I am ordering empty cone snail (Conus textile) seashell from etsy/ebay for my kid. He is so in love with these snails. My question is does the empty shell itself pose any health danger and does it require any special handling or preparation before my kid can touch it and play with it?
Thanks
So I know this is not really a giant thing, but I feel like it is.
So me and my friends went to go to on a beach on the coast of Florida near Cape Coral, and we wanted to look for stuff to build a professional sand castle (one of those that you see on Instagram with the amazing detail). we went to a sand bar decent far out to look for shells, sand dollars, etc, and after about ten minutes of looking I found a hermit crab.
We got exited about my luck so we took back the stuff we found and put it next to our future sand castle, and headed back to the sand bar. This time we were really keen on finding more hermit crabs to accompany our first hermit crab which we named Bobby.
We kept finding sand dollars, shells, but no crabs. So I see a glint of red on the sand bar (it was up to our stomach and was partially clear) so I go down to grab it. It takes a few tries since the waves keep blinding me, but after 3 tries I get a good hold of it.
I feel that it is really burrowed in the sand, so I think it’s a hermit crab sleeping or something buried in the sand. I even feel it trying to burrow back down so I yell “JACKPOT!” To my friends, and they come over to see what’s going on.
The shell was about 3 inches long, and a shiny red. I tell them I have found a hermit crab and we put it in a plastic cup we found to recycle, we bring the shell and the other trinkets we found back to the beach and I realize from some documentary I watched a while back that cone snails live in these types of shells. So I tell them; “ this is either just some shell, a big hermit crab, or a snail that can shoot poisonous barbs that can cause respiratory paralyzing, blurred vision, or even death.”
So we bring it back and put it in a bigger tank filled with water, and explain it to our other friends who were having some discussion back at the towel spot. We explain the situation, and realize the shell was moving. We could see two beady white eyes staring at us on tentacle like appendages, and I realize finally that this is the real deal.
We put the lid onto the tank and sprinted back to the ocean, where we dumped it back on the sand bar. We swam so fast out of there you would think there’s a shark chasing us. We get back safely, and start working on the castle with the supplies we got.
TL;DR: I was at the beach and picked up an extremely venomous snail that shoots venom darts that can kill a human.
Notes: So I know this is not that much of a massive panic situation like the other po
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What are some good meals for my snails?
