Not all snails eggs are fertile and will develop into snails. Some snails like the Mystery snail do not reproduce asexually, the female Mystery snails normally need the opposite sex or gender to mate with and store their sperm in order to fertilize their eggs, even in the future.
Because female mystery snails could lay eggs with or without the presence of a male, it’s very hard to tell if eggs laid by Mystery snails are fertile or not, especially when there is no male in the tank.
Related: How to know if Crayfish eggs are fertilized
In this article, you will learn all about how to identify fertile mystery snail eggs and lots of other things that have to do with their eggs too.
How do I tell if Mystery Snail eggs are fertile? Fertilized Mystery snail eggs with developing snails in them should have little black spots in the middle, the eggs will look larger with more irregular shaping, and the color of the eggs will start to vary as time goes on, showing that they are indeed alive. You may also notice some white developing on some of the eggs, sometimes this means a fertile egg has died, However, It also means they might be getting ready to hatch. The eggs may look moldy just before the time comes for the baby snails to break free
These are some of the ways to know if Mystery snail eggs are fertile or not or any other type of aquarium snails too.
Mystery snails are not asexual nor hermaphrodites because they have male and female genders, and they need each other in order to reproduce.
Just like many other species of aquarium or water snails, Female Mystery snails could lay eggs on their own even without the presence of a male.
When these eggs are laid, they could be either fertile or infertile.
A female Mystery snail could only lay fertile eggs if it has mated with a male mystery snail presently or previously and stored his sperms in her body, which she uses to fertilize the future eggs she will lay.
Related: Why won’t my Swordtail fish give birth?
This ability makes a single female mystery snail to be able to lay fertilized eggs all alone in a tank makes it very hard for us to know if the eggs are fertilized or not you unless you follow the instructions I gave above.
Mystery Snails don’t bury their eggs, and they don’t lay them in the water, they lay them in dry places with enough moisture which they need to hatch, so it is very easy for you to pick up the eggs and check if they are fertile with the above information.
How To Spot Unfertilized Mystery Snail Eggs
It is very important to always check and try to know if your snail eggs are fertile or not whenever they lay them in order not to be disappointed at last.
How do I know if Mystery snail eggs are unfertilized? Unfertilized Mystery snail eggs will not have black spots in them, they will smell very bad and they will stain your white towel if they are placed in it.
These are the most common ways to know unfertilized snail eggs.
It is very simple to spot fertilized and non fertilized Snail eggs in your tank using these methods above.
If you check and notice that they are not fertilized, then there is no need to leave them in the tank, as they might contribute to breeding diseases when they rot, so, depose them off!
Related: 2 reasons why Crayfish shake their eggs
Also if you notice that they are fertilized, then you need to protect them if there are other animals in the tank that might prey on them.
How to Hatch Mystery Snail Eggs
When the eggs are fertile, you will only need to protect them if there are other animals in the tank that might eat or disorganize them, such as fish, crabs, etc.
To hatch snail eggs, you might want to leave them in the tank if it’s safe and only makes it possible for the moisture to get to them. This is the only thing they need to hatch.
Moisture can be provided through a heater.
Aquarium Snails thrive on warmer water temperatures, so, providing a heater will only make moisture get high and get to the eggs.
When a heater is added to their tank, what happens is the warmer the water gets, the more the condensation gets to the eggs, thereby fertilizing them.
This is because mystery snails don’t lay their eggs in water, but in the dry corners of the tank, and moisture is only what they need to hatch.
Another method to hatch snail eggs is to get them in a breeding tank and follow the instructions or get them in a box and place them at the surface of the water, in that case, they will have enough moisture to hatch.
Also, you can place them in a towel and keep them damp by spraying water on them on daily basis.
How Long Does Mystery Snail Eggs Take To Hatch?
If everything is okay, fertilized Mystery snail eggs will take between 3-4 weeks to hatch.
Fertilized snail eggs don’t just hatch anyhow, they only hatch in good conditions, so don’t let them be in the water.
Do Snails Lay Unfertilized Eggs?
Mystery Snails and other non-asexual snails do lay Unfertilized eggs due to the absence of a male counterpart and also the lack of sperm cells in her body.
As I explained above, it only requires the mating of the opposite sex for sexual snails to reproduce, if not, the female will only end up producing bad eggs that will not hatch because they are not fertilized.
On average, a mystery snail could lay up to 100 eggs at a go, and they will only hatch if they are fertile, or will end up wasting.
Mystery Snail Eggs Turning White
Sometimes when you check the eggs of your mystery snails, you may notice that they are white and you might be wondering what went wrong with them.
Mystery snail eggs could turn white if they lack enough condensation ( moisture) or if the eggs are not fertilized.
This is because one of the ways to check if snails eggs are not fertilized is by them turning white and transparent.
Although they could also turn white when they are about to hatch by eating the egg membrane.
How to Depose Off Infertile Or Fertile Snail Eggs
We all know that sometimes snails could turn into pests by reproducing so frequently, thereby enlarging their population which could overcrowd their tanks and again become pests if deposed off in the wild. At this juncture, the only remedy you might have is to destroy them when they are still in their egg stage. So how will we do that?
By smashing them: in order to curtail the population of your aquarium snails, one of the remedies you have is to crush them when they are still eggs.
Also, this is necessary to deal with those eggs that are not fertilized.
You only need to crush or smash them with your foot, and that will be the end of it.
Another method is by freezing them: If you feel too bad about crushing them, then freeze them for 2 days and the eggs with be destroyed.
Conclusion
These are the ways to know if snail eggs are fertilized or not.
I hope this article is very useful to you.
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