With more and more people starting to keep pet snails or feed the snails in their garden on a regular basis, we have noticed a number of people reaching out and asking about the various types of food that they can feed the snails that they care for.
Although we do see people asking about feeding their pet snails a wide range of different types of food, we have noticed more and more people specifically asking if snails can eat grapes or not.
Due to seeing so many people asking about feeding their snails grapes as well as grapes being slightly different to some of the other food types when it comes to snails, we have decided to publish a dedicated article going over giving your snails grapes.
Our hope is that we will be able to help our readers better understand the food options for their snail as well as how to prepare grapes for snails.
Please note though, snails should not be given a single food type and do require a mix of different fruits and vegetables for a nutritionally complete diet.
Although kitchen scraps can work well, feeding your snail a specialised snail food can be an excellent option to take as it is nutritionally complete while also having calcium for their shells.
If you do want to feed your snails kitchen scraps then we would recommend that you look into adding additional calcium to help keep your snails healthy by offering your snails cuttlebone if possible.
Can Snails Eat Grapes?
Snails can eat grapes with both green and red grapes making a great addition to the diet of many snails. Grapes can be an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, and fibre for your snails as well as a number of other essential nutrients in smaller doses.
Although it will depend on the specific snail, green grapes definitely do seem to be preferred over red grapes for snails. This may be due to the stronger taste of the red grapes but some snails will happily eat red grapes.
Some people do choose to freeze the grapes and then defrost them prior to giving them to their snails too as it can help to break the cells of the grapes down but this is not essential. If you do choose to freeze the grapes, but sure to defrost them fully before you feed them to your pet snails.
Why Doesn’t My Snail Eat Grapes?
Snails will commonly be covered in pesticides or protective wax making it difficult for your snails to eat them.
This is why many people report that their snails refuse to eat grapes but if you wash your grapes correctly prior to giving them to your snails to remove these protective layers, your snails will have a much easier job of eating them.
There are a few things that you are able to do to the grapes prior to feeding them to your snails too that make it much easier for your snails to eat them.
The first is to freeze them as we touched on above as the grapes cells will break when frozen making it much easier for your snail to eat the grape once it is defrosted.
The second thing is to cut the grape in two so they are able to get to the flesh without having to try and work their way through the skin of the grape too. Although this will take a couple of seconds to do, it does make it much easier for your pet snails to eat the grapes.
Are Grapes Good For Snails?
Grapes are good for snails and can be a great source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, potassium, and fibre. Snails do tend to leave the skin of the grape though so the consumed fibre will be lower than the normal suggestion on the label of your grapes.
Depending on your area and the weather conditions for any garden snails that you may feed, grapes can also be an excellent source of water too.
The majority of people who do feed snails will also offer them a water source too though so this is not as much of a benefit as some people think.
Just because grapes are good for snails, they should not be used as their only food source.
As we mentioned back at the start of the article, they are far from nutritionally complete so a mixture of fruits and vegetable scraps from your kitchen or a specialised snail food should be used to form a balanced diet.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over if snails can eat grapes to and end. We hope that we have been able to help you better understand when you should be feeding any snails that your care for grapes as well as that you should only be feeding grapes to your snails as a part of a balanced diet. Additionally, all grapes should be washed thoroughly prior to giving them to your snails to make sure that any pesticides have been washed off.
