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Post by Selena on May 14, 2015 11:15:37 GMT
One of my baby immaculata's (just 2 cm shell) is crushed between two wooden things. the entire front of the shell (the growth area and even more behind it) is shattered. I know a snail usually could heal this area fast and well. But i'm worried because it's a very big part and his body is for a big part exposed. all shell parts are actually gone and many substrate mixed with the shell parts left on his body. I cleaned the crushed area of his shell (very cautious and softly with a cottonswab and tissue) and removed all substrate and food that's sticked on his body. I have put him in a small box, les ventilation to keep him humid. I add some endive and moss, many cuttlefish and no substrate at all (because it will stuck on the broken shell area) The little snail is still active (looks like he didn;t notice him selfe his shell is missing) and a restless. he is not eating very much. He seems to eat cuttlefish but i'm not sure. He is snailing around most of the time.
What else can i do to help him or do i need to do something different? Is he able to repair this? do he need substrate to repair it?
i have made some pictures, i couldnt get them more clear so i have add the arrows to show the beginning of the part that's missing! From the arrows to the edge there is no shell at all. His body is exposed but covered by some kind of membrane
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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 May 14, 2015 12:05:11 GMT
Put calcium powder on his food so he has lots of calcium. Other than that you are doing all you can.
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Post by etana on May 14, 2015 13:44:01 GMT
Poor little guy! Maybe put in a calm, friendly snail of his size to be his friend? I've found that at least some snails that are shocked by something will eat more if they can touch another snail.
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Post by etana on May 14, 2015 13:45:22 GMT
Oh and snails need substrate for their digestion, so at least have a very small amount of it that he can eat.
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Post by Selena on May 14, 2015 17:56:39 GMT
Thanks both!
I gave him food with calcium and many cuttlebone and put him in a tank with substrate. He's very restless and is moving all the time, due to this his damage shell gets towards everything (gets dirt and loaded) he had eaten some endive and maybe some cuttlebone, but there's no change in his damage shell. Could he repair this anyway?
Etana, if i put a friend with himL i'm afraid the friend will climb on the damage shell area or something. unfortunately I don;t have a calm snail of his size. they all are very active and curious and love to discover other snails shells.
is there anything else i can do to stop him moving and repair his shell?
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Post by Selena on May 15, 2015 6:29:44 GMT
It gets worse... The left shell part is changing slowly and seems to shift. More of his body become exposed now. I don't see any improvement for new shell production. He has difficulty to move and I find him in strange position in which he crashes. I want to know for sure i did everything to save him but maybe its better to euthanize him.
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Zorst
Achatina tincta
Posts: 734
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Post by Zorst on May 15, 2015 9:10:54 GMT
If you can post your pictures so we can see we may be able to help you more. I've repaired many shell breaks with Micro pour tape, this holds the shell together to stabilize it until the snail can heal its shell.
Zorst
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Post by Selena on May 15, 2015 9:25:57 GMT
i just transplant some new, soft and flexible pieces of the grow area from a few retics (Those pieces allready almost chiped off their shells because they played too wild with each other. I cleaned those pieces with water and let him into the water before use. i used a sterlized pincet and some cotton swaps. I picked up the poor baby immac without shell. i removed some moss and dirt from his exposed body and made it a bit humid. Then i picked up the pieces of shell from other snails and filled the naked area with soft fragments of new shell.Like a puzzle. It even managed to bend the soft pieces to let them fit on the curves of this particular snail. It was like the snails body sucked on the pieces and it was not difficult to let them fit and stay on the right place. The little snail seemed to like his new 'shell' and i put (just to be sure) a small and wet plaster gauze on the shell fragments for extra protection. Then i put many leaves of endive on the snail to prevent him from moving all the time. When i finished and closed the small box he feld a sleep on a piece of cuttlebone. (i think its due to the low temperature from the endive and gauze against his new shell)any way: he is not moving and i'm very curious how this is going to develope.
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Post by Selena on May 15, 2015 9:27:45 GMT
If you can post your pictures so we can see we may be able to help you more. I've repaired many shell breaks with Micro pour tape, this holds the shell together to stabilize it until the snail can heal its shell. Zorst Hi, I all ready did, can't you see the pictures?
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Post by etana on May 15, 2015 11:07:44 GMT
Wow, you basically made a shell transplant. I really hope it works. Keep us updated.
Zorst, it's a bit hard to see in the pics in the first post, but to me it looks like the snail completely lost about a half of his biggest whorl.
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Zorst
Achatina tincta
Posts: 734
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Post by Zorst on May 15, 2015 11:09:29 GMT
Darn, no I can't sorry nor can I see any link. Nothing shows at all.
Zorst
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Post by etana on May 15, 2015 11:29:36 GMT
Zorst I'll PM you the pics in a minute.
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Zorst
Achatina tincta
Posts: 734
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Post by Zorst on May 15, 2015 11:33:21 GMT
Thanks Etana
Zorst
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Zorst
Achatina tincta
Posts: 734
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Post by Zorst on May 15, 2015 12:04:56 GMT
Thanks again Etana, now I've been able to see them.
Sounds like you've done pretty much what I do with some shell repairs, hopefully fingers crossed it'll work. I had one wild snail come in like this with his shell fragments. I did pretty much the same as you and he's alive n snailing around a tank over a year later, he's shell growth is a bit weird n pointed at the front but he's happy, healthy n growing well which is the main thing.
Zorst
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Post by Selena on May 15, 2015 17:23:21 GMT
thanks Etana for your help with the pictures!yeah, he lost in fact the entire biggest whorl and there are no fragments left to replace on that area. the complete area with important organs is exposed, even his heart (though there's a mebrane that holds everything together,but it;s fragile) Zorst, Good to know you did something similair with snails and they are still alive! After the shell transplant he slept many hours and woke up, pretty active. He still refuse all food and cuttlebone but he is curious and try to move. Im a bit concern right now because he suddenly retracted (i thought he wasn't able to!) in his new puzzel shell and made lots of bubbles and humid. Good news is: he is able to retract again (before he couldn;t) bad news: something was bottering him badly and he didn't came out yet. He didn;t even moved. i don;t know what happened. I had put some food near him and then he retracted sudden. hopefully he's alive. If so, how long should it take before he began to produce his own shell again? and how clean does it need to be on that area, is it a problem if there's any substrate or moss on it? (i don;t know how to prevent that)
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Zorst
Achatina tincta
Posts: 734
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Post by Zorst on May 15, 2015 21:44:06 GMT
I often find for a day or two they can go very quiet , I kinda figured its like a delayed shock reaction. Just keep him moist and keep offering fresh tempting food. They often do eat after a day or so.
Zorst
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Zorst
Achatina tincta
Posts: 734
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Post by Zorst on May 15, 2015 21:47:58 GMT
They start to repair n produce new shell after a day or so that's part of the reason they go quiet I think along with delayed shock, so hopefully that's whats happening. Also its virtually impossible to keep that shell totally clean but they also need it for normal gut function. Just try n keep it protected an as clean as poss.
Zorst
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Post by Selena on May 16, 2015 4:15:47 GMT
Hi Zorst,
Wow, that's good to know Zorst, thanks for this information, i thought he was dying (or allready dead) he's not moving and retracted in his 'shell' not completely because he isn't able to i suppose. He is still breathing, but have no response on what ever.
I should leave him to rest any way. hopefully he'll come out and start to eat again. (he needs cuttlebone to repair the shell)
Unfortunately he has lived with an unprotected body (without any shell fragments) for about a day. I kept him clean and humid but yesterday i had transplant the pieces of shell. He was very restless and kept moving day and night. His body got swolen and the back side of his shell began to move away from his body. This behouvior and the stress i caused with the transplant and cleaning activities must have exhausted him i quess. Hopefully he's not dead but just in a rest like you wrote.
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Zorst
Achatina tincta
Posts: 734
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Post by Zorst on May 16, 2015 5:17:29 GMT
Fingers crossed hopefully he will be fine, Ive had some that died as well but you've done and are doing all you can do now its up to to your snail and some luck.
keep us posted as to his progress.
Zorst
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Post by Selena on May 16, 2015 6:05:58 GMT
Hi,
Whilst me writing the previous post, the little snail died.. I know he's dead because he's not breathing anymore and his heart is not working anymore.
Yes, i did everything i could and next time i would do the same directly after it happened (it was the first time for me having a snail without the most important whorl of his shell.) i suppose: too much of his shell was missing and i just repaired it too late.
Maybe it sounds morbide, but i gave the little snail back to his brothers and sisters, so they could eat him and have some benefits of his dead. So his short live and growth till 2 cm wasn't useless. I just feel snails and mother nature want it like this and the thought of recycling his body to make his brothers and sisters stronger is a reassuring.
Four of his brothers and sisters immediately came near when i put the dead snail with them. After a little inspection of the dead snail and a short tentacle consultation between the living participants, they began to eat him greedily
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Post by etana on May 16, 2015 6:28:40 GMT
Aw, I'm very sorry to hear he didn't make it, but it seems you have a good attitude about this all. Good for you.
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Post by sparrow on May 19, 2015 3:17:46 GMT
Oh Selena, I am so sorry. You really did everything you could and not at all morbid by giving him back to his brothers and sisters. You did exactly what Mother Nature would do.
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Zorst
Achatina tincta
Posts: 734
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Post by Zorst on May 19, 2015 6:25:52 GMT
So sorry to hear that he didn't make it. Virtual Hug.
Zorst
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chompie
Archachatina marginata
Posts: 32
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Post by chompie on May 19, 2015 17:57:20 GMT
Hi Selena - sorry I didn't see your post before. I had an idea recently for a similar problem - not as bad as yours as at least I still had a section of the shell. After trying and experimenting with no luck - impossible to place the broken pieces in place without them "falling backwards" inside his shell etc. .... I broke an egg and was washing it to use it as a complete cover for his side until it would hopefully grow back - the reult is as follows; 1) whilst washing the inside of the egg shell I decided to use the shell membrane as a "base/ lining" for the repair after it kind of stuck to my fingers when I was separating it from the shell 2) placed the broken shell pieces ( as many as I had) onto the egg membrane - It was possible this way to position the broken pieces really well. 3) I placed the membrane over the hole - with the membrane overlapping the edges of the hole ( by about 3/4 mm) - membrane was "inside" so most of it could not be seen - with the original snail shell completely visible on top 4) where fragments were missing - the egg membrane covered the gaps like a sheet and stopped any dirt getting inside. 5) I put micropore over the top to protect it. 6) the egg membrane never fell off and the shell bonded really quickly!!! It now looks as though nothing had ever happened! I hope this is of help to anyone who has a snail with a damaged shell - maybe it will also be a good idea if the fragments are not available as the egg membrane is really strong, stretchy and holds fast to the snail's shell and it would prevent and dirt or infection from getting inside to the body.
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Post by Selena on May 21, 2015 7:33:49 GMT
Thanks all, for support!
Chompie, thanks for your advise. Maybe it's usefull in case of holes in the shell and not realy in case of missing a complete worhl. because a membrane was the only thing that wasn't missing. I know some people use micro pore tape or plaster tape to close the hole (like a membrane) before his own shell production starts again or hold pieces of shell together. Maybe the egg is better, i don't know. I'm glad you saved your snail!
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