Archachatina marginata has many different subspecies, amongst these are some of the bulkiest, and largest snails in the world. Only a small number of these subspecies are currently kept in captivity, though more may have been kept and misidentified in the past.

Archachatina marginata var. ovum, and var. suturalis are both kept in captivity, and are becoming much more common, especially in the case of ovum, this is partly because of the number of snails that were rescued from Brixton Market in London, which are sold there live as food there each summer in very poor conditions. Both subspecies are easy to breed in captivity, the eggs of ovum are slightly more difficult to hatch than that of suturalis.

Another subspecies may also be kept. Currently unidentified snails that originate from Lagos, Nigeria, known at the moment as Archachatina sp “Lagos” may yet turn out to be a subspecies of Archachatina marginata, they may also be a completely new species of snail though, or a localised form of an existing subspecies (like suturalis.)

Recently, a few other subspecies has become available, from Cameroon. Archachatina marginata var. clenchi, egregia and egregiella. All three are very rare in captivity at the moment, and arent likely to be encountered.

All subspecies of Archachatina marginata are found in tropical West Africa, and so greatly benefit from very warm, humid, conditions in captivity. They have been known to tolerate cooler temperatures of around 20-22c, with high humidity, but much warmer temperatures are definitely recommended. In ideal conditions the snails will be fairly active, though wild caught individuals are far more likely to be less active, and are more nocturnal than captive bred Archachatina marginata. If kept in less than ideal conditions these snails are very likely to aestivate, or be very inactive.

Breeding is also much more likely at warm conditions, around 26-30c, this can be accomplished by placing a heatmat along the outside of their housing so that it covers around 1/3 of the back of the housing. Positioning the heatmat under the snails housing is not recommended, as it would dry out the substrate.

These snails, as well as all other Archachatina species, lay very large eggs for their size, much larger than eggs of any Achatina species. They also lay eggs in far less numbers than Achatina species. Anymore than 10 eggs in one batch is considered very high, the average for most Archachatina species (including marginata) is around 6. The eggs, like the snails, should be kept warm and humid, they can take up to 2 months to hatch, though sometimes hatching can take place after around 3-4 weeks. The young snails should receive identical care to the adults, though kept in smaller housing, they shouldn’t be kept with the adults, or snails much larger than themselves as they may be accidentally crushed.

Archachatina marginata aren’t fussy, and will accept many foods in captivity. Corn on the cobb is readily taken by more reluctant feeders, that may be recently wild caught, or stressed from the poor conditions of the market stalls in Brixton where they are sold as food. Getting these snails to accept cuttlefish may be difficult, especially with wild caught individuals, so it’s a good idea to crush the cuttlefish and sprinkle it over the snails food, cuttlefish should always be offered though, its also a good idea to spray the snails with water mixed with liquid calcium. Liquid calcium can be bought from several places online (auction sites etc..) it should come with instructions for proper use, too much calcium would cause problems, only a few drops should be added to the spray bottle.