dd's have decided they would like some snails

[ditavonteesed]

so we popped into the tropical pet shop on the way home from school. they will want one each but they breed like rabbits dont they? care routine seems fairly straightforward, doe sanyone have them, do they make good pets for kids (we have dog and cats and chickens so no space safely for small furrys). dd2 picked one up in the shop and it slimed on her which she loved Yuck. what do you do with them while you clean them out (put them in a hamster ball?)
Not 100% sure this is a good idea.

are they african giant snails? Cleaning them out is easy just pop them in an old ice cream tub or something with a lid (they move a lot quicker then you would imagine!)

We were advised to get a heat mat like you would have for lizards etc but because our snail was free and we kept him in an old fish tank i thought the cost seemed a bit extravagant but unfortunately our snail got too cold in the winter and died!

They are also a lot more active when they are warmer so more interesting for the kids. Beware tho that they are hemaphrodites (don't know if thats the correct spelling but basically means they have both boy and girl reproductive bits!) This means if you get more than one you will definately get babies! The problem is they bury the eggs so unless you spot them before they hatch you will get LOTS of very cute and very tiny baby snails. As african giant snails are not native to this country and could do serious damage to our eco-system it is illegal to release them into wild. We were told if you spot the eggs you have to put them in freezer for a few days to kill before you bin them but what you are supposed to do wth babies I'm not sure. Beware it will not be easy to sell them if you look on gumtree or preloved etc there are loads of people trying to sell the babies usually only at about 5 babies for a £1 so nota great money making scheme either!

Don't know if that really helped.

We had one snail and it had 50 eggs. We put them in the airing cupboard and about 9 hatched out. I used rainforest bark for them to live on, they do stink a bit if you are a bit lazy about cleaning them out, and you can get flies in the tank if the food is left in too long.

We gave ours back to the pet shop in the end as dc got bored with them.

my dcs school have the giant african land snails, each class has one as a result of some one not knowing what to do with the babies They are allowed to take the snail home for the weekend but I seem to keep losing the permission slip, funny that. They also like

My DS was given 3 Snails by his Uncle, he loved them for about 2 weeks. 2 Yrs on I am the keeper of 3 snails. They do love a nice bath and shell rub. :) and they do like beer and lots of cucumber, Slothy, Slimon and Slewis get through about 2 a week.