Archachatina degneri appear similar to both Archachatina marginata (var. suturalis) and Archachatina puylaerti.

They are found only in Ghana, West Africa, and are occasionally available as wild caught adults. They are fairly easy to breed in captivity. They lay around 6 eggs per batch, though much larger batches of eggs are possible, one of my degneri produced eighteen 2cm eggs in one batch, this number is certainly not the average though. The hatching rate of eggs of this species is usually very good, especially if the eggs are kept humid, and at a warm, constant temperature similar to the adult snails, around 26-30c.

Since many wild caught snails of this species have been available fairly recently, many potentially unrelated bloodlines should exist in captivity, and so it is a very good idea to only keep unrelated snails of this species together. Though it isn’t proven, direct inbreeding of snails over a course of time may weaken the species, the resulting snails may be stunted and more prone to disease, with a lower life expectancy.

The adults can be striped, partially striped, or rather plain shelled, the shell texture is fairly smooth, and the shell usually ventricose. They have a purplish, reddish or pink columella, they can get to around 12-14cm shell length, around 10-12cm may be an average size for them. The body colour is usually fairly light. They resemble Archachatina marginata var. ovum, but the differences are obvious, especially when both species are compared side by side.

Since these snails are found in tropical West Africa they are much less tolerant of cooler conditions than snails of East Africa (Achatina fulica etc..) and need to be kept very warm, around 28-30c, and very humid in captivity. Kept incorrectly these snails will remain inactive, and are likely to aestivate.   

A large water bowl, moss, daily spraying of their housing and limited ventilation can help maintain the humidity required, a heatmat covering approximately 1/3 of the back of their housing should be used, and the snails housing kept in a warm room.  The substrate can be soil, coir, or rotting wood substrate, and should remain moist, the snails are far more likely to lay eggs underground, and so they should be allowed to burrow, a substrate of around 10-15cm is advised for adult snails, though it can be deeper than this.

(Top) Archachatina degneri, adults 12cm

(2nd) Archachatina degneri, sub adult 9-10cm

(3rd) young Archachatina degneri, approx 2cm

(bottom) Archachatina degneri, eggs, 18 eggs laid in one batch