Hobbies And Interests
Reproduction
Many species of freshwater snails are hermaphrodites, possessing both female and male organs. Able to create and fertilize its own eggs, a single snail can invade and quickly over populate a new habitat. In its average one-year lifetime, a snail can lay up to 1000 eggs. Other species, such as the Oncomelania and the Viviparus snails, live longer lives -- as long as three to five years -- with specimens divided into two separate sexes.
Birth
Most freshwater snails create and lay eggs. A majority of species produce gelatinous lumps of jelly-like eggs in batches of five to 40 eggs. Eggs collect on plants, or in an aquarium, often to the side of the glass, hatching after six to eight days. Some amphibious snails lay a single egg close to the water's edge. The more unusual Malaysian and Japanese live-bearing snails keep their eggs inside their shells, releasing them into the water after the eggs hatch.
Adolescence
Depending on the species and environmental conditions, most snails reach maturity in four to seven weeks. Some snails, like the Pomacea, experience periods of arrested growth or aestivation. After weeks of rapid maturation, snails suddenly stop growing. Instead, its energies are focused on reproduction. After a few periods of spawning, the snail continues to grow at an elevated pace.
Life Span
The availability of food, as well as the temperature and conditions of the water the snails inhabit, determine the life span, as well as reproductive habits of the snail. Warm, snail-friendly water paired with an abundance of nutrients results in an explosion of new snails. This increased activity lowers the life expectancy of the snail, sometimes less than three months. In less-desirable conditions, snails may only have one or two reproductive periods a year, but live longer.