail family. So, expect them to be lovely pets. But don’t confuse them with the bigger and much destructive ones called the channeled apple snail.

Mystery snails have beautiful bodies. So, they have many styles and colors. These colors are yellow, white, black, and brown, among others.

Also, some have a solid color. Others have patches as colors. Remember, these colors will come best when they are healthy and have an excellent diet.

The body size of mystery snails is small. Expect a mature one to have a length of about 2 inches.

If you look at them in a tank, they have a shell diameter of about 2 inches. Remember, if a mystery snail has a large shell, it doesn’t mean that they are always healthy. Under normal and friendly conditions, expect these snails to live for about two to three years.

These tiny snails like to stay deep in the waters. But females will come to the water surface to lay eggs on the waterline.

They breathe through gills and lungs. Expect their gills to be well, even if the speed of water is fast. Also, they have an excellent sense of smell.

Here are some fun facts about these tiny snails. While in the wild, some fish can eat the eyestalks of these snails. But they can make them grow after a few weeks.

Another fun fact is that these snails can’t remain to be in one gender. It means that they can change their gender over time. So, they can adapt to different conditions that tend not to suit their gender.

What to Mystery Snails Eat in the Wild?

While in the wild, nature tends to feed these snails. They don’t have weird feeding habits and foods. Let’s go deeper into their feeding habits.

Eating Habits

Mystery snails are never complicated. So, below are some of the behaviors that these snails have when they eat.

These snails aren’t picky when it comes to the choice of food. So, they’ll eat anything that comes in their way.

Since they live more in water, they mostly dwell on water vegetation. These are things like algae.

Sometimes, mystery snails can leave the water and go to look for food in the land. But still, they prefer having vegetation.

Also, when times are hard, these animals can pounce on one another. The females can eat their eggs. On the other hand, the males can eat one another.

The snails have an organ that looks like a tongue. It’s the radula. They use it to pick up any plant matter.

Food that Mystery Snails Eat

These snails are open to eating anything. But what are the foods that they eat in most times of their lives? Please take a look at them and their benefits to mystery snails.

• Algae is the favorite food of these humble snails. Remember, they can get them both in water and on land. It gives their body more minerals and vitamins.

These minerals are calcium and iron. The two nutrients help them have a solid and hard body shell.

• Mystery snails can also eat dead plant matter in the swamps and rivers. These foods give the snails many nutrients and minerals. They can get proteins that help them grow fast.

Also, they get minerals from dead plant matter. Minerals are suitable for the shells and fluids in the body.

• Expect them also to eat biofilm in the waters. It helps them get more energy and proteins for growth in their body.
• They can also eat the leftovers of fish and other invertebrates. The foods have vitamins, proteins, and minerals. These nutrients give them more energy besides assisting them to have a strong body.

What to Mystery Snails Eat as Pets?

If you take these animals captive, you should give them what they get in the wild. So, here are the foods that mystery snails eat as a pet.

• They can eat supplement foods. These include things like flakes. Well, these foods have many minerals like calcium.

Remember, in your aquarium; mystery snails have to keep their shells strong. Calcium supplements like cuttlebone in their water and food will help them.

• These snails can eat many vegetables rich in calcium. They include spinach, kales, lettuce, collard greens, mustard, and turnip. With these plants, they will grow fast and with beautiful colors.

Some of these snails can eat blanched vegetables. They include foods like iceberg lettuce and zucchini squash.

• In your tank, these snails can also eat sinking and floating algae wafers. As they take these foods, their bodies will have more vitamins and minerals. These are the things that allow them to grow with many beautiful colors.
• Mystery snails can also feed on pellets meant for fish. It gives them more energy and many other nutrients to allow them to grow fast.
• Wafer and pellets also help have a balanced diet. Remember, with this kind of diet; these snails will have a healthy life. They are also easy for them to eat because they crush fast.
• You can also give them bloodworms. These foods are more important to mystery snail babies. It gives them more proteins to allow them to grow fast.

Tips to Feed Mystery Snails

After learning about what foods you can give these snails, it’s also good to know how to feed them. If you provide them with food without any care, expect them to have a poor health status. Read on to see the feeding tips to use.

1. Sometimes, you can give your mystery snails the vegetables, and they fail to eat all of them even after hours. Don’t leave these leftovers in the aquarium. It will reduce the water quality and thus affect the health of these snails.
2. Wash the vegetables well before giving them. Make sure you cut them into tiny pieces. They’ll have an easy time as they eat.
3. Ensure you don’t use any salt in your snails’ food. It’s something that will cut the snails. Even if the pH of the water in the tank isn’t suitable, don’t place any salt. Remember, the pH of the water in the tank should be at 7.
4. As much as these snails can eat anything, don’t give them anything with sugar or more acid. It’s a move that can kill your beautiful snails.
5. You can feed them five to six times a week and allow them fast for one day. This act reduces any cases of them being overweight. So, in the end, they’ll be healthy.

Conclusion

As you plan to keep these small and humble snails as your pets, you should know how they live and what they eat. Otherwise, it will bring losses to you, and they’ll die.

If you choose to keep them, your aquarium will look more beautiful. Well, it’s because of many shell colors.

While in the wild, these tiny snails like eating every type of algae. At home, give them foods with more calcium to build their shells.

So, have you thought of having these snails in your aquarium? What do you feed them if you have them already? Feel free to share your experience with us.