“Snello” is a new term used to describe homemade aquatic snail food. The ingredients are placed together to form a healthy and nutritious snack for captive-bred snails. Snello can be created at home in a few minutes. It is easy and affordable to make your snail food and you get to control what you want to put in it and how much you want to make. Snello is recommended for snails by various expert snail keepers in the hobby which makes it an excellent source of food and it can be fed as part of a long-term diet.
If you want to start making your snail food, this article has all the information and top-quality recipes to create the perfect snello.
Aquatic Snails That Eat Snello
Many species of aquatic snails eat snello. It is one of the best sources of food for aquatic snails. Nearly all species of aquatic pet snails will happily eat snello while retaining all the nutrients that the ingredients have to offer. The most common aquatic snails to take an interest in snello are as follows:
- Mystery snails Pomacea bridgesii (Decaying leaves, algae, and fish waste)
- Nerite snails Neritina sp (feeds on decaying plants and algae)
- Ramshorn snails Planorbidae sp (decaying plants and dead fish)
- Bladder snails Physidae sp (live plants)
- Apple snails Ampullariidae sp (live plants)
- Malaysian trumpet snail Melanoides tuberculata (live and decaying plants)
The 3 Best Snello Recipes
These recipes have been broken down into ingredients and directions. This will give you a general idea of how the following snello recipes should be made, and which ingredients may be right for your specific aquatic snail. These are quick and easy recipes that anyone can make.
1. Snail Shack Snello–Best Overall
Best Snello Recipe for Healthy Snails
Equipment
- Microwave-safe bowl
- Microwave
- Ziploc bag & roller (if using tablets)
- Blender
- Large container
- Refrigerator
- Butter knife
- Wax paper
Ingredients
- 1 packet unflavoured gelatin will bind the ingredients together and give it a stable form
- 2 jars vegetable baby food spinach, green garden vegetables
- Spinach and green garden vegetables
- 2 teaspoons calcium powder no vitamin D
- 2 tablespoons fish flakes crushed to a fine powder
Instructions
- Begin by emptying both jars of baby food into a microwavable bowl and heat for 30 seconds, mix around with a metal spoon and then heat again for 30 seconds.
- Add in the calcium powder. If you are crushing calcium tablets, place them into a Ziploc bag and use a metal dough roller to turn them into powder.
- Take out the microwaved baby food and sprinkle in a small portion of gelatin. Do this slowly and be careful not to add the whole packet at once. You want a gooey consistency.
- Cook spinach and other vegetables until soft, then blend spinach and other vegetables in a blender till it is a thick consistency.
- Once the gelatin has dissolved into the baby food, it is then time to add in the calcium powder and blended vegetable mixture. This should be mixed in well.
- Transfer the mixture into a flat container and smooth out the batter in the container till the surface is smooth.
- Refrigerate the container for 4 hours until it is solid.
- Use a butter knife to slice small cubes in even lines till you are happy with the shapes and size of the cubes.
- Lay a piece of wax paper on a clean surface and turn the bowl upside down till the cubes slide out onto the wax paper.
- Place the cubes in a Ziploc bag or air-tight container in the refrigerator. They do not have to be thawed before feeding.
2. Superfood Snail Recovery–Best for Sick Snails
- Spirulina (capsules or powder form)
- Seaweed
- Kale
- Peas
- Zucchini
- Apple baby food
- Calcium powder (no vitamin D)
- Ground bloodworms
- Powdered fish flakes
- 2 packets of unflavoured gelatin
- Chop up the seaweed, fish flakes, and bloodworms until they are ground to a fine powder. You can manually crush it or use a food processor. There should be 1.5 tablespoons of bloodworms, flake food, and ¼ sheet of seaweed.
- Open the spirulina capsules until you have 2 tablespoons of the substance.
- Mix everything into a bowl of apple baby food.
- Heat the mixture on a skillet until it makes steam. You want to ensure that it is warm enough to dissolve the gelatin but not cause nutrients to leach out.
- Add gelatin to the warm mixture and add in water if the mixture is too thick and mix well.
- Place the mixture into ice cube trays and refrigerate for 3 hours.
- Store the cubes in the ice tray and gently remove a few cubes for feeding.
3. Snello Delight–Excellent for Young Snails
- 1 sweet potato
- 1 carrot
- 1 can of green beans (unsalted)
- Some fresh spinach
- 1 clove of garlic or 3 capsules of Seachem garlic guard
- 3 tablespoons of bloodworms
- 1 egg yolk
- 3 tablespoons of fish flakes (powder form)
- 2–4 capsules of calcium carbonate powder (no vitamin D)
- 2 teaspoons of spirulina or kelp powder
- ½ cup of bottled water
- 4 tablespoons of gelatin powder
- Boil the sweet potatoes and carrots until they are soft. This should take between 20 to 30 minutes.
- Grind the fish flakes, calcium powder, and kelp or spirulina powder in a mortar and pestle until they are a finely mixed powder.
- Add in the green beans, spinach, boiled sweet potato and carrots, garlic, powder mixture, and blood worms into a bowl. Add water if needed.
- Put the mixture into a pot and slowly mix in the gelatin while the mixture simmers over medium heat.
- Once the mixture bubbles, pour it into a baking tray or cookie sheet. Flatten the mixture and cover the entire baking tray.
- Freeze for 2 hours till it has set.
- Cut the cubes into the desired size and freeze them in a Ziploc bag. It is now ready to be eaten.
How Often Should You Feed Snails?
Aquatic snails can be fed a few times a week depending on their age and health status. Newly hatched snails should be fed every day to ensure that they have all the necessary nutrients and minerals for growth. Calcium is especially important for young snails under a year old since this is when the most growth occurs. Juvenile snails should be fed every second day and adult snails can be fed every third day.
Keep in mind that snails should have access to a constant source of calcium, and a boiled cuttlefish bone from the bird section in a pet store is a recommended source. The cuttlebone should be boiled until it sinks in water. Snello can also foul up the water quickly, so you may want to do a 10% gravel vacuum after every feeding.
The 5 Benefits of Snello
There are several different benefits of snello, and they are guaranteed to keep your snail happy and healthy.
1. Ingredients
- Garlic: Increases appetite and strengthens the immune system of many aquatic organisms. It also has antibacterial and antifungal properties.
- Iodine: Helps the snail utilize calcium for a strong shell.
- Calcium: Aids in proper shell growth and development.
- Spinach and veggies: Contain plenty of vitamins and minerals for snails.
- Krill: Protein good for egg-laying and newly hatched snails.
- Spirulina:Has been shown in some species to improve growth and reproduction. It is a good source of plant-based protein for snails.
2. Taste
Snails seem to love the taste of snello. It contains many of their favorite foods and garlic helps to boost their appetite.
3. Texture
The soft gelatin-based texture is soft enough that every type of snail can grasp at it.
4. Affordability
The ingredients can be found in a household pantry or purchased in bulk from health food stores. This saves you money in the long run and the ingredients can last for a few months or years depending on how it is stored.
5. Availability
The ingredients are easy to find and snello can be made at any time. It also saves you from having to buy different commercial foods that may be hard to find.
Storing Snello
Snello can be stored for at least a month. The ideal place to store a fresh batch of snello is in the fridge. This helps keep the snello’s form and prevents the ingredients from turning foul. After a month, the batch should already have been eaten and it is then time to make it again. Do not keep snello in the fridge for longer than a month to ensure the ingredients are kept fresh. Snello should not be stored in a cupboard or a warm area.
Healthy Alternatives to Snello
If you feel making snello is too difficult for you (and that’s okay!), some alternatives have similar benefits.
Hikari Crab Cuisine is suitable for snails and contains most of the nutrients an adult snail requires.
Snail food like Aquatic Arts Sinking Pellets, Invert Aquatics Micro Mix, and Aqueon Algae Rounds can be ordered online or found in pet stores. It is specifically formulated for aquatic snails.
Overall, snello seems to have the most benefits for snails and has been known to keep them healthy for years. You can even keep these foods as a backup in case you are unable to make snello on certain days.
Conclusion
Snello is a high-quality homemade diet that is perfect for aquatic snails. Each recipe is formulated for different snails as each ingredient has different health benefits. The superfood snello recipe is good for snails that are sick, suffering from nutrient deficiencies, or poor growth. The ingredients are formulated to help combat health issues and poor shell growth, whereas the snello delight is good for growing snails and the snail shack snello recipe can be fed as an adult diet.
We hope this article has given you ideas on the best snello recipe for your snails. There may be trial and error when you are finding the right recipe for you and your snails.
Featured Image Credit: Adam_Nau37, Shutterstock
