Ebay source for inverts

[peterac]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone could give me some feedback on purchasing snails and/or crabs on ebay. There seems to be some good deals on large volumes of snails and crabs but my skeptical side says to be careful.

Please pass along any successes and/or disappointments.
Also, any sellers you recommend or do not recommend.

Thanks,
Pete R.

 

[DragonForce]

People have been very happy with purchasing snails online. I heard they also give you plenty of extras incase some of them die.

 

[melosu58]

I`ve heard the same thing.

 

[j_a_wickstrom]

There was one ebay seller that was scamming snails, though. I think he was selling freshwater snails as nassarius snails. A healthy dose of skepticism is good when looking at any auction, IMO. Check the seller's feedback rating and scan the feedback for any useful information.

 

[sdellin]

Better make sure you have enough algae to support the number of snails you get. Scraping algae is better than putting in a bunch of snails and having them starve over time.

You can also add a vegetable clip with algae sheets to help make sure they get enough food. I'm so sick that sometimes I pluck the snails off wherever they are and stick them on the tank walls next to the algae sheets, I know that's weird, but I want to make sure they eat enough!