So you might ask yourself what exactly is Snello? It is basically Jello for snails and shrimp. And in this blog, I will detail the cheap and easy steps to make your own snail and shrimp food. Making Snello sounds daunting at first, but with a bit of patience and time, you can make extremely cheap and easy food for all your invertebrate. And by the end of this blog, you will be able to make a high calcium snack for them. This will help your snails with their shell health and your shrimp with their growth. So what exactly will you need to make Snello?
- Microwave. (Obviously)
- Medium-sized bowl. (Has to be microwave safe.)
- Ziplock bag.
- Baking pin roller.
- Hand or electric blender.
- Medium-sized container.
- Refrigerator. (Well DUH!)
- Butter knife.
- Wax paper.
And now that you have everything you need, what will be the ingredients you will need?
- 1 packet unflavored gelatin. (This will bind the ingredients together.)
- 2 jars of vegetable baby food. (Any Vegetable Purée must not contain any meat!)
- 2 tablespoons of calcium powder. (You can use crushed Dolomite pills.)
- Green garden vegetables. (Spinach, Celery, Swiss Chard ect.)
- 2 tablespoons fish flakes crushed to a fine powder.
Okay so now that you have all the ingredients, here is how it all goes together. The total time to make all of this is around 4 hours, which includes leaving this mixture in the refrigerator for several hours.
- Take both jars of baby food and empty them into a microwavable bowl and heat for 30 seconds, mix around with a spoon and then pop it back into the microwave for 30 seconds.
- Add the 2 tablespoons of calcium powder to the baby food. (You can crush some by placing them in the ziplock bag and then crushing them with the baking pin roller.)
- Add a small portion of gelatin into the bowl with baby food and calcium powder. Do this slowly and be careful not to add the entire packet at once. Keep mixing until you get a gooey consistency.
- Blend your green garden vegetables in a blender till it is of a thick consistency. Now add the blended vegetable mixture to your baby food and make sure to mix it extremely well.
- Transfer the mixture to a flat tray (That will fit in your refrigerator.) and smooth out the batter in the container till the surface is smooth.
- Refrigerate (Freezer) for at least 4 hours or until solid to the touch.
- After 4 hours remove it from the fridge and use the butter knife to slice it into small cubes.
- Â Lay a piece of wax paper on a clean flat surface and quickly flip the tray upside down.
- You can put the cubes in either a Ziploc bag or an airtight container in the refrigerator/Freezer. They do not have to be thawed before feeding them to your snails or shrimp.
And that is it, a cheap and quick way to make a healthy snack for your snails and shrimp. But if you are too lazy to do that, check out My Tanklife’s large selection of fish, shrimp and snail food!
