I went to my LFS today and asked if they had Apple snails. The employee explained to me they are now illegal. I'm not sure if this is a state by state thing... but I had one in California. I'm pretty upset I can't get one for my new tank. My old snail, Fu, was awesome (and almost the size of an apple!). Does anyone know if there are other snails that are legally available in Washington that are comparable in size to an apple snail? My LFS had trap door snails, but I'm afraid my (future) fish would see them and think,.... lunch.

Not sure where are what but they are suppose to be illegal here too. I found this out after I had a dozen sent to me from on line. I still have some of the babies from those. They are illegal cause people do not know how to despose of them without putting them down the toleit and if they are not dead they clog up the sewers. (Sorry for the misspelled words my spell checker does not work with Safari and I have not found a new one yet.)

It is illegal to ship Canas and Haustrum across state lines becasue they are plant eaters and are causing problems in many southern states. Brigs you need a permit to ship. I don't think they are fully illegal in any state, but there are a lot of shipping restriction. If you want one of the big applesnails you should start searching for someone within your state that has them...you'll be hard pressed to find one any other way and if you get caught having them shipped from another state the USDA will come confiscate the snails.

Heres a link to a thread about it over at applesnail.net: http://www.applesnail.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=14658

Thanks for the link! Gosh, it's like Snail Prohibition... Can't there be a snail speakeasy in Seattle... Hahah!

I saw something about that last year. California hasn't had ANY apples (of any species) in a few years. I used to work at a mom n pop fish store and we would get tons of brigs and canas all the time. Then my manager told me he couldn't order them anymore. The only kind we'd gotten in were the Japanese trapdoor snails.

Hopefully you'll be able to find some. I miss having them. I always wanted the blue and violet ones.

I understand why they are banned now - people would just drop them in any local area pond or water stream, and they would multiply like cray (its a snail, it is its nature ), then eat up all the local plants and whatever not, making a big mess, becoming pretty invasive. Here in GA there aren't any more apple snails either, sadly. I miss mine. The smaller ones are cute too, but nothing more impressive than a huge fist sized thing sliming its way through your tank...

Just a side note, I did find Brigs in a local pet store today...

I agree, my Fu (Manchu) was that big and was such an attention getter... and, he was big enough to not be picked on by my fish. I found some trapdoor snails that seem pretty nice. I don't know much about them, do they get big too?



Better stock up while you still can!

I don't belive the pond/trapdoor snails get more than an inch. As for the brigs, yes I was tempted to go grab them up. You never know if I might see them again.

The trap door snails around here often push 3 inches long...but they're not nearly as pretty as applesnails. Their faces are cute though.