Post by moon on Nov 10, 2013 18:36:52 GMT
Sadly, I've just lost my first snail to gut extrusion. I've been reading on here that it is quite common, so maybe I've been lucky not to have come across it before.
She was approx 15 months old (helix aspersa) & had a very active year. Lots of feeding, lots of mating & lots of eggs.
However, she used to seal herself in from time to time & I left her to it because I thought she deserved a rest!
She did this about 2 weeks ago (for longer than usual), unsealed herself the other night, but didn't look like her usual self. She seemed very weak, thin & sleepy & wasn't moving much. I put her on the food dish, as she was unable to reach it on her own & she started munching on some cucumber.
I checked on her a bit later & she was next to the cucumber looking very weird (white lumps protruding from her mouth)
After doing research on here & checking photos, I knew straight away it was gut extrusion.
I was dreading putting her to sleep, but thankfully she passed away this morning.
I've read various opinions as to why this can happen & noticed another poster saying the same thing happened to her snail after it woke up after estivation. She said it could be to do with the snail not eating for so long, & the body not being able to cope with the sudden influx of food.
I've also read that it can be due to tanks being cleaned too often & can also wipe out whole batches of snails at a time.
Not sure what to do now. Stringshellow shared her tank with 4 others. Would it be best to do a tank clean as soon as possible?
And I'm a bit worried that my other estivating snails may have the same problem as soon as they start eating again.
She was approx 15 months old (helix aspersa) & had a very active year. Lots of feeding, lots of mating & lots of eggs.
However, she used to seal herself in from time to time & I left her to it because I thought she deserved a rest!
She did this about 2 weeks ago (for longer than usual), unsealed herself the other night, but didn't look like her usual self. She seemed very weak, thin & sleepy & wasn't moving much. I put her on the food dish, as she was unable to reach it on her own & she started munching on some cucumber.
I checked on her a bit later & she was next to the cucumber looking very weird (white lumps protruding from her mouth)
After doing research on here & checking photos, I knew straight away it was gut extrusion.
I was dreading putting her to sleep, but thankfully she passed away this morning.
I've read various opinions as to why this can happen & noticed another poster saying the same thing happened to her snail after it woke up after estivation. She said it could be to do with the snail not eating for so long, & the body not being able to cope with the sudden influx of food.
I've also read that it can be due to tanks being cleaned too often & can also wipe out whole batches of snails at a time.
Not sure what to do now. Stringshellow shared her tank with 4 others. Would it be best to do a tank clean as soon as possible?
And I'm a bit worried that my other estivating snails may have the same problem as soon as they start eating again.
I highly doubt your other snails will have a gut extrusion because of Stringshellow, as they do have different bodies and some may be healthier and stronger than others.