Achatina snails have a pointed apex and Archachatina snails have a much blunter one. Until you have owned an Archachatina and you can compare the two together it can be hard to tell which yours is.

To help with this I have drawn a guide to what the very last whorl will look like:

Achatina		Archachatina

As far as we know, all Archachatina snails have a V shape on their tail. So far, we only know of one Achatina which has this. It is called Achatina achatina which luckily is one of the easiest Achatina to identify for a number of reasons.

The V is a raised, serrated bump. It is easy to feel if you wet your finger and run it over the tail.

Sometimes Achatina snails seem to show a lighter V shape on their tail. This is just a change in colour and it is not raised. If it looks like a V but doesn't have a distinctive V ridge then it is an Achatina.

Achatina		Archachatina