# Help with my Mystery?



## Chevko (Nov 15, 2012)

Nothing major, just a sexing question.

So, she (as I'm currently calling it) is a black Mystery, happily zooming around right now. I call her Honey because it wound up sticking after I had a scare with the temperature a few days ago. Kept talking to her after I put her back in her water after it warmed up a bit - was trying to warm her back up with my hands (I generally run around 99º/100ºF normally, the latter especially if stressed or dehydrated), trying to coax her out of her shell. Anyway, that's a story for another time (we're finally getting this heater to keep the temp stable).

So, I was peering over Applesnail.net and their species/sexing pages. I _think_ she's a she and a _flagellata_ because of the shell type, but now I'm just utterly not sure. For the sexing, I'm not sure. I tried what the website said to try find a penis but couldn't find anything - no idea exactly what I was looking for on the side that did not have her siphon. I'm kind of stuck on that one. Anyone any tips on helping me sex her(?)?

Here's an image of her shell.

Also, anyone have *any* idea what the horsefeathers she's doing in this video? She gets up to the waterline with her siphon out then... I have no idea. I'm torn between it being freaky and funny.


----------



## shellieca (Jul 12, 2012)

99-100F is your body temp I'm guessing not the tank water temp? If she is a she you'll want to drop the water line down so she can lay eggs if she needs to, the generally lay them above the water line & if they don't have enough room will climb out of the tank. I have to I know for certain are female, both have laid eggs after being alone for a month or more. As for sexing them I've not had any luck so I wait to see who lays eggs & then I know. Mine are single mystery snails in their tanks so they so be having babies. I have no idea what she's doing with that "chicken dance" but she's happy enough so I wouldn't worry.


----------



## Chevko (Nov 15, 2012)

Yeah, my body temp. I try to keep the water around 80º, 84ºF at the highest.

Females lay slugs? They still need to have that spare space available? Might that be why she does that weird dance?

Edit:
Also, it's not every time she siphons air that she does this. When I had her floating she siphoned air and never did this.


----------



## Silverfang (Mar 25, 2011)

actually mid 70's would be a better temperature for her. Apples/mysteries can "Age out" when kept at too high a temperature.

There is a way to sex them. But I've never been able to.


----------



## Chevko (Nov 15, 2012)

Ah, PetCo said room temperature at 82ºF. Was confused as to how this was room temp. Will try to keep this in mind.

What do you mean by "age out"?


----------



## homegrown terror (Aug 6, 2012)

Silverfang said:


> actually mid 70's would be a better temperature for her. Apples/mysteries can "Age out" when kept at too high a temperature.
> 
> There is a way to sex them. But I've never been able to.


the most reliable (though still not totally accurate) way to sex a mystery is to look at the front lip of their shell. if it appears to be an even curve (like yours) they're most likely female, whereas a male will have a bit of a peak in it, kinda like the tail on a water droplet. other than that, watch their behavior. males have a habit of, erm, "enjoying themselves" over any surface they can find, particularly if you've got a rock or decoration that has a round knobby end on it that sorta approximates the shape of another snail's shell. if you have multiple mysteries, this will become more apparent, since they tend to mate with each other ferociously, whether the other participant is male or female. (take THAT, fundies who say that same-sex relations are "unnatural!")


----------



## colorxmexravyne (May 8, 2012)

Chevko said:


> Also, anyone have *any* idea what the horsefeathers she's doing in this video? She gets up to the waterline with her siphon out then... I have no idea. I'm torn between it being freaky and funny.


As far as I know, it's normal. I *think* it has something to do with them filling their lungs back up with oxygen, but I'm not entirely sure. My first mystery snail used to do that all the time when she got up to the water line, but my current one has only done it once, maybe twice.

As for sexing, I'm kind of lost too. I used a guide somewhere (possibly on applesnail) that talked about flipping them over & waiting until they had stretched out of their shell and look for either "male parts" or lack thereof. By this method, both my mystery snails have been females, but I won't know for sure if I'm right until I somehow come across a male one to compare.


----------



## Chevko (Nov 15, 2012)

*@homegrown*
Two critters for you: bonobo chimps and dolphins.

I can not say I have seen Honey do anything like that though. I mean, I see some scum sometimes but I attributed that to snail slime. But, uh, thank you for the heads' up! I will definitely keep this in mind for any future Mysteries I get!

I've figured she was a she due to her shell curve, I saw that on applesnail's website someplace - looked way too curved to be anything else.

*@colorxmexravyne*
Hm, okay  I tried letting her stretch out but I had no idea what I was looking for and she was more like "... what. what the heck? what's going on here?" and wasn't stretching as much as I think is needed. And I didn't want to stress her too horribly.


----------



## Silverfang (Mar 25, 2011)

By age out I mean she will not live as long as she could. At higher temperatures their metabolism is accelerated and they grow faster, breed faster, and die faster.



> As for sexing, I'm kind of lost too. I used a guide somewhere (possibly on applesnail) that talked about flipping them over & waiting until they had stretched out of their shell and look for either "male parts" or lack thereof. By this method, both my mystery snails have been females, but I won't know for sure if I'm right until I somehow come across a male one to compare.


I have heard of this method, I just don't have the patience to wait for a snail to crawl out.


----------



## Chevko (Nov 15, 2012)

Could have _sworn _I replied  Oh well.

But that is very good information to have on hand, thanks Silver. It didn't take long for her to poke out of her shell, maybe 5-7 minutes in total was what it took. Did not have any idea what I was looking for so I assumed I didn't see what I needed to find to declare her a male.


Also, anyone know how to get rid of stuck slime trails on their feet? Occasionally I see her scooting around with a trail on her foot and I don't have any idea how to get rid of it.


----------



## Chevko (Nov 15, 2012)

The edit option has closed for my above post so I can't put my newest question in with it.

How often should these guys be fed? Mine seems to be a little piggy, having eaten a full cucumber slice (a bit more than an inch in diameter and about snack-thick [no idea how thick but not thin or thick]) and she was still nomming on the side of her container and looking for more food - I put in a quarter of a wafer in there and she tore after it. What's a good diet regimen to put her on so she doesn't get overfed? =\


----------



## Chevko (Nov 15, 2012)

Bump.


----------

