How can I tell if my snail is a male or female?

Question

I have a freshwater tropical tank. I have a gold snail in the tank how can i tell if it is male or female? Will they mate do i need anything speical?

Answer 1

snails are asexual. they don't need to **** to reproduce.

Answer 2

Snails are hermaphroditic, so the answer is "both".

Some species can self fertilize (meaning you only need one to breed) and others cannot (meaning you need two, but any two will do). There are several species of freshwater snails, so which ones you have will make a difference.

The egg cases generally look like tiny oval shaped blobs of green jelly on either the tank glass, rocks, or plants. If on the glass, you will be able to see tiny individual eggs through the gel. Eventually you will see tiny, tiny little snails crawling along the bottom and on plants, etc...
Also be aware if you have loose gravel in the bottom of the tank, you might have dozens of more snails than you normally see. They like to hide in the gravel, where they are protected and also get to eat all the detritus from the bottom.

Answer 3

Most snail are hermaphroditic, and some can reproduce all by them selves. On the other hand trapdoor snails have male and female sexs. (Short of dissecting them I'm not sure how to tell.)

PS- Most likely its an apple snail often called a "Golden mystery snail". Of course there are a lot of yellow snails that are non apple snails, or even mystery snails.

PPS- I guess I'm wrong about sexing apple snails.
http://www.applesnail.net/content/faq.php#4

Answer 4

Not all snails are asexual. Some are, some aren't.

You need to do research on the specific snail types to see if they are.

Answer 5

Err, you better not check what gender then. My friend had one snail in her aquarium to start with, and now there are at least 30! They are nearly all aobut the thrid the size of a grain of rice right now except for the one she started with.

Answer 6

You probably have an apple snail. Here is a link to a site that describes how to determine the sex: http://www.applesnail.net/content/anatomy/reproduction.php#sexes

Answer 7

the site above for sexing is very good. if you have a male and a female it is likely they'll just breed, but you can increase your chances by lowering the water level a few inches, they lay their eggs above water, and raising the water temp to about 80°F to 82°F. also provide them with more food (carrot slices, live plants, cucumber or zucchini slices, ect..).

here is another helpful site, I believe it's the main page to the one given above:
http://www.applesnail.net/content/care.php#temperature

Answer 8

snails are hermaphrodites, they are both sexes. they do not need to mate to have little hermaphrodite children.did you know that mushrooms have over 1000 different sexes?

Answer 9

i think snails are hermhapdites that means they have both the male and female genitals and reproduce by themselves

Answer 10

They are asexual. I had a sail that I found and the next thing I knew there were over a few dozen. Good luck!

Answer 11

the other answers are completely inaccurate. i know this because i attended snail university for snails.
first of all, gentley hold your snail. insert your finger into the shell hole. if the snail bites down hard on your finger, it is a male and you are putting him in pain. a female on the other hand will flop around dead.