I'm thinking of getting a snail in the near future; however, I only keep goldfish so I'm most worried about feeding. I'm thinking of putting together "snail biscuits" and vegetables that only the snail would be capable of eating (my goldfish are still adolescent, so they have no patience with things too tough to tear apart), but now I'm worried about calcium.

How do you guys make sure that your snail gets enough calcium in their diet?

I've seen liquid calcium available on snail websites, but there must be a cheaper alternative out there.

Homemade snail cookies are a great food for them, though the goldfish will more than likely still eat it. The good thing is that they give variety for the golds and take quite a while to eat so the snail will most likely get his fill.

As for calcium supplements, the blocks used to condition water for turtles work great, as do vacation feeders or a bit of cuttlebone or eggshells (often put into the filter, but I find that putting pieces straight into the tank in a high-flow area works great as my snails like to munch on it too!). There are mixed reviews on the effectiveness of calcium-rich foods as it is not dissolved calcium, but whether the snails can utilize that calcium or not they still benefit from other nutrients in those...namely spinach, dandelion greens, kale, turnip greens, and so forth.

Good luck with your snail...I warn, they're like potato chips, you can't have just one!

No one could have warned me of this sooner? I went from 2 to 10! Gah!