Sick Albino Reticulata

[luciebella]

I was given an adult albino retic by a friend who no longer wanted him, and he's been really inactive since I got him. It's almost as if his body is too small for his shell, it's not mantle collapse it just looks like he's a tiny snail in a massive shell! Also, his body is really dark for an albino, but only the underneath of his foot. He has plenty of calcium sources and I give him plenty of different foods to try and entice him.
Running out of ideas, I've read that they can die after laying eggs but I'm not sure if he laid before I got him. I'll try and put photos up later.
Any suggestions?

[slackie]

Hi, this happened to by albino retic a few weeks ago, too. Does your eat? Mine doesn´t, and stays still deep in his shell. It occured to me to try to feed him with an injection with some glucose solution (?). Friend of mine is a vet, so she´ll give me the injection tomorrow, because I run out of ideas... I´ll tell you whetrer it helped...

[luciebella]

No he doesn't eat I moved him to his own tank about a week ago, it's got plenty of coir substrate, moss, cuttlebone, a limestone block thing and I always offer a variety of food. Think my other normal reti is missing him though!
That sounds interesting, he's really deeply retracted today again, you can hardly see his body but I know he's still alive because if you pick him up he moves around to investigate!
I hope your snail gets better!

[slackie]

Uh... I am very sorry, but just after I wrote you that, I went to bathe him (it always made him to "get up") and... Well, he´s over the rainbow bridge . I thought he was okay, because yesterday evening he was still alive...
Anyway, I hope yours WILL be okay. As I said, my plan was to make him eat, that´s why I wanted to feed him with injection. That might help... I´ll keep my fingers crossed for your snailie.

[luciebella]

Oh NO! Ahh :-( I'm so sorry :-(
He's still alive, I made it a few degrees warmer in the tank and he came out, slimed to the warm side of the tank and then retracted again :-( I don't know what to do for him!
I'm going to try him with fish flakes again, I usually try once or twice a week, he always looks like he's about to eat and then just goes back to sleep :-( I'll let you know how he gets on!

[Greta]

AWWWW I'm so sorry about your litlle snail rest on peace little snailie also my Retic doesn't seem to be to well either she was deeply retracted for 3 days I just couldn't handle I thought I was going to go mad I was worried never moved never ate and she was deeply rtracted that I could see her I was so worried about so what I did was spray her with water and kept the water in her for 10 seconds and spilled it out she came out a minute later I started to warm her up and them pit a lot of different types of food in her tank which banana sweet potato apple and lettuce and sprinkled with cuttlefish which I scraped of this was yesterday so today she is still out and is sitting on her food probably eating can't make it out really but she looks better now hope she is ok also I hope your snail will get better too fingers crossed

[Greta]

Sorry I ment that I couldnt see her when she retracted really deeply

[serenesarong]

I had an albino fulica Jadatzi that did this... she retracted right back inside her shell and her body went a funny greyish colour when she came out... which wasn't very often and only for very brief periods. She didn't eat despite all my efforts and unfortunately she didn't make it
She was very small for an adult fulica, and never seemed as lively as he tank mate who is also a rather small sized Jadatzi, so I think there may have been some genetic/inbreeding factors that may have contributed to her illness...

I hope that your snail gets better... I'm keeping my fingers crossed

[coyote]

I'm so sorry for your loss, slackie. Sometimes our snails will pass away in spite of everything we do to take the best care of them. There are so many factors that are out of our control (genetics, unknown illnesses, etc.). All we can do is our best, and the rest is up to them.

Luciebella, I'm not sure what advice to give for your snail other than to keep on offering highly nutritious food and calcium. Fingers crossed for him, and let us know how he's doing.

[luciebella]

Thanks for all the help so far, took some photos this morning. I tried to encourage him to come out but he wouldn't! He's not cold, as his shell doesn't feel cold to the touch and he's always buried under the substrate near the heat mat, I'm just not sure how much longer he's going to live. Running out of ideas :-(
Tried some sweet potato today and he didn't even come out of his shell :-(

[luciebella]

Sorry about the massive pictures, I'm on my phone and it won't let me resize them :-(

[Greta]

The pictures are great don't worry. Ok don't lose your hope yet keep him warm, also gave you tried spraying him inside the shell and keeping the water in him for 10 seconds then spilling it out it should work because tge snail needs to breath and if he's inside the shell he thinks that there's other way to breath only if he comes out so it should work it worked on me my little Retic is healthy again so when he is slowly coming out don't disturb him just incase he retracs again so while he's coming out get lots of different food for him and when he's out try to convince him to eat like don't let him get away put a lot of food all over his tank and spray twice a day I'm sorry if it doesn't work it worked for me she's back on track again eating sleeping sliming eating sliming sleeping you the usual behaviour I just hope yours will be healthy again I wish you the very best of luck also put foods that smell really nice and fresh maybe that will convince him spend lots of time with him asWell ull never know he might not make it but don't lose your hope try hard hug him kiss him give him love try everything if you lose hope he'll lose hope of surviving too so don't

[luciebella]

Ahh I'm so glad your snail has perked up Greta
I'll try that in a bit, just been out to stock up on sweet potatoes for the gang!
If he comes out I'll leave him alone, I've put little rings of food all around him so he's got plenty to nibble on!!
Thank you I'll keep you updated!

[Greta]

Great I wish you lots and lots of luck I know how feel I felt terrible I was about to cry when she did this but I'm so happy that she's well I really wish your gets better soon pass on 5 hugs and 10 kisses to him from me I hope you'll have luck xxx

[coyote]

He looks very deeply retracted. If he is always buried near the heat mat, do you think he might just be too cold (even though he doesn't feel cold to the touch) and needs more heat? It might be worth raising the temperature just a little to see how he responds.

[luciebella]

I've had the temperature at about 26/27 degrees, it's constant too, I'm worried it might be too much if I make it any higher! He's not been out at all today, I think he's giving up. I've turned the heat to 28 and the humidity is fine too, I'll see if he makes it through the night. I'm not feeling too positive though, he's so deeply retracted that I don't think he'll recover.
Poor little snail :-( I'm really hoping he recovers!

[iloncia]

A change of environment is always a shock for a snail and it usually take him a few days or a week to get accustomed to new surroundings. How long have you had him and do you know how old is he? I hope, he will get well. All the best to you and him.

[inky]

Look at this link. Your snails all have preamble.

www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/retracted.html#start

I only found this as I was looking up how to breed a sinistral snail. ^_^

[coyote]

I think "preamble" is the name of that section of the web page.

[inky]

Ah. Well, your snails all have... Uh...

[coyote]

Deep retraction.

[inky]

^^ What coyote said! I MEANT THAT! =O (Lol jk I had no idea what it was called ^_^)