Normal for snail to fall from top of tank?

[alethesnail]

Hey guys.

Pretty new to having a pet snail, only had him for a week or so.
I heard a noise from his container, went to see and saw he fell from the top of the tank when he was inside his shell.
Just want to make sure that he is healthy and I'm not doing anything wrong.
I actually for a brief moment thought he might have passed away, he wasn't moving when he fell so I quickly sprayed him with water, out he came and back up to the ceiling he went.
It looked like his slime was dry and I think maybe it stopped creating suction? He didn't fall very far, his container is about 6-7 inches tall and he fell on to substrate so I doubt he damaged his shell or anything, just want to make sure he is alright and I'm not doing anything wrong.

Thanks!

btw thats him in my avatar

[Norwatch01]

Hi alethesnail,

He's a handsome critter, gorgeous shell!

I wouldn't worry too much, if his shell isn't cracked or chipped.

You're doing nothing wrong, during the day I can hardly see into my container as all the snails are resting on the lid! Occasionally one drops off but with no ill effects,

I actually think that when they're fast asleep they don't even realise they've fallen, I had one, luckily I was there to hear the fall and check on them, that had fallen and landed in the water, didn't even peek out of it's shell even when I got it out, it's absolutely fine btw

So yeah, don't worry, it happens, some say have nothing hard in the tank incase they land on it but mine have got a ceramic 'rock pool' and a large rock that they like to have their food on.

Hope this helps/reassures.

Jemma

[alethesnail]

Thank you!

Kind of a funny story how I found this snail, I was leaving my house and noticed there was a Motley Crue album booklet on my front lawn (Dr Feelgood if you are wondering which) I saw it and thought what is that doing there, picked it up and there was two snails on the back of it! I noticed they looked kind of dry so I gave them so water and went out, came back and one of the snails was gone and one of them was just leaving. Two days later, I noticed that the snail who was just leaving was still there! I think he might have been eating the album booklet, I started giving him water and leaving lettuce out for him, in the mornings the piece of lettuce would be mostly eaten so I'd give him more and make sure I got water on him a few times a day. This went on for about 3-4 days before I finally went out and got the supplys for him. I was going to name him Motley but my girlfriend suggested the name Ting Ting which I thought was a cute name for him.

[etana]

My little Cepaeas do this similar thing where they attach to the ceiling or side of the tank, glue themselves to it with slime, and retract completely so that their entire foot disappears behind the mantle. They'll occasionally find that the dried up slime alone just isn't enough to keep them there, fall into the moss below, slooooowly show up from the shell with a grumpy look on their faces, and then go on to being active, sweet snails
I don't suppose ther's anything particularly wrong, they just like to rest like that and are in such deep sleep, they don't realise they're about to fall.

Eta: and of course, great story!

[alethesnail]

I woke up from a nap and found him laying on his back with his foot completely retracted into his shell.
Could see above where his slime detached. I'm not sure how long he was like that since I was napping.
Sprayed him with water and put him right side up and he woke up and was normal again. I've seen him a few other times completely retracted.
Is he trying to go dormant? Is there some need of his I might not be meeting? I spray him and his tank twice a day, I change his food every day and I change his substrate once a week.
His eating habits has been changing, when I first got him he'd eat every night. Then I gave him some cucumber two nights in a row and he didn't touch it. Switched back to lettuce and he ate it but I'm not sure he ate last night or if he did he ate very little. If I'm up I'II check a few times in the night to see if he is active and he usually is or he'd be in a different spot I saw him since last time. He is in my basement (which is my room) so he isn't getting any natural light. I try to keep the light on during the day and off at night so he has something similar to night and day. Could the light being too bright make him want to retract completely into his shell?

[morningcoffee]

Jul 21, 2014 22:15:58 GMT alethesnail said:

I woke up from a nap and found him laying on his back with his foot completely retracted into his shell.
Could see above where his slime detached. I'm not sure how long he was like that since I was napping.
Sprayed him with water and put him right side up and he woke up and was normal again. I've seen him a few other times completely retracted.
Is he trying to go dormant? Is there some need of his I might not be meeting? I spray him and his tank twice a day, I change his food every day and I change his substrate once a week.

You should not change substrate that frequently. Snails need natural bacteria and microbes in their environment and some studies suggest that they actually require these to be able to digest food, and this is why snails sometimes eat soil/substrate. You can do a "spot clean" every couple of days or every few days to remove poop, any uneaten food and wipe the tank walls but you should only be doing a full tank clean once a month maximum and probably even less frequently than that. When you do change the substrate, you should add some of the old substrate in to keep the natural bacterial flora going. If you keep a tank environment too clean it can be detrimental to snails' health and they can actually stop eating, retract or even die because of this.

[alethesnail]

Oh crap!! I could have sworn I heard in a video somewhere to change it once a week.
Thank god I mentioned that and thank you for correcting me! I hope I haven't done any harm to the little guy as I'm really growing fond of him.
Other than the substrate, does everything else I'm doing seem okay?

[morningcoffee]

Should be OK yes but make sure the substrate is not getting too damp or wet with twice a day spraying, and be sure to feed him other things than just lettuce and cucumber. You also don't need to change the food every day, if some is uneaten it's OK to leave it for another day unless it's getting mouldy or stinky.

[Norwatch01]

The only cleaning I do with all my different invertebrates is to wipe down the sides and water bowls, nothing more.

Substrate in all tanks is damp and no one, not even the snails, gets sprayed with water unless it rains.

I like observing inverts to learn as much as I can about them, it's hard to observe them outside though as most are very quick and quite reclusive so I do the best I can to recreate their natural habitat, so far everyone seems happy, they get fed as they would in the wild, for some this involves live prey...two guesses as to what's the snail beetles eat...

Anywho, what I'm trying to say is stop trying too hard, as humans we fuss over everything and it can have a detrimental effect on our pets.

All my inverts want is somewhere to hide, somewhere to dig and food and water.

None of them have fancy substrate, the soil and mud in the garden was good enough for them so why change it, the snails in the garden aren't getting sprayed down every day so why do mine need it in a tank, the damp substrate and water dish provides more than enough moisture.

Remember, they're still wild animals, they survived outside without human intervention, provide the basics and they'll do just fine.

Jemma

[morningcoffee]

I agree that not fussing over them too much is definitely a good thing, but there is a difference between "being able to survive" and "being in an optimal environment". I don't see anything wrong with giving snails the best possible setup for their health, growth and well-being, especially if you're going to bring snails in from the wild and put them in the much smaller environment of a tank. If that includes using "fancy" substrate that doesn't have any parasites or mites in it, and providing a varied diet, I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

[alethesnail]

You both have good points.
Perhaps I am trying too hard, I took him in because I'd have felt bad if he was out on the sidewalk and someone stepped on him because of how uniquely I found him and I wouldn't want it to end that way and be wondering if something happened to him so when I took him in, I wanted to make sure I was doing a really good job of taking care of him which perhaps turned into me trying too hard. The substrate may be too damp now. I'II keep an eye on it and maybe not spray it for a day or so.

[morningcoffee]

Jul 22, 2014 15:10:45 GMT alethesnail said:

You both have good points.
Perhaps I am trying too hard, I took him in because I'd have felt bad if he was out on the sidewalk and someone stepped on him because of how uniquely I found him and I wouldn't want it to end that way and be wondering if something happened to him so when I took him in, I wanted to make sure I was doing a really good job of taking care of him which perhaps turned into me trying too hard. The substrate may be too damp now. I'II keep an eye on it and maybe not spray it for a day or so.

Take a handful of the substrate and give it a good squeeze - if water drips out, it's too wet. If the substrate is fairly crumbly, feels moist and only sticks to your hand a little, it should be fine.

You've done a really good thing by taking the little guy in and caring about him enough to want to get everything right for him. There's nothing wrong with that and I personally think it's very good to try and have an optimal environment for pets, including wild snails. Just try not to be a "helicopter snail parent" while making still making sure he is healthy and happy, and you'll be fine - the same advice applies to everyone!

[Norwatch01]

No of course not, mine have a varied diet, and I have pimped up the tank to include fake plants and flower pots to climb on and hide in. But I personally don't think the snails really care about any of that, like a dog isn't bothered if it lives in a flat or a mansion so long as the basics are provided for them.

Surely an optimal environment is outside in the wild, they won't live where they can't live so recreating as close as possible their natural home is also a good thing.

I didn't mean to sound harsh and uncaring if that's how I came across, we all do things differently and for most it works out fine, some spray daily, feed regularly, use specially designed substrate etc and I spray when it rains, feed when there's spare salad or veg knocking around and give them whatever they used in the garden, but then again, I don't view them as 'pets' as some do, mine is more of a scientific, observational view.

Snails are pretty cool though (dare I say...cute) and I would never allow any of my charges to suffer unnecessarily.

And don't worry, no one gets mounted, preserved or dissected, my interest is in the living.

Jemma

[alethesnail]

Hey guys, thought I'd give an update.
My snail hasn't been eating since around the time I posted this and the last week or so he has been pretty inactive but if I spray water on him, he will wake up and move around but has no interest in food. I've tried putting him on it but he still doesn't want it.
I got another snail so I could see if there was a difference in behavior. This new one I got ate ALOT when I first got him. Infact when I put him in the tank the first thing he did was start eating!
Now he seems like his pooping smaller amounts and has slowed down eating as well which is what my first snail did til he got to the point where he is now.
morningcoffee you mentioned natural bacteria and microbes needed to aid digestion and it seems like this could what is causing this. I'm using coco fiber for substrate, is there anything better I might switch them too? I haven't changed it since the last time I did. Also, my new snail was using both eyes when I got him, now he keeps his left eye stock retracted. I'm not sure how he could have injured his eye but could a eye injury make him not want to eat? I noticed this a day or so ago.

[etana]

I started to think of this: how cold is it in your basement room? Direct sunlight and too much heat makes snails aestivate (they retract and seal the shell shut with a layer of calcium, and wait for calmer weather in there) but could your snails be thinking they should prepare to hibernate due to cold atmosphere and lack of daylight...? Just a thought, but let us know.

[alethesnail]

This had crossed my mind as well.
Since its summer it still gets pretty warm down here even though I'm in the basement.
I do have a fan going but its just average room temperature down here. (The fan isn't blowing near or on the snails)

[etana]

Hmm, okay. I hope someone else will comment on whether they should see the sun.

Do your snails have calcium sources and protein in their diet? For the former, cuttlefish bone and limestone are the most widely used, and for the latter, for example soaked up, salt and wheat free pup/kitten biscuits work very well (smells better than actual rotting meat that they nibble on in the wild).

[alethesnail]

There is cuttlefish bone in the tank but they've never seem interested in it.
I could just move them outside for a few hours a day (not in direct sunlight of course).

[etana]

Yes, you could try that.

Hmm. No nibbling marks on the cuttlebone at all? Sometimes small wild snails need to learn what it is before they start using it, though all of mine eventually have, usually after seeing someone else eat it first.
I managed to get one of my wild-caught snails (who had a broken shell, so he really did need the calcium) to try it by adding a small drop of low-alcohol beer on the cuttlebone - snails are attracted to beer, and he too went to taste it. It did work, soon enough he was eating the cuttlebone itself, hehe. Not sure if there are better ways though.

[muddydragon]

all mine do get some light being in rooms with windows, but i would guess that light isn't absolutely necissary although can help with calcium absorbtion (well UV). However so can fishflakes. dropping from the top usually indicsates weakness either from age or illness or not having enough protein in the diet. Fishflakes usually contain vitamin D whih can help with calcium absorbtion as well as protein which can help build them up. i really recommend buying some and dampening them and popping them in the tank, they go mad for them.

[alethesnail]

Hmm, how low % of beer? Like 5% beer or even lower?
Is there any sort of fish food I should avoid? Just check for vitamin D?
I did once try using beer to make my first snail eat, he seemed to stick around the food for abit longer than he usually has since he stopped eating but he didn't stay to eat, he may have been drinking it.
That beer was 5%, hope that wasn't too much!

Thanks for all the help guys! Really hope I can get these guys eating again.

[etana]

I think mine was 4,7%, kept in room temp opened so it wouldn't bubble in their guts. It's not their everyday diet stuff of course, and you can always dilute it with water.

[alethesnail]

Hmm I think I will try it again.
Do you think I should put abit of beer on their food and cuttlefish then wake them up or let them wake up and discover it on their own?
I'm not sure when they would wake up on their own since they seem pretty content remaining dormant these days.

[etana]

I carefully put sleeping snails on food sometimes, but the most likely time for them to be active on their own (so that you can see) is early morning/late evening. They do run after good smells so it should be enough to put the food near the sleeping snails.

Also which foods have you been offering them by now, and which ones have been eaten?

[alethesnail]

Mainly romaine lettuce, I got my new one to eat some grape before he stopped eating.
I just haven't started experimenting with new foods because they don't seem to want to eat at all but do you think that could be the problem?