newt + snail?

[jen]

i've got a fully grown spanish newt (pleurodeles waltl) and am wondering whether a snail is a safe and suitable tank-mate for him. we had a snail in there before and he found it lots of fun, staring at it and snapping at it, but we took it out after reading one newt-owner's tale of a newt dying after its nose got caught in a retracting snail's shell. we were also worried that he might try to swallow it and choke (it was about the size of his fully open mouth). so now we are thinking of getting one slightly bigger to keep him amused as he is all alone... how real is the danger of the snail snapping shut on him and hurting him? what size snail would be best for our 15cm long newt?
thanks in advance,
jen

 

[lilsoul]

I would hot put a snail with him it is varey bad idea I had a frind who had snails with his newts and he lost two of his alpines to snails.If you want a frind for him I would get another pleurodeles waltl. for him

 

[koala]

I used to have a black mystery snail in with my newt and it was fine.

 

[Abrahm]

Newts do not really need friends. It can be difficult not to make human assumptions of our animals. Assuming human characteristics for our animals can often be detrimental to their care. Newts and salamanders are not social animals, they do not need companionship, especially that of other species. It would be easier and better for both your and the animal to not include a snail in your enclosure.

 

[jen]

we know newts don't need friends ... the snail would more like a kind of diversion. keep things interesting for him. (and help keep the tank walls clean.) he seemed to find the snail fascinating. he's really quite an intelligent newt! we want to know if it's really dangerous, is it a freak one-in-a-million thing or do people regularly have problems if they put snails in.

 

[lilsoul]

I know too maney pepole who lost newts to snails it is dangerous for your newt to have a snail with him

 

[jen]

thanks for your advice everyone, we've decided not to risk it!

 

[peter81965]

I used to have a black mystery snail in with my newt and it was fine.

Mmm, ten days ago you were asking if it was ok to have a snail in with the paddletail and now you say 'used to have one' so it was just fine for how long exactly?

 

[koala]

the snail died because it wouldn't eat.

 

[lims]

anyway, what kind of snails are we talking about here? I take it the snails do not devour the newts whole, but merely cause death by themselves being devoured?

 

[peter81965]

the snail died because it wouldn't eat.

I was just curious as their period of co habitation must have been quite brief...

 

[Kaysie]

Lims, sometimes snails can 'chew' holes in newts, damage their slime coat, trap limbs within their shells, or be choked on as they're ingested.

 

[mantighoul]

if you do decide on getting snails, i would suggest finding ones very very tiny or ones too large to eat WITHOUT an Operculum. that is the trapdoor, no snails with this. no Operculum.

 

[onetwentysix]

I think one thing that needs to be considered is the fact that snails extremely frequently harbor parasites, sometimes serving as an intermediate or end host of a parasite that can affect amphibians. I really don't think snails pose any benefit that would outweight this risk.

During my Invertebrate Biology lab a few years ago, I was trying to preserve a snail (taken from one of my newt tanks, a ride along from some plants) by slowly anesthetizing it in increasing precentages of alcohol (so that the animal would be visible instead of being stuck inside the shell). I'd turned away for a few moments, when I looked back there were tons of nematodes in what had previously been clean alcohol, as they'd been trying to escape the dying snail. Whether or not these nematodes were capable of affecting my salamanders I don't know, but I think it's worth the effort to attempt to exterminate all the snails you can, rather than intentionally introducing any.