Shell falling off help ASAP!

[Deleted]

Hi, one off my young Cepaea have a completely wrecked shell Will he survive? I only noticed today, Tommorow i'm off to buy some cuttlefish, His shell is like hanging off and interestingly his flesh part thats tucked under the shell has stripes identical to his shell! I have put him in a small tub with damp tissue and loads of air-holes, Will he make it? He seems fine, he slimes around and is very fast nothing has changed in his behaviour but i saw him eating his shell and thats when i saw how broken it was

Attachments:

[pinkunicorn]

Is his shell smashed? It's hard to say if he can survive. Keep him in a tiny container so he can't move around much, and feed him cuttle and also put some powdered cuttle on his food. As you're doing now. Could also give him some fish food to get an extra dose of vitamins and protein.

Poor little guy.

[pinkunicorn]

Oh and keep him moist. He must not dry out while his shell does not offer best protection. Best to use boiled rainwater or boiled bottled water.

[Deleted]

It's hard to say, like you know where the big fleshy part is attached to the shell? Well its separated from the shell, like I can see down the shell but his shell is still on, it's hard to explain i'll use a picture I made

Red= Where it's defintaly cracked
Blue= Not sure if its cracked
EDIT: I have given him some crushed egg shells, I've never felt this attached to a snail before, I hope he survives :S

[pinkunicorn]

Do you have any calcium supplements for humans? They normally have too much vitamin D for a snail per tablet, but this is an emergency and he won't be consuming them for so long to develop overdose. You can powder a supplement tablet and put it on top of his favourite food.

In these little round snails the snail's body is usually attached all the way to the shell's first whorls (the part you see is actually the foot), it's where his internal organs are located. They are mostly protected by a kind of skin as well as the shell. If I understand correctly the situation from the picture, the shell will probably hold together so that he will be able to breath. If the shell collapses around the mantle (the membrane that is between the shell and the visible foot) it can also collapse the lungs which are located right behind the mantle. That means the snail will suffocate and die when his body runs out of oxygen, which is slower than for humans. So your little guy has chances to make it, as long as he isn't allowed to dry his internal body out.

Try to handle him as little as possible, if at all. The moist tissue "substrate" is good, so you can even flip the box upside down if the little guy tries to go sleep in the "ceiling", that probably isn't good for him right now. The shell shouldn't be subjected to much tearing and pressure now.

[Deleted]

Thanks, What human type calcium tablets do you reccomend? I have like vitamin ones but they are the chewable gummy type ones so i doubt he would eat it, He does keep sleeping on the roof though I'm worried about what you said about his lungs collapsing because there is a small gap between the foot and the shell but he does seem very active, I'll go ask my mum if we have any calcium tablets.

[pinkunicorn]

Best would be the swallowable kind without flavourings and much additives, crushed into powder. But an unflavoured chewable will do if that's what you have available right now. Snails will probably be put off by mint flavour, at least. Maybe he'd tolerate orange or strawberry or such, if flavoured is what you have? The flavouring isn't a problem in itself, just that it's likely unappealing and you want it to be as appealing as possible so he'll eat plenty.

Another good option is pure calcium carbonate powder. It's sometimes used in gardening. And perhaps even calcium sulphate, aka gypsum. Snails are known to eat the plaster off of building walls, and that is made of gypsum. I'm a little worried how gypsum will react in the snail's guts, as it absorbs water and might harden, but the snails that eat the walls don't usually die... Perhaps the gypsum would do as an emergency, if it's first made into a paste and moulded into a shape, which is then dried. Like the gypsum miniature statue things you can get from hobby stores, in packages with gypsum powder and silicon moulds and everything. But that wouldn't be my first recommendation, I'm just thinking of possible sources of calcium in an emergency situation!

[snaildreams]

Did he survive?

[pinkunicorn]

I think that for this sort of damage my Flexifix bandage would work, now that I've tried it. Probably too late for this guy, though I hope he made it. But for any snaily patients in the future, get some Opsite Flexifix in your medicine cabinet! It's not cheap but comes in different sizes and it does not need to be sterile for shell fixing, meaning you can use the same sheet again after opening the package. My Flexifix is in a nonsterile roll in fact.