I'm pretty sure I have an apple snail, that's what they told me he was at the store. He's not orange though, he's justs brownish/greenish. And almost as big as a baseball. My question is......... He was up towards the top of the tank eating his cucumber last night, and I picked him up out of the tank and looked at him. He came out of his shell after like 3 seconds and looked at me too. Then I let him sit in the palm of my hand and he was CHEWING on me!!! I saw his mouth part things that look like toothbrush bristles, and he was trying to eat my hand, I mean, it actaully almost hurt, and you could hear it scraping his "teeth" on my hand!!! Is this bad that I got him out and let him do all that? This is the first snail that I"ve had, and I'm just really interested in him/her.

lol its not bad at all!! I always take my snails out and play with them, i too am intrigued by their little mouths and feelers...
Also, when they are out of water, they get curious and come out to see.. thats why yours came out after a few seconds They like to find something to grab on so they will just hang there!
I haven't put them on my hand yet though, lol because i wasn't sure if it would hurt! haha
Here's a pic of one of mine, gettin' pretty big as well, not as big as yours though!! I would love to see some pics!!

Oooh, yours is very pretty! Is it an apple snail? I love the shell color, reminds me of either Toothless or Black Orandas snail that passed away recently (I always get those boys mixed up!). I'mm a gonna take some pics of my snail later, and I'll pt em on here, I took some pics of him the other night, but that was before a knew that I could pick him up, so the pics are in the water, and not very good. I'll get the stinker out this afternoon and snap some out of water pics for ya! Lets just hope he's not hungry! Ouch!

yup both of mine are apple snails, or "gold inca snails" is another common name...
As soon as i saw the colour i had to get her, she is a beauty, i agree
I can't wait to see some pics of yours, they're so interesting to me. I never thought i could be that excited about SNAILS!
I have lots of pics of mine in the water too, i take pics with my webcam so they don't turn out the greatest but it works.. if you look further down this board subject, i've posted a few pics here and there!

So what does it feel like, when he's on your hand??

it feels like the little scrapings of a very dull razor blade LOL - take a piece of coral or aquarium rock and scrape it on your hands...that's what it feels like lol it's so fun though to let them crawl on your hands (as long as you're clean!!)

the tell tale sign that you have an apple snail is if it has a "breathing tube" to the left of it's eyes (our right if it's facing you) other snails do not have this. it's a tube that they stick out to breathe oxygen.

Hmmm..... I dunno if he has one or not, I look at him, and I can't make anything out. He's like a slimy little puzzle. What's the tube look like when he's not using it? yeah, that's a good explanation s to what it feels like when he's "chewing" on my hand. It freaked me out BIG TIME. My husband thought I was crazy until he HEARD him scratching my hand. So weird. I had no idea that snails were so COOL! Ha! Here's another question..... when he's on the side of the glass, sliming up or down it, how do I pick him up? I was gonna take some pics of him, but He was stuck to the glass, and I didn't wanna pull him out of his shell! Do I have to wait till I see him on the bottom of the tank?

lightly grab a hold of his shell with finger and thumb and slide him upwards towards the top of the tank. do not pull too hard on him, he should just "shimmy" up with slight pull. if he offers resistance, don't yank him, just wait until he lets go slowly, or wait until he's moving by himself. usually you can pull them off when thy're moving because that's when they're sliding those muscles up and down on the glass and the suction isn't as strong. if he doesn't want to move he won't. plain and simple LOL.
i play peek-a-boo with my snail max when he's out of water. i'll hold him up in the air and turn him away from my face and he'll crawl out and slime all over the open space looking for some place to land and then i'm turn him towards my face and he look at me and tuck himself in a little bit (not all the way) then i'll turn him around again and he'll climb out all the way, then turn him towards my face and he'll duck in. he recognizes my face. it's SO cute

You're weird Jillian just kidding!

The picture thats i showed you earlier, if you look at it, above her 'eyes' and mouth on the right, there is a 'feeler' looking thing. thats the tube!
when you pick your snail up, and he comes floppin' out, take a look in that area - up top and to the right above...his 'old man' face as i call it! haha thats where it should be.. it looks like a feeler and he's have it out and about his shell a lot too.
If there is a 'feeler' on the left hand side, i believe thats his penis!

Well, I found the tube thingy. It's on the right when he's facing me. Kinda weird. I think he's a she, cuz I don't see anything on the other side. Here's a pic of HER, see what I mean by a slimy puzzle?

..............

Those are great pictures!! What a cutie!! SHE's got really great colours!
yup thats the tube!

lol thats basically how i figured out mine were female.. lack of anything in the 'area' i'm thinking if they were male, we'd see something

p.s. have you named her yet?

Haven't named her yet, no. I'm horrible with female names. I always refer to my fish as "he". So I always pick out male names!! Got any ideas? I like human names for the most part.

just because you can't see the pee-pee doesn't mean it doesn't exist !!LOL they curl it up and tuck it away for safe keeping I haven't been able to spot my Max's yet but I know he has one, because him and Taro (which I should really rename Tara) were doing the wild thing on my graduation day.... LOLOL Errika those pictures are great. he's like Ahh..oohhhh. ::squish:: i'm up... i'm up in the air. hmmm put me down. hellloooooooo ::squish:: it's me the snail. put me down. hum. ok.

lachfa, I am NOT weird LOLOL

how about naming him/her something unisex like Harley....Jade...or Amar that way you can have both

oh hey! i'm at level 10 guys WOO HOO i just noticed that LOL

Harley's kinda cool......... ooooo..... Marley!!! Well, no, the husband's ex has a niece named Marley. <_< Harley it is.........

Jillian----

Have you drank a whole pot of coffee today? Hahahahahaha.. yeah. I've been weird today too.