What Do Snails Eat? A Food Guide for Pet Snails

Quick answer: many land snails eat dead leaves and other decaying plant matter, some eat living plants, and many also take a little animal matter. A pet snail such as a giant African land snail does well on washed leafy greens, vegetables and some fruit, with a calcium source in the tank at all times, a pinch of protein now and then and a very shallow water dish. Lift out anything it has not eaten within 24 hours.

That advice comes mostly from the RSPCA's and the Royal Veterinary College's care sheets, which are written for giant African land snails, and a garden snail you have brought indoors eats living plants too. Tiny unicorn snails are different: they live mainly on leaf litter, with thinly sliced soft vegetables alongside. This guide covers what snails eat in the wild, what to feed them at home, which of our dry foods fit and what to leave out.

What Snails Eat in the Wild

The UK has over 90 species of snail, and many of them are recyclers. The RHS describes snails eating dead leaves, dung and even dead slugs and snails. Only a few species go for living plants, and the garden snail is one of them.

The giant African land snail (Lissachatina fulica) eats mainly living and decaying plants, and its diet changes as it grows. According to the IUCN's invasive species database, hatchlings eat decaying matter and single-celled algae, young snails of 5 to 30mm prefer living plants, and adults largely go back to scavenging. Where it has spread in the tropics it eats crops including peas, cucumber, pumpkin, cabbage and banana, and it has been recorded eating other snails.

Fresh Food: Greens, Vegetables and Fruit

Fresh plant food is the bulk of a giant African land snail's diet. The RSPCA lists leafy greens such as lettuce, cabbage, spinach, watercress, dandelions and grass, along with courgette, cucumber, apple, melon, grapes and banana. The Amateur Entomologists' Society adds kale, broccoli, peppers, green beans, strawberries, squash and parsley.

Wash everything first to remove pesticide residue, and lift out whatever has not been eaten within 24 hours, before it starts to go off in the tank. Our freeze-dried garden peas are one ingredient, garden peas, with nothing added. They soften as they take up moisture in the tank, so there is no need to soak them, and they work as one food among the fresh ones rather than a staple.

A loose scatter of freeze-dried garden peas, some with split skins, on a pale surface

Calcium, All the Time

A snail builds its shell from calcium carbonate and keeps adding to it for its whole life, so calcium belongs in the diet rather than being an occasional extra. The RSPCA and the Royal Veterinary College both list cuttlefish bone, natural chalk, crushed eggshell or calcium powder as sources. For a giant African land snail, the IUCN's database gives calcium as a hatchling's main need until its shell is about 5mm long. Leave a source in the tank all the time.

Our crushed oyster shell is at least 95 per cent calcium carbonate, supplied crushed with nothing added, and it can sit in a shallow dish alongside a piece of cuttlebone or some crushed eggshell. Our guide to giant African land snail care goes into calcium in more detail.

A heap of crushed oyster shell in pale grey, cream and white fragments

Protein, a Little at a Time

Snails take some animal matter in the wild, dead slugs and snails included, so a little protein now and then has a place. A pinch of our dried daphnia, which are whole water fleas, freeze-dried and nothing else, or a few crushed dried calciworms, which are dried black soldier fly larvae, is plenty. Offer it dry in a small dish and lift it out with the rest of the leftovers.

Leaf Litter for Grazing

Dead leaves are natural snail food, and for unicorn snails they are the base of the diet. A layer of our mixed broadleaf leaf litter gives unicorn snails something to graze and somewhere to hide, and our unicorn snail guide covers the rest of their care. For a giant African land snail, leaves go alongside the fresh greens, not instead of them.

Water

Give a giant African land snail a very shallow water dish, no deeper than 5mm, and change it every day. The Royal Veterinary College's care sheet sets that depth because snails can drown in deeper water. Unicorn snails, with a shell only about 4mm across, are a different case: our unicorn snail guide keeps the humidity high and the substrate wet to the bottom.

Foods to Leave Out

Anything salted or seasoned. Keeper guides rule out salted, seasoned and processed human food, such as bread, crisps and cooked leftovers.
Unwashed produce. Wash shop-bought fruit and vegetables, and never collect plants from ground that may have been sprayed.
Stale or mouldy food. Clear leftovers after 24 hours.

Keeper guides also leave out citrus, onion and garlic. We found no study either way, but there is plenty else to feed, so leave them out too. Spinach, which some lists warn against, is on both the RSPCA and the Royal Veterinary College lists.

Garden Snails and the Law

The common garden snail is not a protected species. The Roman snail (Helix pomatia) is: in England and Wales it is an offence to kill, injure or take a wild one intentionally, or to keep or sell a wild one. Giant African land snails and unicorn snails are not native, so never release one or its eggs. Our giant African land snail guide explains what to do with eggs you do not want.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do snails eat?

Many land snails eat dead leaves and other decaying plant matter, some eat living plants, and many also take a little animal matter. Pet snails do well on washed greens, vegetables and some fruit, with calcium always available.

What do giant African land snails eat?

In the wild, mainly living and decaying plants. As pets, washed leafy greens, vegetables and fruit, a calcium source at all times and a little protein now and then.

Do snails need calcium?

Yes. A snail builds its shell from calcium carbonate throughout its life. Keep cuttlefish bone, natural chalk or crushed eggshell in the tank all the time, and crushed oyster shell can go in alongside.