Tigers always burried and never active???

[Evil Angel]

Why are my tigers always deeply burried and withdrawn?

Whenever I look in the tub I see all my other snails roaming about and eating and just generally being happy, healthy snaillies
But my tigers are never to be seen! I often find myself digging and digging around the tub until I find them just to make sure they're ok. But they're just burried down in their shell.

I just don't get it! The temp is 25C and its nice and humid and my other snails all thrive in it even though it was set up for my tigers...

I just don't know what I'm doing wrong!

I read that tigers do like to spend a lot of time being burried and such, but mine are never active?! I get worried that they'll starve to death so every morning I dig them up and place them on top of the food, but next time I look in the tub they are burried again!

I really think I'm doing something wrong and worried that they'll die or something if I just leave them to it...

and they never seem to want to come out from their shells, no matter how much I try and tempt them with foods, they are just always burried and hiding? I really dont know what I'm getting so wrong?

If you've got any advice for me about this I'd be very grateful!
Thanks for your time!

[rosiesnail2]

Well if your ever up in the middle of the night and its pitch black get a torch and check, my retics only come out from 7pm onwards..

[fran]

i have the same problem with my baby tigers. they seem to be constantly buried. i have never ever seen them out and about unless it's me who unburied them and sat them on food - but they don't eat and go to hide again...

i too worry, is this normal?

[Evil Angel]

our problems sound exactly the same lol

because they're so keen on being buried I wonder if the tank is too cold? But to be honest, it's around 25C-30C and I keep the soil quite moist as read the soil they have in the wild is quite damp, it's also got a good humidity in the tank, so don't understand what I'm doing wrong?

I get scared that if I leave them and dont dig them up, that they will just stay down there, seal themselves up and then die =(

I want to get some albino tigers, but wont risk it while my normals dont seem happy! =I

[latebloomer]

Mine are exactly the same, and have been from the beginning. I have only seen them out on the odd occasion, and never through the day. They are warm and humid enough. I check them about every four days and they do come out and eat then. They are growing, however, and seem to be eating their moss when buried in it judging by their poop. I just don't what else to do.

[Evil Angel]

I've ordered another heat mat, I'm going to up the temps a bit and see if that helps...

I know tigers are an inactive species, and that they love to be burried for most of the day anyway, but I think mine just arn't that happy with the way I'm keeping them at the moment :/

So gonna try a few different things until I see some kind of improvement.. First step is raising the temps slightly..

[fran]

ok, so that makes 3 of us now who's tigers are acting the same. perhaps it's normal behaviour after all??

Caz please let me know if the extra heat makes any difference.

i was lucky enough to see mine (well, one of them) out and about last night.

they are lovely little things. ;D

[latebloomer]

I know that mine were not happy at first because they were forming a skin as if they were going to hibernate. They must dislike changes in environment and take longer to adapt. They are also very shy, even now they are very cautious about coming out, one eye peering out and looking around lol. Mine are actually about 26.5C. They cannot resist mango once they emerge. They are always buried together, but not near the heatmat. If one of them is out I tiptoe quietly out in case I disturb them. Obsessed? Not at all lol.

[Evil Angel]

I was worried because mine arn't even active at night time! I've been up at silly hours in the night checking them, but they never move from their 'burrows'

the heat mat arrived this morning, I'm gonna attach it to the other side of my tank and wrap the whole tub in tin foil to keep the heat it.. hoping that will push the heat up to around 27C-30C see if that will perk them up...

I'll set it all up and give it until tonight then check the temp reading, and start keeping a close eye on the tigers, see if they notice the change haha!

Will have to move my Fulicas out though will probably be too hot in there for them in there after I attach the second mat...I didnt want to keep them in with my younger snails but its either that or I cook them in the tiger tub LOL

Anywhoooo......will let you know how it all goes! hoping to be able to report back with nice active tigers haha!

[Evil Angel]

my tiger tub at the bottom covered in foil haha! but its got both mats plugged in now and heating up! gonna keep a close eye on things and hopefully will see an improvement!! ;D

[Evil Angel]

well, ever since I recieved my new tigers, I have not seen their faces! no matter how hard I tried to encourage them out of their shells they were as stubborn as muck!
But I dont know if the higher heat made them more receptive or what, but they actually came out today!! I've seen my tigers for the first time! lol

It did worry me a bit though as my old tigers were very bulky, whereas these tigers look shrivled and too small for their shell, it looked like a real struggle for them to pull the shells along.. they were slightly retracted when they arrived, but although I couldnt get them to come out of their shell, I did always dig the up, give them a wash and put them on the fresh food in the morning, a few hours later I would check on them and they'd be burried again so thought they were just shy or something (if snails even be shy lol), but they do look very thin in comparison to their shell size... I am worried about them, as my albopicta looked like that days before he died... But I am encouraged by the fact I finally saw them today! I just really hope they pick up!
if anyone else has got any advice on trying to thicken them up I'd be very grateful as they are so shrivled and weak at the mo!

But am glad to say the higher heat has seemed to have been helped!

[Evil Angel]

Am happy to say that the tigers have really improved since the added heat! they are more active and looking much healthier!

[latebloomer]

Yay! Result!

[fran]

I am so glad your tigers are doing better Caz.

i am undecided what to do with mine at the moment. one of them was out and about last night eating cucumber so perhaps they are just coming out when i am not looking. they are housed in a 4 foot glass tank with two baby albino fulica and 2 baby retics so to up the heat is probably not a good idea.

[entomomaniac]

I have this exact same problem. My 3 tiger babies always bury themselves, and when it's feeding time, I have to dig up the entire tank to find them. One of them worries me especially, because somtimes when I dig it up it has made a thin transparent layer over the shell opening. A heat mat is not really an option seince their tank is so tiny, and if I move them to a bigger tank I will never be able to find them. What can I do?

[latebloomer]

There is a small heatmat, a 4watt, which I have on my smallest tank. It has served its purpose reasonably well but the room must be warm as it only boosts the ambient temperature. My tigers are nearer the radiator in the warmest room with a 12watt heatmat.

[Evil Angel]

I'm still digging mine up, just to make sure, putting them on the fresh food just to put my mind at rest.. I think I still need to find a warmer place to keep the tank as latebloomer said, but because it's a big tub I will have to rearrange my whole house just to make a new place for it lol, but think it will need to be done, especially near the end of the year..

my tigers were always making that thin layer too, I had to bath them every morning, but been able to stop that now luckily. I tried not digging them up the other day, I made sure I knew where they were, but didnt unearth them, left them there and the next day they hadnt move from that spot which was annoying, but not worrying as they hadnt made the layer or anything. I think they're are better now I've put the other heat mat on, but I do think I'll have to dig them up every couple of days just to make sure lol

[latebloomer]

My Jades were exactly the same, worse if anything, I used to wake up in the middle of the night and check to see if they were out and dig them up every four days to make sure they were still alive. They are big healthy snails now. Worried myself sick for nothing, as usual.

[entomomaniac]

The smallest heatmat I could find is 10X12,5 cm, which would still be big enough to cover the largest side of the tank. I couldn't find any information on how many watts it was, just the size and the name, "ExoTerra Heat Wave Desert Extra small". What makes me reluctant to buy it is the size, it's too big for my small tank and too small for my big tank, and the price, 205 Swedish Kronor, which is around 19 £. I do have a big heatmat already, but I think it might be too big to put one one side of the big tank, I used to have a tortoise, and the heatmat would be under the tank, covering about half of the area. I have been thinking about getting a heat lamp or a heating wire, but I don't know how a heating wire works.

[latebloomer]

To be honest, the amount of heat you get from the smaller heatmat makes it a waste of money anyway and especially at that price. I wonder what would be an economical way of keeping one small room warm all the time without heating the whole house. If you do use a heatmat putting a flap of bubblewrap over about a third of the top of the tank above the heatmat does help to raise the temperature and humidity.I will get this right if it kills me lol.

[entomomaniac]

I have given up on the heat mat, instead I covered every air hole in the tank with a very fine mesh fabric and raised the temperature in my room in general. They still don't crawl around a lot, but I have accepted that that might just be the way Tigers act. I have seen that the thansparent slime layers quit showing up though, and that was my biggest worry.

[Evil Angel]

Mine only move about when I've dug them up... The temps are like 27C so pretty good and the humidity is fine and the soil is nice and moist so dont understand what is wrong them If I leave them and dont dig them up they just stay there, there'll be no new trails, food goes untouched, and they seal up, but thats an improvement for mine as before they were sealing themselves everynight, but now they dont as as long as I dig them up regularly so things have got better, not solved, but better...

I'm glad that your tigers stopped making the slime cover too as that was also my biggest concern!

I'm just going to keep trying stuff until something works and stops me having to dig them up anymore!

[oscar101]

I have my Tigers on coir substrait. they dont have a hide or anything, just their substriat, food and cuttle fish. Mine are always burried during the day time but since I work as a night watchman I leave my home at 11pm and return at 4:30am. Before I leave to work and again when i return, I always take a look into their enclosure. both of them are always out and about. Most snails are "nocturnal" but I figgured that these guys stand their ground more with that than most other Achatina species. mine are kept between 19 and 21 celcius. and are currently aprox 7cm shell lengh.

hope this helps

[swub]

I've only had my tigers for a couple of weeks but they're actually very active at various times of the day.

They're in a ventilated, plastic box, with a good depth of compost and some sphagnum moss across half of it. I don't have a heat mat, but the box stands on top of my daughter's fish tank, which gives off heat. I have my other snail boxes stacked on top of the tigers.