DIY Pond Snail Trap

[Aquarium1]

The other day I made a DIY snail trap, and it works really well, and I've seen so many snail problem threads I thought I'd share. (sorry about some of the pics. I used the wrong settings on my image resizer)

So you'll need just a few cheap materials:
a lighter
a screw driver
a tupperware container (I used a container that used to contain turkey, although the turkey was in a bag.)
and some shrimp pellets
I use the Wardley brand which they seem to love. I think its just a Walmart brand.

I didn't take pics of the process but it's pretty easy.

1. Wash the container with some warm water (NO SOAP OR CHEMICALS)
2. Heat your screw driver with the lighter. Be careful.
3. While still warm, poke holes from the outside into your tupperware container with your screwdriver. Reheat the screwdriver as needed and poke a few holes on every side but the bottom.
4. If your container is too light, put some rocks on top.

Because you poke from the outside, it leaves a raised are on the inside which makes it hard for the snails to get out.

I used mine only twice so far and at least half my snails are already gone. The good thing about it is that you can leave it in for a day or two without having to worry about them escaping.

Here's the first time I put it in.

and the second time:

Thanks for reading

 

[mfdrookie516]

just out of curiosity, what did you do with the snails after you caught them?

 

[Aquarium1]

Well the only reason I had them was because I had gotten them a few years ago from the pond in my yard, so I just put them back in the exact same pond. Although they might have died since the water was so cold.

 

[mfdrookie516]

im just trying to figure out what i would do with the 5780913420938471451234098123493012309571348571032491823741892035 in my 55g tank... i could always put them in a 10g and try and give them to somebody with a puffer i guess?

 

[Aquarium1]

if you put them in the 10g it'll only make them a problem in there. You could give them to someone with a puffer, maybe even ship them. You could put an ad in the classifieds. Or you could leave them out to dry, which I used to do, but I feel its a little too cruel, so I don't do that anymore.

 

[mfdrookie516]

well i have two empty 10's in the closet, so if i set one up, it would be for the sole purpose of the snails... i may even sneak them back in to the lfs that they came from

 

[Aquarium1]

maybe, if you want.

 

[Aquarium1]

Just thought I'd give a little update, Snails are almost gone! There aren't many snails left in my tank, so I suspect a few more times and I could be completely rid of em lol. Although I have to make sure I trap the snails that haven't hatched yet.

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

That my friend is a great idea!! I happen to have a friend with some clown loaches and I'm sure they'll appreciate the snack.

 

[Aquarium1]

Thank you. That sounds like a plan lol.

 

[WhiteDevil]

AQ, thanks plans work great, I am using a soldering iron for the holes though, I might as well use it, had it for 10 years and it was still in the packaging lol.

Hopefully this works, now comes the problem of the eggs. The tank is at 92 degrees and they arent dying just laying more and more eggs, cant turn heat down due to ich possibly in the tank(again no fish in the tank)

 

[Aquarium1]

Good luck

 

[WhiteDevil]

I am about to drop a homemade grenade into this tank, I have no idea other then PP on how to get rid of the eggs, and the PP is over 45 minutes away.

I am actually more concerned with the plants surviving.

 

[Aquarium1]

whats PP?

 

[WhiteDevil]

potassium pomegranite or something like that, supposed to nuke the eggs too.

The trap has been in the water for exactly 21 minutes now, I have 5 snails in the trap already and my assassins seem to follow the smell of the shrimp pellets so they are getting closer to the box and more then likely will wait in ambush.

I found a ton of eggs so hopefully my squishing the eggs will help too.

 

[ilovemydragongoby]

hmmm, maybe thats what im gonna do to get rid of these snails! thats an awesome idea!

 

[Aquarium1]

haha thanks good luck

 

[WhiteDevil]

Dude it didnt work, not only did I use the trap I also emptied and dried the tank for 3 months, snails are still there, even with new gravel.

Hows your tank with the snails doing?

 

[Aquarium1]

Oh, that stinks. I got their population down pretty low, then I got lazy and it bounced back up haha. You can never really get em all, unless you have like a puffer or assassin snails. They've invaded my planted tank too -_- but in my mbuna and in my betta tank their numbers are pretty low, but they probably eat them lol.

 

[WhiteDevil]

My assassins were crap, I got 10, have none left, they all died for no apparant reason, Ive taken the fish out of the tank, wrote the plants off and nuked it with 500ml of coppersafe and the snails (pond) turned white and their numbers increased 10x overnight it seems.

Ive got known snail eaters in there and they arent doing crap either. Im about to fire them.