Apple Snail unable to lay eggs above the water.

[Skunk]

I saw my two apple snails at it today, cheeky buggers!

And then an hour or so later, one of them was half way out of the water, and she had a long trail of black dots leading from her. I'm guessing that they are her eggs?

Will it be due to her size, or something else? Anything I can do to help?

Thanks for the help

[kizno1]

Black dots? snail eggs when layed are more of a misty white colour. Mine sometimes just stick go a little bit out the water so it might just be it was going for a stretch i dout it was because it couldnt get out the water. I might be wrong thought. Im sure flip will be on soon and be able to help.

[Skunk]

Yeh, the black I was confused about :P

[kizno1]

I honestly dont have a clue what it could be. Is it still there?

[Skunk]

No, it tends to float away and get lost in the gravel. Will take a photo next time, as this is the second time in a week.

[kizno1]

I really dont have a clue. Flip might be able to help though shes the snail expert here.

[flip]

it is poop. depending on what they eat the color of the poop will change. mine have it hanging off of them all the time! the eggs are a milky color like kiz said. it can take up to months after mating for the female to lay eggs. she can hold sperm for at least six months. dont worry she is just fine! oh and you may want to keep an eye on the 'female' and make sure it is a she since males WILL mate with other males. a snail on top is always a male but the bottom one can be either!
here is a pic of some apple snail eggs for comparison, ignore the color of them the lighting is awful in the pic and doesnt show it at all. the clutch was about 1 1/2 inches long and each individual egg tends to be around 4mm in diameter.
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[Skunk]

Ooo thanks for the help, haha poop does not equal eggs got it!

I've heard of making the one on top so you can check which sex they are, any ideas on what would be safe to mark them with?

[flip]

i do that in my tanks since i breed them. i use nail polish and just make a small dot on the top of the shell well away from any part of the body. you have to take them out and dry the part of the shell that you want to mark. then after you dot them set them in a tupperware container or on a plate with a very shallow covering of water so they dont dry out, keep them there till the polish is dry. if you look in the avatar pic you can see that one of the snails there has a dot! hope that helped, just let me know if you have more questions!!

[Skunk]

ooo thanks. Will do that next time.

[Skunk]

I got two very small clutches :D less than an inch each, but yay!! They're a pale pink Can't wait to get some baby snails

Anything I can do?

[kizno1]

Thats good. Theres not much you can do until they hatch.

[flip]

just to warn you, one of those clutches can give you a large amount of babies, up over a hundred. if you dont have room for that many i would take out a clutch and destroy it. for the size you say they are you are still looking at at least 50 babies from one! and kiz is right, not too much you can do just wait till they hatch! congrats on the clutches:)

[Skunk]

:D That's fine, I've already got lfs' to take them

My tank is quite heavily planted, so, I'm thinking of taking them out and rearing them in a tub. So, a big plastic storage box with a simple filter.

Could I take the eggs out and keep them in a box with damp kitchen paper? Of course I'll be keeping a close eye on them, and I won't take them out for another week.

[kizno1]

Im not to sure on the putting them in a tub thing i know they need to be kept dry or they will drown. Flip will be able to help more.
If you really dont want them to hatch in the tank you could fill up a tub with a cm of water and put a bit of late or something like that in the middle and put the eggs on the slate then ones they hatch out they will be able to crawl into the water and then ones they all hatch you can give them something bigger.

[Skunk]

That's something similar to what I was thinking

The eggs wouldn't be submersed, and the tub just used for them to grow up in.

[kizno1]

Fair enough. I just wasnt sure about it being damp because im not sure how wet they actually have to be before they drown.

[Skunk]

Yeh, thats a point, where they are now is quite humid, with condensation on the tank sides. Gonna leave them there for at least another week anyway.

[kizno1]

Not to sure then. Flip will be able to help more than me.

[Skunk]

Found another much larger clutch today yay.