Giant African Land Snail, Archachatina ventricosa

Giant African land snails are hermaphrodites, which means they possess both the female and male reproductive organs. They can breed by shooting white ‘love darts’ into each other, storing sperm for long periods of time, and waiting for optimum conditions before fertilizing and laying their eggs.

Each snail can lay one to 20 eggs, which are about the size of a grape. In about three weeks a small snail emerges, and their shell continues to grow as the body of the snail enlarges (similar to how our nails constantly grow).

These snails never stop growing, but their growth rate slows as they reach maturity. They can live to be 10 years old.

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