Post by etana on Apr 18, 2016 10:43:19 GMT
One of my Achatina fulica (brown foot, brown/green/stripy shell), called Putkonen, came back from death the other day. He had been sick with appetite & activity issues but had displayed some positive signs, until I found him completely unresponsive. He was quite retracted but had not formed a seal, and had thick, a bit smelly mucus on him.
I washed him, poked his foot, patted him lots and lots, and finally sat for what may have been a half an hour pointing a bright led light at his shell, staring at his non-functional little heart that did not move the whole time, as far as my eyes could tell from between my tears anyway. A couple times I thought I saw something, but attributed it to not holding him and my lamp perfectly still. I have checked the hearts of aestivating snails before and the heartbeat takes several seconds, but it is there. This time it was not. I was sure he was gone, and that I'd just narrowly missed the exact moment, as he didn't feel dry or stiff.
I put him in with all my other fulica (he'd been in a smaller, warm tank with only 3 other snails for close monitoring) so they could see he was gone - I find this gives them closure and they don't go around looking for their missing friend. Some snails attached to him right away and reached in to his shell. I left them to it, mostly thinking they'd have a high-protein meal.
A few hours later I could not believe my eyes - Putkonen was alive, snailing around, giving and receiving a ton of snaily hugs and kisses, and he even ate a bit. Now a couple days later he is still alive. Weak, but alive. I could not stop thinking of his heart, how it didn't beat.
Any thoughts on how this can possibly have happened?
I washed him, poked his foot, patted him lots and lots, and finally sat for what may have been a half an hour pointing a bright led light at his shell, staring at his non-functional little heart that did not move the whole time, as far as my eyes could tell from between my tears anyway. A couple times I thought I saw something, but attributed it to not holding him and my lamp perfectly still. I have checked the hearts of aestivating snails before and the heartbeat takes several seconds, but it is there. This time it was not. I was sure he was gone, and that I'd just narrowly missed the exact moment, as he didn't feel dry or stiff.
I put him in with all my other fulica (he'd been in a smaller, warm tank with only 3 other snails for close monitoring) so they could see he was gone - I find this gives them closure and they don't go around looking for their missing friend. Some snails attached to him right away and reached in to his shell. I left them to it, mostly thinking they'd have a high-protein meal.
A few hours later I could not believe my eyes - Putkonen was alive, snailing around, giving and receiving a ton of snaily hugs and kisses, and he even ate a bit. Now a couple days later he is still alive. Weak, but alive. I could not stop thinking of his heart, how it didn't beat.
Any thoughts on how this can possibly have happened?
Putkonen is still weak, but still alive. He does a little bit of every snaily function except mating. I expect him to go soon but he's not willing to, it seems.
He will forever live on in our memories as Snail Jesus / Snail E.T. / Zombie Snail / The Snail Who Lived.