Snails and Turtles???

Question
A local Pet Store recently gave me a snail they considered to be a 'pest'.  I now know why. By looking at pictures Iam guessing it is a Rams Horn snail but not 100% sure. In the past 2-3 weeks I think the darn thing has had about 50 little ones.  The original snail is in a 1-2 gallon tank with a single flame tail molly just to keep the algea down.  I thought I had the perfect solution, put the little ones in my turtle tank since it has a huge amount of recurring algea.  I have 2 red ear sliders that are about 3-4 years old in a 29 gallon long tank.  I must have put about 20-30 of the little baby snails in there in the past weeks and I can not find a single one.  A couple of the 'babies' have been almost as large as the mother and they have not been seen either.  Do you think the turtles are eating them or are they not compatible with the water?  There are no additives in either of the tanks but I am sure the turtles are nastier than the single fish.  Hope you can help.

Brande

Answer
Hi Brande;

Those turtles are lovin' you! One of their favorite foods is the yummy snail! It is a great way to get rid of an infestation of the little fellas though. They are very nutritious too. Their shells provide calcium and other minerals and the flesh has plenty of protein for growing turtles. They just swallow the small ones whole and crunch up the bigger ones. Sounds "yuck", but it's good for them.

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins