Weird blister looking lumps on snails

[jembolina]

I have 2 snails with strange blister like lumps on them. I found them when I brought in a whole family of aspersas that I found near my apartment but didn't release them again with the rest because I don't know what the lumps are and don't know if it's contagious for other snails.

They've been living together for a while now in their own tank and they eat a lot and move around quite a bit. They are both much smaller than a normal adult aspersa though one has only just grown a lip on his shell. He was trying to mate with the other before he even had a lip but the other wasn't interested. I've never seen them mate. Any idea what they could be?

Here are some pictures, the first snail has a lump at the base of his right eye stalk and another on the right side of his neck;


I just added this one to show that the neck lump is next to his genitals, so the lump itself isn't genital related.


This is the other snail with the same kind of lump, but on his left side;

[pinkunicorn]

That I've never seen before. In two aspersas I've seen a kind of "egg-head" lump right between the tentacles but it went away. I'm unsure if that could be related or if it's really an egg that's waiting to come out there!

[pinkunicorn]

The texture of the lumps looks like an irritation though. Like an allergic attack.

How long have the lumps been there and did anything particular happens before they appeared? I do recall now seeing a picture of a banana slug with bumps that came from cosmetic oil residue in hands.

[jembolina]

I found the snails about a month ago and they were already like that. There were over 30 other snails from the same location (all of whom except for my original snail's girlfriend, and Claude, the snail who had a worm in him, have since been released back where I found them) and none had lumps like these 2 guys.

The lumps don't seem to have changed at all in appearance or size since I have had the snails. :S

[whipsnade]

Hey everyone, I came across this thread (and forum) while struggling with a similar problem.

My land snail developed a blister-like growth on the back of its head just overnight. I've never seen anything like this before and am deathly worried. Do I need to segregate this snail from the others?

jembolina, how is your snail now?

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[jembolina]

Oh dear, that doesn't look the same as the lumps on my snails. I hope you can find out what it is.

My two snails with the weird lumps are doing fine but the lumps are still there - they don't seem to have changed.

If I were you, I would segregate him just until you find out what the lump is in case it is something contagious.

I hope you have better luck than I did with finding information. I'm still clueless about what any of these lumps could be. Let me know how you go and good luck!

[morningcoffee]

Nov 21, 2012 13:36:50 GMT whipsnade said:

Hey everyone, I came across this thread (and forum) while struggling with a similar problem.

My land snail developed a blister-like growth on the back of its head just overnight. I've never seen anything like this before and am deathly worried. Do I need to segregate this snail from the others?

This may sound silly, but have you tried wiping it off? From the pic it sort of looks like a blob of slime or muck...

[whipsnade]

Thanks for the replies, I really appreciated it!
The lump on my snail has disappeared just as mysteriously.

morningcoffee, no it doesn't sound silly. Slime was what I thought at first, too, and I did try wiping it off. I started panicking once I realized it was indeed a growth on the snail's skin.

jembolina, I'm still not sure as to what made the lump appear.
I do suspect though that the environment may have been too damp for my snails. I've read that land snails breathe through their skin as well as with their lungs; apparently, conditions that impair respiration (ie. excessive dampness) can also cause skin break-outs.

I've thoroughly cleansed out their tank and changed the substrate as soon as I discovered the affected snail. Could be a coincidence, but the blister-like growth disappeared on its own the next day.

A number of land snail owners here in S. Korea have also replied to me that they've witnessed lumps appearing and then disappearing harmlessly. I think that may be the case with your snails too, jembolina. If they're behaving normally the symptom may not be anything serious. Best of luck!

[pinkunicorn]

Is there a possibility that the snail came into contact with some cosmetic? There was a case of that banana slug developing blisters when accidentally getting residue ethereal oil from the owner's hands. Those bumps also went away on their own, unlike jembolina's snail's bumps.

[pinkunicorn]

Pulmonate land snails breath through a lung, btw, but there are species with... different methods of respiration. My leatherleaf slugs (Laevicaulis alte) of the Veronicellidae family don't apparently have a lung at all, so I suspect they're of the skin breathing kind. But I've not heard of a living species with both methods available, although it's obvious such a configuration has been present at some point of molluscan evolution as we have both now. Snails should be able to survive shell breakage that blocks the pneumostome if they got significant amounts of oxygen via other means, but it usually means death as soon as their oxygen supplies run out. Which takes longer than for humans. Or that's what sounds rational to me as far as pulmonate snails (most pet land snails are pulmonates) go, and matches observations I've had with snails and slugs with lung problems. It's a pretty quick death, within hours.

Correct me if you know of a non-fossil species or family with confirmed skin and lung/gill respiration!