Post by Zorst on May 21, 2012 10:26:39 GMT
Snail life here has been pretty quite and human life very busy, when about a month ago whilst I was away working Zorst’s best friend Gary decided to slither over the great divide and left poor Zorst alone. R.I.P. Gary.
Unfortunately my eldest daughter and Zorst’s human was looking after the snails and wasn’t given quite enough adult supervision, so feeding went a bit off kilter and the snails weren’t kept damp enough. Both retracted deeply into there shells and lost a lot of weight as well as got pretty sick. I got home to a very worried young daughter and two very sick snails, Gary gave up and though still alive wouldn’t come out of his shell. Zorst I did manage to rouse and get him to eat some cucumber, before he retracted again. Gary slimed over the great divide that night much to the upset of my 2 young daughters and myself.
I had to head off for another few weeks work so Zorst came with me that was fun taking a snail 400 miles by train etc. I was staying with a friend whilst we were foaling down mares, his face when he saw Zorst in his small tank was interesting to say the least, backed up with the words of “Is that what I think it is?” I said yep and he’s sick so we’ve gotta make him better or the girls will be distraught again. He nodded n walked away, (I saw him several times talking to Zorst and trying to get him to eat.)
With a lot of luke warm baths, a lot of handling and constantly raiding my poor friends fridge thankfully in this case he’s vegetarian. We both found things to tempt Zorst back into eating. And Zorst began to regain some weight, but was lonely; he was constantly looking in the coconut shell for Gary as it was Gary’s favourite hang out. He would repeatedly slime there take a look inside and slime out again. As my friend said he’s missing his mate that’s why he’s not eating well. I agreed and got into looking for some new Fulica’s to keep Zorst company. The mares in the meantime finally all foaled down with happy healthy foals, so I headed back home with a few extra Glade snails in my bag about 50 of them that ended up rescued for an area that needed clearing out.
Well I got back home with Zorst and the Glade snails quite a few who had damaged shells and needed a good feed as they had just woken up, so they are in a tank for a while and the others got released in the garden. But I was having problems finding Fulica’s over here believe it or not. I’m in the republic of Ireland and didn’t want them posted in as due to the nature of my work I wasn’t in any place long enough, I also wanted to be at home when they arrived so I could make sure all was ok etc.
Someone gave me the name of Escargots-Eireann, and I contacted them on the off chance. Well I was in luck they had some small Fulica’s, and what’s more they didn’t live far from me. We agreed on the snails and price etc then I got a call from them regarding a horse picture that someone they knew wanted drawing. I had to laugh as they didn’t know I was an Equine artist at that point, anyway the long and short of it was I drew the horse drawing and we traded it for the snails.
The girls were over the moon and Zorst finally had friends again and the girls were delighted with more snails. Zorst is now eating properly again and though he still checks out Gary’s coconut shell its not so often now, as the littlest of the new Fulica’s has taken up residence in it and Zorst well he likes his flower pot.
Unexpectedly Escargot’s – Eireann got in touch with me a few days ago and said due to relocating they decided to sell there Tiger snails. As I’d shown an interest in them they got hold of me again and this weekend 3 more snails arrived. The below pic’s are of Zorst meeting everyone and finally finding a big snail again. First they had a pool party and a swim then they went out in the sun on the lawn for a bit. Before returning to there own tanks. Shadow the cat was on snail duty as resident bird patrol so the snails thoroughly enjoyed themselves on the lawn making friends.
Zorst the new snails and the girls are happy and thanks very much Escargot – Eireann for helping me out and the healthy snails.
Below are some photos of first of all Gary R.I.P, then Zorst and his new friends.
Unfortunately my eldest daughter and Zorst’s human was looking after the snails and wasn’t given quite enough adult supervision, so feeding went a bit off kilter and the snails weren’t kept damp enough. Both retracted deeply into there shells and lost a lot of weight as well as got pretty sick. I got home to a very worried young daughter and two very sick snails, Gary gave up and though still alive wouldn’t come out of his shell. Zorst I did manage to rouse and get him to eat some cucumber, before he retracted again. Gary slimed over the great divide that night much to the upset of my 2 young daughters and myself.
I had to head off for another few weeks work so Zorst came with me that was fun taking a snail 400 miles by train etc. I was staying with a friend whilst we were foaling down mares, his face when he saw Zorst in his small tank was interesting to say the least, backed up with the words of “Is that what I think it is?” I said yep and he’s sick so we’ve gotta make him better or the girls will be distraught again. He nodded n walked away, (I saw him several times talking to Zorst and trying to get him to eat.)
With a lot of luke warm baths, a lot of handling and constantly raiding my poor friends fridge thankfully in this case he’s vegetarian. We both found things to tempt Zorst back into eating. And Zorst began to regain some weight, but was lonely; he was constantly looking in the coconut shell for Gary as it was Gary’s favourite hang out. He would repeatedly slime there take a look inside and slime out again. As my friend said he’s missing his mate that’s why he’s not eating well. I agreed and got into looking for some new Fulica’s to keep Zorst company. The mares in the meantime finally all foaled down with happy healthy foals, so I headed back home with a few extra Glade snails in my bag about 50 of them that ended up rescued for an area that needed clearing out.
Well I got back home with Zorst and the Glade snails quite a few who had damaged shells and needed a good feed as they had just woken up, so they are in a tank for a while and the others got released in the garden. But I was having problems finding Fulica’s over here believe it or not. I’m in the republic of Ireland and didn’t want them posted in as due to the nature of my work I wasn’t in any place long enough, I also wanted to be at home when they arrived so I could make sure all was ok etc.
Someone gave me the name of Escargots-Eireann, and I contacted them on the off chance. Well I was in luck they had some small Fulica’s, and what’s more they didn’t live far from me. We agreed on the snails and price etc then I got a call from them regarding a horse picture that someone they knew wanted drawing. I had to laugh as they didn’t know I was an Equine artist at that point, anyway the long and short of it was I drew the horse drawing and we traded it for the snails.
The girls were over the moon and Zorst finally had friends again and the girls were delighted with more snails. Zorst is now eating properly again and though he still checks out Gary’s coconut shell its not so often now, as the littlest of the new Fulica’s has taken up residence in it and Zorst well he likes his flower pot.
Unexpectedly Escargot’s – Eireann got in touch with me a few days ago and said due to relocating they decided to sell there Tiger snails. As I’d shown an interest in them they got hold of me again and this weekend 3 more snails arrived. The below pic’s are of Zorst meeting everyone and finally finding a big snail again. First they had a pool party and a swim then they went out in the sun on the lawn for a bit. Before returning to there own tanks. Shadow the cat was on snail duty as resident bird patrol so the snails thoroughly enjoyed themselves on the lawn making friends.
Zorst the new snails and the girls are happy and thanks very much Escargot – Eireann for helping me out and the healthy snails.
Below are some photos of first of all Gary R.I.P, then Zorst and his new friends.
