【Background】The golden apple snail, Pomacea canaliculata (Lamarck) is a major exotic invasive pest in China, which has a serious impact on almost all kinds of crops. There are few studies about effects of different plants and starvation on development and growth of juvenile P.canaliculata. 【Method】The length, width, height and live body mass of golden apple snail feeding on eight plants, including Brassica rapa pekinensis, land leaves of Morella rubra, Brassica rapa chinensis, Lactuca sativa, Apium graveolens, Zizania latifolia, Raphanus sativus, Eleusine indica were determined in this study. The special growth rate and feeding rate were also compared among different size classes. 【Result】The highest feeding capacity of P.canaliculata occurred on B.rapa pekinensis, and no feeding behavior was found on the leaf of M.rubra. The starvation experiments showed that the small snails were more retarded by starvation and effects of starvation on different classes of P.canaliculata ranked as follows: Rank Ⅰ (0.[KG-*8]003~0.[KG-*8]30 g/snail)>Rank Ⅱ (0.[KG-*8]30~1.[KG-*8]5 g/snail)>Rank Ⅲ (1.[KG-*8]5~6.[KG-*8]5 g/snail)>Rank Ⅳ (6.[KG-*8]5~70 g/snail). The development of snails in Rank Ⅰ was more dependent on plant foods, and starvation could significantly influence the growth of small snails. The body mass of small snails was more sensitive to food quality than in other size classes.【Conclusion and significance】P.canaliculata can feed on all tested plants except M.rubra, but food quality was different between plants. The tolerance of starvation decreased with the increase of temperature.