Snail Dormant

[vegmun]

So I recently got my first land snail. I had him in a closed 5gallon plastic bin with some air holes for ventilation. He seemed alert and active.

We have since moved him to a *much* larger reptile terrarium with much more ventilation and room. Problem is he keeps going dormant and getting this "film" over him. We are able to wake up him but I am just trying to figure out why he keeps doing this.

Any help is much appreciated! I will get pics of his setup asap.

[tsrebel]

How is the humidity? How often do you spray water? In my experience, reptile terrariums are great, but it can be hard to get the humidity high enough, especially in the beginning. You could try covering some of the ventilation and see if that helps.
Is the temperature the same? Could it be too cold?

[vegmun]

Thank you for the reply. The temperature is the same, maybe slightly colder since there is more ventilation. However I did add an undertank heater to make up for it on one side of the cage.

The first tank I did not have to spray often since it is a more enclosed area and the soil always seemed moist.

I spray the other one when the soil seems dry, which is much more often.

[vegmun]

Here are the pictures. Any constructive criticism is appreciated!

This is Blizzard!


Here is what I had him in before, I thought it was rather small for him. I have my other snail, Gary in there now.


Photo of the closed container.


The new, much larger and more ventilated tank.

[tsrebel]

I would recommend:
- getting a hygrometer to measure air humidity
- cover some of the ventilation (at least half of it)
- and spraying as often as possible without soaking the substrate.

[vegmun]

I know it has been a long time for an update. But I have been toying with different things back and forth. I have finally found my solution.

First, It was indeed the humidity and I appreciate the help.

Since my house is on the colder side and I do not have control over the heat in my complex, I had to have an under tank heater. The heater would evaporate my attempts at misting and would ultimately just lead to him going dormant again.

I got a reptile fogger, and keep it on the lowest setting. Right now there is a great balance between the substrate always being moist but not wet, and he seems happier and more alert than ever.

[vallery]

Hi vegmun ,

I was wondering if you could post a picture of your tank with the reptile fogger set up in it.

vallery

[starcrazy19]

I would LOVE a reptile fogger! They look amazing!
I got a tortoise viv almost exactly like that for my gals when they got big - except even worse than that because the short sides are ventilated too.
The humidity was rubbish in there but the mesh on the lid was held into place by plastic strips fastened with screws. So I took it all apart, cut some perspex to size, drilled appropriate holes and put it all back together with the perspex in place of the mesh. It's much better now.
You might be able to do a similar thing with your tank, depending how it's put together. You'd have to drill ventilation holes in the perspex. Although... reptile fogger... why bother! I would also like to see pictures :D

[pinkunicorn]

Reptile fogger sounds interesting.

[ultrapoi]

this happened when i bought the girls a new tank. the 'new' tank is now in the loft and they are back in their (too small) old one. they seem happy enough there so il leave things be and maybe try again in the summer

[emsybems]

Hiya. I had the exact same problem with my snail when i moved him to a bigger tank 2ft terrarium. He kept going into hibernation, i kept waking him up, he would move around for 10 minutes or so then bury himself and hibernate again. I tryed all sorts to stop this happening. I think i have finally sorted it now. The soil that was in his tank looked damp. I spray my soil and tank twice a day. But with further investigation the soil was too dry underneath. I bought some spagnum moss from ebay and soaked the tank and soil and stired the soil around and that seems to of done the trick with my snail.