[Kitty Whiskers]

I was looking to buy a new snail at Petsmart. I seen their snails that were for sale in a small "Critter Keeper" with the lid on it and it was sunk to the bottom of the big tank that was holding all the live aquarium plants for sale. There were so many snails in there and with no trace of food or plants for them to eat.

I know my own 2 snails love to gobble up the spinach leaves I put in their Veggie clips for them very fast, but these snails had no little scraps of food at all.

My snails go to the surface every once in a while for a "breath" of fresh air with their siphons. But the Petsmart snails can't do that in that critter keeper if it is sitting on the bottom of that bigger tank. What will happen if they can't ever go to the surface of the water to do that?

And why do they send new snails home in a bag with only a tablespoon or two of water in it? I used to buy snails in the past that had at least 3 to 4 cups of water in it....

 

[JKfish]

They go up if there isn't enough oxygen in the water. I'd like to think that the petsmart tanks are oxygenated enough that they wouldn't need to go up, because if they needed to but weren't able to, they might become sick or die...

In general, Petsmart isn't intelligent. They give horrible information on just about anything aquatic ("Oh yes random woman, here's a pelco to go into your 5 gallon tank that is already stocked with goldfish and glofish! It should clean up the algae just fine! And don't worry about what the tag says about it needing 20+ gallons- they grow to fit the tank! Oh, and you'll want two apple snails as well! BTW, did I mention that I'd say anything in order to get you to give the store money?!").

I'd like to assume that they occasionally feed them algae wafers, but I honestly don't know if they even feed them >.<; However, the snails should be fine if sent home in a little bit of water (technically) so long as they remain damp and get into a tank soon.

 

[Tappy4me]

Our Petsmart has 1 whole tank devoted to the snails. There's no fish or anything in their tank. They feed them algae leaves every days or so, or toss an algae wafer or two in there. I've actually been very impressed with the majority of the fish care (minus the bettas) our Petsmart. There are actually a few knowledgeable people there.

 

[Lupin]

Are these apple.snails? Apple snails can drown if.not allowed to breathe into the surface.

 

[Silverfang]

I believe the local PETsMART uses those weekend feeders for their snails.

But who knows what you'll get when you buy a snail.

 

[copperarabian]

the snails at my petsmart are kept in the planted tank,

 

[helms97]

the snails i saw at petsmart were getting eaten by other fish.. there workers (most of the time) know nothing. when i go there and have a question there are only 2 workers that can really help. one worker told my friend he can put 2 female bettas in a 1 gal bowl together, she also said he should get a snail to eat the poop... wtf?

 

[daniomania]

yeah. the petsmart near me stinks. the snails have no food, and when iasked them what do they eat..they said algae for mthe tank....barely algae thoguh!!! the snails looked dead to poor things there living too!!!1

 

[Turquioce]

The store clerk at my petsmart gave me 3 free snails because they had so many they didn't know what to do with them all after their snails began to rapidly reproduce. I got them when i bought my 3 female bettas. both snails and bettas were in horrible condition when i bought them. 2 snails died, and now i have one left. I got them as babies. they were so small i thought i would crush them if i picked them up. The surviving creatures i got from petsmart though, are now thriving. all they need is the proper care assuming the neglect of the petstore hasn't gone on long enough to do permanent damage to the animals. this goes for all of there pets. not just fish. the conditions they are kept in are just horrible. and i sometimes find myself buying them out of sympathy even if they are unlikely to survive.

 

[Silverfang]

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr218/Elis77/003-8.jpg

This is how I got Gary, he's feeding on some cucumber I think in that picture. When I bought him he was cracked, the girl told me he had been dropped and they were hoping he would get better.

Don't know if anyone in these parts actually knows about snails. I know petsmart has given me free pond snails before... before I realized they were pond snails. At my petsmart they will put goldfish in where they have an infestation to help clear it up.