are apple snails fragile?

I've tried to get apple snails from every pet store and they all don't stock
any. They all say that these snails are hard to keep, never had success, and
get damaged in shipping.

How fragile are these snails? How easy are they to keep? Any water
conditions that adversely affect them?

Thanx, Dave.

I'm going down to the coast to go to a Big Als...they seem to carry them
often. As for crawling out of the aquarium, how sealed does the cover have
to be?---I have just a standard hagen plastic canopy (modified for more
lights) with cutouts for the filter and heater etc. We don't want to find
snails in our kitchen cupboards eating all our cornflakes or anything.

Btw, how fast do they clean up hair/thread algae? The stuff that I had on
the driftwood and a few java ferns is slowly spreading to the new plants.
Can it get too much or too late for pomacea to clean it off?

Thanx!
Dave.

"LeighMo" wrote in message
...
I've tried to get apple snails from every pet store and they all don't
stock
any. They all say that these snails are hard to keep, never had success,
and
get damaged in shipping.

They can be damaged in shipping, if they are not packed correctly. They
don't
need to be shipped in water, but you do need to make sure they don't
rattle
around too much. If allowed to bounce around too much, they'll hit each
other's shells and crack them. I mail mine in small boxes, wrapped in
damp
newspaper. The only problem is in the summer -- sometimes, if it's very
hot
(over 90F), the poor snails cook. Short periods of cold temps don't
bother
them, as long as they don't actually freeze. They can survive for weeks
at
temps just above freezing (though they will of course not be very active).

Other than that, they are very hardy critters -- so much so that in
tropical
areas, they've grown wild and become a pest.

How fragile are these snails? How easy are they to keep? Any water
conditions that adversely affect them?

They are as easy to keep as any snail. They don't like soft, acidic
water;
like most snails, they need neutral to hard water, in order to build their
shells (and keep them from dissolving.) And they can't be kept with fish
that
will bother them, such as clown loaches. Even a small loach can pester an
apple snail to death. And they should be kept in covered tanks;
otherwise,
they may climb out of the tank and fall. (One of mine did, and was fine;
I
picked him up and put him back in the tank the next day, when I found him.
But
he could have cracked his shell.)

I don't know why your local stores would think these critters are
difficult to
keep. All the stores around here have them, including the giant chains
like
PetCo.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/