Swelling on genital pore (weird pics contained)

[Deleted]

Hello everyone!

This is my first message and I have something to show you : 







We found this garden snail in the veggie packets bought in grocery , it was a year ago and I raised it since baby.

There's like a stalk protruding from time to time , thought it's normal so I didn't pay much attention until recently it's growing bigger and bigger , considering the size of snail is just that tiny...

I don't know if it's lacking of something (it eats lettuces , carrots , egg shells , boil sweet potatos) , I sprinkle Calcium powder but it takes only occasionally.

Temperature should not be an issue - I live in Hong Kong . Like today it's 20 degreeC and 78% humidity...

Shouldn't be bearing any eggs because it's all by himself / herself.



I'm concerned if this causes pain to my snail ,
I'm thinking whether this is about the balance of hormones because this thing comes out from genital pore , and I also read an article stimulation to genitals...
deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/38091/1402380202_ftp.pdf


If this protrudes too much I'm worried if this will cause dislocation of its internal organs in long term if I just let it as it is. 

Anyways the symptom is similar to these two threads:
petsnails.proboards.com/thread/14739/prolapse
petsnails.proboards.com/thread/1800/genital-swelling

Please let me know your thoughts on it would be much appreciated  ...

[mangoandlemon]

Welcome to the forum! That is the male gland. If you touch it can he retract it or is it stuck? He may just have reach the age when he wants a mate.

[morningcoffee]

Hi duhsnail, welcome to the forum

Your snail's problem does look like a genital prolapse of some kind. It's hard to say how it will go, I've heard of some snails who recovered from this and went back to normal, some who remained with the genitals prolapsed but carried on living quite happily otherwise, and some who sadly died. The recommendations are usually to give the snail regular warm baths and try to (gently) push the prolapse back in if possible.

Other than that, it sounds like you're keeping the snail well although I'd recommend expanding the diet to include a greater variety fruits and veg, plus a source of protein once a week like soaked fish flakes or soaked cat/dog kibble, or boiled egg. Also, you can feed sweet potato raw and you don't need to boil it

[Cashell]

Hmmmmm... Hard to say how this will go. Your best bet would be the advice above and to keep an eye it.

[Deleted]

Thank you Mango , Morningcoffee and Cashell  I have been so lucky to find this forum otherwise I seriously don't know where to ask. 
In the past two days I stared at it...when the gland came out I just gently pushed it back without scaring my snail to retract.
The gland did shrink and retract a bit , and then my snail poo lol. It happened twice I reckon it might be a reflex action. 

The snail has been eating less these days , not sure if it's just the normal eating cycle - you know someday they eat a lot and someday they don't. Tonight I'll be throwing carrots (favourite) hoping to cheer it up. 
I'll keep an eye on it. 

[Deleted]

I wanna update on this issue sadly. Last Saturday that white swollen thing was suddenly getting bigger , blocking the breathing hole and the head of the snail. So its head was hiding inside the shell with the white swollen thing and its foot hanging out.
My snail wasn't eating quite properly these days so I was really worried that if I let it as it is , it may not be strong enough to get its head out again and will end up starving or suffocating.
So I grabbed a cutter knife and tried to pop the swollen thing , I even thought that if it would leave wounds at least the snail can get rid of that thing , and I would take great care for it. But when I did pop that swollen thing , my snail was still hiding... it made it to Sunday but didn't make it on Monday. As on Monday morning I found its foot got smaller and turned to purple-grey so I know it was gone. Honestly I feel really guilty about it.

[Cashell]

Sorry to hear about your loss.

[mangoandlemon]

Sorry for your loss.