TerralogNEWS101
6
Lexicon
for theporcelain tree
snail article
Amphidromusmeans“twisting in
bothdirections”, referring to the
right-handedand left-handed
shells.
atricallosusmeans“withablack
callus”
leucoxanthusmeans“white-yellow”.
hortensis
and
C. nemoralis
, porcelain tree
snails also occur in numerous color
variants, though only themost attractive,
usually yellow or whitish-blue, specimens
are imported.
These shell colors are, however, species-
typical to anonly very limited extent, and
there
are
also
brown-patterned
individuals. The dark stripes on the shells
of many individuals are likewise not
species-specific, but develop when the
snail stopsgrowingduringadry spell.
Tree snails
The common name says it all:
Amphidromus
live on trees in the wild.
Unfortunately there is at present no
information available onwhat they eat in
the wild, although the radula, that is the
Groß-&Einzelhandel
Terraristik-Zimmer
Tel.: 0163 7120469
Porcelain tree snails arehermaphrodites, soany two specimens arealways apair.
A. a. perakensis
Fulton, 1901 comes from
the south of the Malayan Peninsula
(Malaysia,
Singapore,
and offshore
islands), while A. a. classiarius Sutcharit &
Panha,2006 isknownonly from the island
of KohTachai (whichbelongs toThailand)
in theAndaman Sea.The parietal callus is
white to transparent in
A.a.perakensis
,and
brownor black in
A.a.classiarius
.
Varied coloration
As with the European snails
Cepaea
equivalent of the teeth in snails, is very
weaklydeveloped in
Amphidromus
,so it is
assumed that these snails feed on
microscopic growths such as algae, fungi,
andbacteria on the bark of the trees.The
exporter in Thailand swears by melon as
food for these snails, but those imported
to date haven’t shown any significant
interest in this diet, so any relevant input
by terrariumkeeperswouldbewelcome.
PeteKrull (Krull,2006) hasdiscovered that
another genus of tree snails – namely
Liguus,which lives in Florida –must have
UV light for successfulmaintenance in the
terrarium,anddies if deprivedof this type
of illumination.
Amphidromus
has not yet
been investigated in this regard, but it
certainlyneeds checkingout!
Krull also gives a recipe for artificial food
for tree snails,whichworks verywell with
Liguus
: broccoli (contains lots of calcium),
other types of fruit and vegetables, and
dairy products, etc, are cooked in beer
(snails love beer!), put through a blender,
