Giant African Land Snails: Achatina Fulica
The giant African land snail Achatina Fulica is one of the most common giant land snails in the world. They are east African snails and are a popular choice and most common choice for pets due to the fact that their shells can grow up to 25cm in length! In fact, the largest ever Achatina Fulica had a shell length of 37 cm (that’s over 14 inches!) and weighed 450g (almost 16 ounces)!
Achatina Fulicas are very prolific breeders and have been known to lay around 500 eggs after one mating! The average amount eggs that are laid are around 40-100, with less actually hatching into baby snails. Due to their invasive nature these snails are illegal as pets in many countries, including the USA.
All giant land snails are hermaphrodites; this means they carry female and male sex organs, although two individual snails are still needed for breeding.
Baby Achatina Fulicas snails have a growth rate of about 10mm a month, but by 6 months of age they should have a shell length of around 3.5cm or 35mm. The average shell length for an Achatina Fulica is 5-10cm when an adult. Â Giant land snails never stop growing, although the older they are the slower their rate of growth will be.
In appearance, Achatina Fulicas generally have a yellow/brownish coloured shell with a slight black zigzag pattern to many of the whorls. Their skin is a dark brown or black colour with white or grey tubercles. In Achatina snails their tubercles are courser than Archachatina species.
Achatina Fulicias can survive cold temperatures by hibernating for long periods of time until they feel the temperature is suitable for them. Similarly they start aestivating and become inactive on very hot temperatures.  They prefer a temperature of around 20 °C though not exceeding 29 °C. They will generally go into hibernation at around 2-10 °C. They shouldn’t be placed in bright sunlight as this species are easily burnt by the sun and can die from long exposure to the direct sun. For this reason they shouldn’t be kept in a container on a windowsill.
May 8, 2010
· 
Maddia (Admin) · 
2 Comments
Tags: Animals, giant african land snails, Giant Land Snails, Pets · Posted in: Giant African Land Snail Species
2 Responses
how long do achatina fulica eggs take to hatch
Achatina Fulicas are quite quick to hatch compared to other species. The average length of time is usually only a couple of days, around 2-8 days seems to be the average, although it can take up to three weeks.