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Post by etana on Dec 28, 2014 20:18:24 GMT
Selena, what you described sounds odd to me. Is it still happening like that?
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Post by Selena on Dec 29, 2014 13:15:16 GMT
Hi Etana,
Yes, it is still happening. They also sleep totally retracted in their shell and sometimes they will retract too deep. But i saw a few mites on the big fulica's, very small ones. Maybe i did't note it last time.
I realy don't understand what it could be. When they are awake, they look healthy,big, eat much, bathing their selves, but when they are a sleep, they will produce the lumps of mucus and retract totally/
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mangoandlemon
Achatina tincta
Animals are not a choice for me. They are a lifestyle!
Posts: 671
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Post by mangoandlemon on Dec 29, 2014 14:55:47 GMT
Maybe a birth defect?
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Post by etana on Dec 30, 2014 5:56:06 GMT
Birth defect isn't impossible, yeah.
Also how much are you touching and bathing these snails right now?
My Taavetti made some lumps a while ago too, but they were definitely thick but see-through mucus. I think he was maybe irritated by too much handling and baths.
The part where you say they eat it... Umm. Snails do often spend a long time getting their shells and bodies clean after a good sleep so it might be quite normal after all. The retracted sleep worries me though. Can you get a pic of the sleeping position?
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Post by Selena on Dec 30, 2014 10:52:24 GMT
Hi Etana,
I will take a picture. They are not Always sleep deeply retracted and they are doing it since i have started this threat. The same for the lumbs of mucus/white stuff.
They are also in-active by periods. They are sleeping a lot these days but woke up at least one time a day for a short period. Then they are active and social or eat very, very much and after that, they went back to a deeply retracted sleep.
i will make a picture!
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Post by Selena on Dec 30, 2014 11:56:55 GMT
I tried to make a picture, but he all ready woke up with his body out of his shell.
I watched him for a while and he is looking quite healthy and normal. His body was completely out of his shell and he explore his environment, everything seemed okay, but then...
suddenly, in a few seconds, he retract as fast as he could back in his shell and retract very deeply. (like he did in the last period, be awake and suddenly retract very fastly and deep, but i never saw it realy happening like this)
so today, i saw it looked like something had scared him or irritate him very much.
(They also spent much time to clean their bodies after a sleep, like you sayd Etana, but those snails keep cleaning their selves during they are awake, they often went with their head in the mantel area, as if, there is something bottering. I checked Always and never saw anything, so i thought it is common cleaning their selves)
Today, after i say it happening: I picked him up directly and deside to watch his shell opening for a very long period. There must be something!! And then i had find out there are tiny little spots wich are not moving at all if you look for a few seconds. But if you keep watching, those spots starting to move, so they do have problems with mites. I did not recognise them before, because i have payed attention on moving white spots and thought they where bigger. Those are very small, but it could be young mites.
So it could be explain all those mysterious symptoms, isn't it? it will also explain why the symptoms sometimes seems to appear more. Because, i gave them showers and bathings a few days on a row. I hope so, because then i can solve the problems!!
Unfortunately, it isn't possible yet to order the Hypoaspis Miles, because they will not transmit the pakkage when it is winter. So perhaps, i have to wait till it is spring! Untill, i will bath them every day? What would be the best thing to do now?
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Post by muddydragon on Dec 30, 2014 13:52:29 GMT
if it doesn't seem to be causing them any problems i would not worry about it too much. If they are otherwise healthy and active it's probably not a problem.
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Post by Selena on Dec 30, 2014 18:36:02 GMT
No, it do cause several problems (much mucus, deeply retracting, in-active) i meand, when they wake up then they look healthy and active, but they just are a few minutes awake and then suddenly retract deeply in their shells and stay there at least 12 hours . So there are problems i am concern about.
I started to clean everything today and one of the big immaculatas was completely burried and sealed in! I am going to make a summary of al the strange things and post it on this forum. Maybe others will see connections i won't.
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Post by Selena on Dec 31, 2014 9:49:09 GMT
the situation seems to be deteriorating. They getting more in-active and after a bath (to get rit of the mites) they will be awake, but not for a long time. One of the big fulica's has stopped eating, wich is not a good sign. He hasn't eat for a few days at least. Yesterday, i tried to force him to eat, but he refused al kinds of food. Also, if it looks like he is going to eat something, the irritation at is shell opening area forced him to scratch with his radula and he seems to get very tired of this. Maybe, he is not eating because of the stress and prefered to hide deeply in his shell, trying to keep the mites out. Yesterday i picked him up while he was sleaping deep in his shell and i saw at least 4 little mites 'waiting' near the closed breating hole to get in it when he opened it. I can imagine that those mites cause a lot of the problems but i doubt if they cause everything.
One of my big immaculatas seems to be in hibernation (he was burried and sealed in, but the temperature is not too low (its is actually 3 or 4 degrees lower than last week, maybe te change of temperature upsad them as well.
I am going to clean everything again and keep bathing them with green tea. What else can i do?
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Post by muddydragon on Dec 31, 2014 11:40:47 GMT
AS far as im aware with mites there's simply nothing you can do to get rid of them fully besides hyoapsis mites. Bathing and thorough cleans don't help much as the can swim and hide in the breathing hole. The only sure fire way is to purchase Hypoaspis mites. Do you have any botanical gardens near you? you could try rinding them explain the situation and see if they have any you could buy from them. I realise that it's still winter could you try contacting some companises to see if they would ship them with a heat pack?
To try and minimise the mites i think your best bet is to keep bathing the snails daily but not always in green tea, i'ld be suspicious of over exposure to the caffine in it. I'ld also try keeping the snails in a bare tank (not nice and not normally recommended but obvously there's a far worse problem to deal with). Use a plastic tank you can clean easily then every day you can give it a swill down with some boiling water (or even boiling green tea may be better). You could put a small drop of washing up liquid in the tank when washing (i mean small!) this disrupts the surface tension of the water so the mites cannot swim on the surface tension (it also helps drown the mites as the water tension would normally prevent the water from entering the mites breating aparatus). Obvoiously you need to give it lots of waashes out afterwards and obviously don't use it on the snails. This would be even better if you had several plastic tanks/tubs you could rotate them around leaving the other tub to dry thoroughly and starving any mites the may be remaining in the tub. Whilst doing this it's OK to have a less than optimal sized tank. if you keep doing this it is possible i suppose that you may be able to get rid of the mites completely.
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Post by Selena on Dec 31, 2014 14:51:51 GMT
hi Muddydragon,
Thanks for your advice. I seperate both big fulica's from the others in a plastic tank (I had especially made for this kind of situations before)and washed them again. Now, it looks like the mites are almost gone, because they are sleeping out of their Shells (instead of totally, deeply retracted) I found a company that will transmit the mites in this period (thirst at 5 january 2015, but it is just 1 week) they said there have no problem with low temperatures and they will Always transmitt in winter. They Always survived. But, they are very expensive comparing the other companies, but i want to get rit of those mites directly, so i haven't a choice..
I was very concerned about the in-activity and not eating (for a few days now), i was afraid they could be also ill (like the snail that died a few weeks ago) Today i bought some fish food and after i sooked it in water, i tried to force the fulicas to eat. I put it in their mouths with a wooden skewer. Thirst he refused but when some of the food accedently passed his mouth, his behaviour changed and he started to eat by himselve!He had eat quite a lot and after he looked better. So, i'm very glad. hopefully they will get better from now on!
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