YES! Rabbit snails can and do produce hybrids. While they do occasionally hybridize in the wild, it’s much more likely to occur in the pet trade. Both wholesalers and pet stores often house different species of rabbit snails together, which means some of the babies produced will often be hybrids.

I am very careful to keep my rabbit snails in single-species-only aquariums, and I remove any snail that doesn’t look like the intended species BEFORE the snail is old enough to breed. Many hybrid rabbit snails look like “bumblebees,” like the one pictured below. This snail was born right after I purchased a group of rabbit snails and was removed from my “Yellow Spotted” or “Yellow Flake” aquarium when still very young.

Regular-sized rabbit snails that grow to be 3-4″ in size typically breed at 1.5-2″ in length. There are some mini rabbit snails that can reproduce at a smaller size. Since many people don’t know what species they are keeping, it’s best practice to remove any baby of an unusual appearance and keep it separate from the snails that look “correct” for each species.

While the hybrids can look really cool, it’s very important to keep pure species as much as possible so that the specific natural traits of each species are preserved. This is not always an easy task, as sellers often don’t know what species they are offering, and different exporters call the same rabbit snail by different common names (yellow spotted/yellow flake/yellow spotlight, for example, might all be the same Tylomelania species or a different one). Ask the seller for pictures of the exact snails being sold to try to make sure you are getting the type of rabbit snail that you want to keep. It’s not uncommon (but definitely unethical) for sellers to use photos that they have snagged from the internet.

Side Note: The photos of the snails on this website are of my own snails, past or present. Please do not take my photos to sell your snails or promote another website. I have had this happen many times over which is frustrating.