Nutrition

Diet

Guppya sterkii is a terrestrial snail that feeds upon fruit, algae, and plant materials similar to leaves, stems, and softened bark ("What do snails eat?", 2011).

Need for Calcium

Snails need calcium in their diets in order to build their shells, and they obtain it from various sources ("What do snails eat?", 2011). Dirt and rocks are great places to find calcium and snails use their rough tongue called a radula in order to scrape soft stones or limestone ("What do snails eat?", 2011). The calcium is absorbed through digestion and is utilized to produce the shell by means of the mantle ("What do snails eat?", 2011).