2.2. Gut emptying time
The gut emptying time of snails was investigated to ensure that the ingested eggs were depleted from the snail’s gut before processing of DNA and PCR analyses.
One hundred snails (5–10 mm in shell length) were individually fed with 2 different colored artificial foods (edible dyes).
Red colored food was initially fed to snail sun til red colored feces was detected; the re after green colored food was used. Changes in fecal color (from red to green) were monitored every 10 min.
The duration between first detection of red feces and first detection of green feces was determined to be the gut emptying time.