Eggs!

Last night (22 May 2008) we discovered something rather creepy-looking in our aquarium:

It was definitely making my skin crawl!

However, a quick web search made the "Ewwww!" turn to "Awwwwwww" as we learned we're going to be "parents" to more Apple Snails! Yep, this fellow:

....is actually a gal! I think.

See, I have one Ivory "Mystery" snail (that's how they sell them at PetSmart) and one Blue "Mystery" snail. I recently (about a week ago) added a second Ivory snail. And suddenly, eggs. Now, if I'm doing all my reading correctly, the male is smaller, the female larger. The female's ovaries darken as she's ready to lay eggs---and this is more visible in the Ivory snail because of how translucent the shell is.

So, apparently in about 5 or 6 weeks, we'll have babies. I've got more reading to do. Thankfully, no knitting is required---that's a lot of babies to knit for!