I would like to start this thread for everyone to share their experience, whether positive or negative about cone snails.
Before the flaming starts, let me just say that there are 500 and more species of cone snails, ONLY one or two species have caused actual fatalities. And I have experience in working with cone snails. I housed a conus textile for a period of over one year, and have had discussions with Dr. Alan Kohn, world expert in cone snails about the behavior and physiology of these amazing animals.
I am also a double major in neurobiology and biochemistry, and have studied in detail the action mechanism of conotoxin neuropeptides.
Even though some species like the c.geographus are presumed to be dangerous animals, they can still be potentially reasonable and interesting pets with the advanced aquarists that prefer the unique and novel.
I obtained a trio of conus ebraeus from petco, lucky buy I guess... they, like usual, did not know what the snails actually are. Even though c.ebraeus are widely spread harmless worm eaters, it still is a risk selling them to the public without even a notion of the potential of these animals.
But lucky for me, as I love cone snails and have been looking for more since the passing of my beloved c.textile.
To learn about cone snails:
http://grimwade.biochem.unimelb.edu.au/cone/main.html
The c.ebraeus are predators of nereids(sp) and euncid worms, they are found in numerous parts of the tropics, my variant might be from hawaii due to their size, said Dr. Alan Kohn of University of Washington.
They have just begun feeding on some polychaetes I found in the pugent sound. I hope they can survive in the long term, and I will be keeping updates on their progress:
Before the flaming starts, let me just say that there are 500 and more species of cone snails, ONLY one or two species have caused actual fatalities. And I have experience in working with cone snails. I housed a conus textile for a period of over one year, and have had discussions with Dr. Alan Kohn, world expert in cone snails about the behavior and physiology of these amazing animals.
I am also a double major in neurobiology and biochemistry, and have studied in detail the action mechanism of conotoxin neuropeptides.
Even though some species like the c.geographus are presumed to be dangerous animals, they can still be potentially reasonable and interesting pets with the advanced aquarists that prefer the unique and novel.
I obtained a trio of conus ebraeus from petco, lucky buy I guess... they, like usual, did not know what the snails actually are. Even though c.ebraeus are widely spread harmless worm eaters, it still is a risk selling them to the public without even a notion of the potential of these animals.
But lucky for me, as I love cone snails and have been looking for more since the passing of my beloved c.textile.
To learn about cone snails:
http://grimwade.biochem.unimelb.edu.au/cone/main.html
The c.ebraeus are predators of nereids(sp) and euncid worms, they are found in numerous parts of the tropics, my variant might be from hawaii due to their size, said Dr. Alan Kohn of University of Washington.
They have just begun feeding on some polychaetes I found in the pugent sound. I hope they can survive in the long term, and I will be keeping updates on their progress:
