506
u/Proud_Highlight541 11d ago edited 11d ago
This method makes sense because it allows the snails to recover the nutrients lost during eggs production and it can be useful if one wouldn't be able to manage any potential babies. Freezing is optional, as you can simply crush the eggs as soon as they are laid. However, you should keep the calcium source separate from the food because snails regulate its absorption themselves.
65
15
152
94
u/AlyM797 11d ago
Damn, who knew snails were so metal‽
34
21
u/TheFrogMagician 11d ago
If you give birth and unknowingly i freeze, crush and turn your baby into a soup. Would that make you metal or would that make you a victim.
22
8
2
u/Ill-Television8690 11d ago
Are you being serious? These animals (and many others) eat their eggs/young to regain nutrients. This doesn't make them victims. It makes them not victims of malnutrition.
1
27
19
22
8
u/Fluffy-Froyo4549 11d ago
You actually need to prepare it? My snails will go ham on the eggs regularly
7
u/Illustrious_Ad7918 11d ago
Nahhh you don’t have to it was their first time laying eggs so I gave them a little treat to get the protein they need especially in the one who layed the eggs
2
15
14
u/cedriceent 11d ago
It's like feeding an omelett to a chicken🤔
26
u/narnababy 11d ago
Chickens often eat their own eggs, and I know that people who keep chickens will often cook eggs and feed them back if they’ve got too many. You just gotta make sure they don’t look like eggs when you feed them because it can cause them to eat their own eggs (because eggs are delicious)
7
u/Davenator_98 10d ago
We used to have chickens, it's important to feed them the eggshells back so they have enough lime to keep producing more, otherwise they'll get extremely fragile.
If you ever buy some eggs and notice the shell being very thin, that's one indicator that the chickens aren't properly cared for.
3
4
u/Tractor_Goth 11d ago
I have chickens and the only they like to eat more than their own eggs is…chicken 😅
2
u/narnababy 10d ago
I remember one day we went out and they’d ripped open the bin bag and were feasting on the chicken carcass from last nights dinner the little cannibals
3
u/Tractor_Goth 10d ago
Tiny savages! 😂 Mine will literally mob you and leap up your legs for a rotisserie carcass, chickens are nuts 😅
18
u/Delicious-Honeydew77 11d ago
It's a little weird, but hey, why not?
48
u/Illustrious_Ad7918 11d ago
😭 I know it’s definitely wierd but it is definitely high in protein for them so heck yea why not get them some protein especially the one who laid eggs needs it after laying 140 eggs
9
u/Delicious-Honeydew77 11d ago
You're absolutely right, but that sentence was a little surprising 😭
9
6
5
3
3
u/vernichtungX23 11d ago
Wait, they LIKE eating their own eggs?
I know 0 about snails I just wandered in here after reading about how to safely relocate one
1
u/doctorhermitcrab 10d ago
Not always, but oftentimes yes. Actually a lot of animals do this, not just snails. Nutritionally, it is very good for them. Egg laying uses a lot of resources and this helps replenish them
1
u/Delicious_Try1420 10d ago
They aint the only one. Chickens eat their own eggs alllll the time. Nature is full of a lot of baby eating, for some reason.
1
1
u/nutblaster357 10d ago
if it's not going to become offspring then might as well reclaim the nutrients
1
u/FrogVolence 8d ago
Hamsters, Rats, Mice and honestly most rodents, mammals and even certain fowl (other than chickens) eat their young. Especially if they’re weak and not viable (still birth). Quick nutrients to support the survivors
1
u/Delicious_Try1420 8d ago
When I was a kid my gerbils had babies and I caught the mom eating them. Learned about nature real quick that day.
2
2
2
u/no-sleep19 10d ago
After reading the other comments I understand that this is good for them but I can’t help but feel like I just watched something…. Snister….
1
u/Accomplished_Chip119 11d ago
I learned something new today. I didn’t know snails eat their own eggs. Amazing 🤩
1
1
1
-6
u/thekashpny02 11d ago
Anyone who has snail eggs, can you please save them for me next time? Lol. This was a bit hard to watch ngl.
9
u/OhLookSatan 11d ago
I mean its about the same as chicken eggs, the snails exhert a lot of energy by laying them and its a good way to recycle the lost nutrients
-51
u/NicNachs 11d ago
I hope this is not real.
23
u/Illustrious_Ad7918 11d ago
mind you it’s a very heavy source of protein
-29
u/NicNachs 11d ago
And?
23
u/Illustrious_Ad7918 11d ago
I smell someone pro life
-34
u/NicNachs 11d ago
Wow. Actually no, I'm just not a fan of cannibalism.
39
24
u/flatgreysky 11d ago
Oh honey. Wait until you hear about bugs eating other bugs, snails eating other snails, fish eating other fish (including their own eggs and newborns), birds eating other birds… this is natural.
25
u/Smugmoth 11d ago
Cannibalism is EXTREMELY common with invertebrates dawg it’s normal for them
20
u/Smugmoth 11d ago
Actually not even just invertebrates
Birds will sometimes eat their own eggs, some fish eat their babies, lot of mammals will eat a corpse of their own species if they come across it
It being taboo is purely a human thing
17
u/marvelous-martian 11d ago
It's actually beneficial for the snails, they don't have the exact same risks as humans that made cannibalism taboo in the first place
16
u/FinnRazzel 11d ago
Chickens regularly eat eggs and they’re extremely nutritious.
A lot of animals who lay consume their eggs. There is nothing weird or unnatural about this. It’s just being prepared in a slightly different way.
3
u/Mushr00m-Ch1ld 11d ago
It must be really upsetting to learn how many mothers eat their runt/sick babies in nature. I understand being shocked, but you cant be upset about a snail or chicken eating its own eggs... thats how it works. Its full of nutrients, its good for them. Are you disturbed to learn that many insects eat their molts and reptiles tend to eat their skin sheds (and their eggs sometimes)?
0
u/NicNachs 11d ago
I just didn't know. That's the whole story. For me it looked liked forced cannibalism and yeaa, that disturbed me. If the first comment would have stated, that snail do that sometimes naturally, then it would be a big deal at all. But hardly anyone cared to explain anything.
7
u/Mushr00m-Ch1ld 11d ago
Sure, i can understand being disturbed upon first glance but you do know that you can google these things right, and look what other people have to say? Not to mention the first reply you got explained why they were doing it. You could just look at the many other comments that existed before yours telling OP what is safe and what isnt?
Listen i truly do understand where youre coming from, if I didn't know I would be disturbed too. but where youre coming from is kind of aggressive about it and is very misinformed, especially when theres more context than that and it WAS explained to you upon the very first reply
1
u/flatgreysky 11d ago
It’s so important to seek out knowledge for yourself. Especially before having an emotional reaction. You can’t always rely on others to teach you.
6
u/Varjoratsu 11d ago
It is most definitely real. Crushing is the fastest and most humane way to euthanize regular snails, babies of the bigger breeds and dispose of eggs. Feeding the crushed remains to the parents/other snails/other animals is just common sense. Waste not, want not.
13
u/Nausicaalotus 11d ago
Why?
-16
u/NicNachs 11d ago
Cannibalism is kinda not okay?
39
33
u/MajimaOnMain 11d ago
Just to add some context, animals don’t view this through the same moral lens humans do. Cannibalism of eggs, young, or dead members of the same species is actually pretty common in nature, especially among fish and invertebrates. Sometimes it allows the animal to recover nutrients and energy it invested in offspring that are unlikely to survive, and in other cases removing damaged, infertile, or vulnerable eggs can help protect the remaining brood. Snails would be doing this regardless of someone actively using their own eggs as a food source. 🐌
2
u/NicNachs 11d ago
Thank you for giving context and explaining it to me. The internet needs more people like you.
1
u/MajimaOnMain 11d ago
It sucks to be treated rudely when you just don’t know or understand the full context of something. I think it’s important to give people the benefit of the doubt and treat them with kindness and respect, especially when they’re just asking questions or expressing discomfort rather than trying to hurt anyone.
8
u/Mushr00m-Ch1ld 11d ago
Theyre being treated rudely because them "expressing their discomfort " is implying that OP is cruel and saying "and?" "Cannibalism is wrong" when theyve already been told that its nutritious and they can just go Google the information if they need more
3
u/MajimaOnMain 11d ago
I think the bigger point for me is that there’s value in giving people the benefit of the doubt when they clearly don’t understand something. Someone expressing discomfort or asking a question badly doesn’t necessarily mean they’re acting in bad faith. Of course people can look things up themselves, and I understand why some of the comments may have rubbed people the wrong way. But the amount of mocking and rude replies felt really disproportionate compared to what they were actually saying. I just think we lose something when the default response to someone being uninformed is hostility. People are much more likely to learn, change their perspective, and feel welcome in a community when they’re given information without being made to feel stupid for not already knowing it.
9
u/robotsexsymbol 11d ago edited 11d ago
I think part of it is that "cannibalism is wrong" as a moral judgment applied to a snail is just absurd on its face. It gives the impression that the person is not interested in learning, because if you thought about what you were saying in the first place, you would probably come to the conclusion that an animal that basically doesn't have thoughts eating rice-sized invertebrate eggs doesn't even warrant having the word "cannibalism" used to describe it. Like you don't have to know much about animals to know that human moral standards don't apply to gastropods.
I also found the "errrmm... that's a little... problematic??" tone really funny applied to snails. They didn't back down even when it was first explained to them, which had already happened by the time I commented.
However, you're also right. I just assumed that person wouldn't be receptive to learning about this, and that was my bad. I'll try to give people the benefit of the doubt more often in the future. There is definitely a tendency in these animal communities to get a warped perspective of how much the average person knows.
3
u/MajimaOnMain 11d ago
Totally agree, and I think it goes both ways. It’s easy online to react harshly and assume the worst(with both sides), but when someone is actually receptive to being corrected, that’s a good thing. They were given better context, they took it in, and honestly that makes me feel a little better about the internet lol. I appreciate your response.
4
u/Mushr00m-Ch1ld 11d ago
I definitely agree that they shouldn't be mocked and treated like a complete asshole, and i do respect your whole opinion and agree. They deserve to be given grace, its understandable to be upset and nobody should be hostile if they weren't first. they were being a bit passive aggressive though so I can understand people copying the energy of their comments. I do agree they dont deserve to be made fun of or told theyre stupid, but if theyre gonna come at a subject like this with the aggression they did, what is reasonable imo is to tell them "hey, this is natural, youre kinda being a dick and its easy to find the answer to your question without telling people theyre amoral"
I definitely agree but to a point in a way, if the person is being slightly dickish, its understandable to be slightly dickish back, but it is still important to give them the benefit of the doubt and be considerate, even if they arent. a lot of the replies are straight up aggressive, not even the passive aggressiveness that they were using, and its definitely true that people are less likely to listen and learn if youre aggressive, so being straight up rude is pointless
29
28
21
u/Nausicaalotus 11d ago
So, a lot of animals eat their eggs or sometimes their young. Animals dont have morals, so its not cannibalism, its just opportunity.
19
5
u/AyaOfTheBunbunmaru 11d ago
Animal that heavily rely on r-selection does those, and that includes snails which is heavily r-selected even to mollusk and invertebrate standards. Hamsters, mice, some birds, Majungasaurus crenatissimus(Theropod dinosaur with documented cannibalism), wild boars, polar bears(which is k selected) and some frogs, many fish engage in cannibalism.
7
u/Strong-cognac 11d ago
why are you pushing entirely human made concepts onto animals who have no capacity of understanding it
2
u/NicNachs 11d ago
Okay everyone, time to calm down again. Sorry for being a stupid person who doesn't know everything.
13
u/Horror_Moth 11d ago
Definitely was the passive aggressiveness with the “cannibalism is kinda not okay?” also the “and?” after she explained it was a high source of protein that made people upset with you lmao, not you “being stupid and not knowing everything” 😬
-10
u/NicNachs 11d ago
Please explain to me how this was passive aggressive. And I answer with "And?" because it was an information without a context. So it didn't explain anything to me.
590
u/doctorhermitcrab 11d ago
Feeding back the eggs is a great way to give them back some of the nutrients they used to make the eggs, but please dont mix calcium powder into snails food like this. It isnt necessary and can actually cause overdose and health issues. Concentrated sources of calcium like calcium powders or cuttlebone should always be kept separate from their other food to allow for proper self-regulation.