Half Crushed Snail - will it survive?

[lindz]

I was walking my dog this morning and I found this little half crushed land snail. It's pretty young from the size of it. I still have the piece of shell which covers the organs you see here, but it's entirely broken off, so I'm not sure it will help. But the snail is moving and trying to move about, so I don't know - it might survive. I can't bear to crush it myself, but if it's hopeless, I will put it out in the garden and let it's time end. 

Any thoughts? 

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[HazelSnail]

Poor little guy. It's definitely a bad break, though at least the organs and body underneath seem relatively intact. Snails are very resilient, and it is amazing what they can recover from, so it is hard to tell if it will survive or not. I am not certain about this but since you have the broken piece of shell, You may be able to gently overlay it over the exposed body, and reattach it to the rest of the remaining shell using plaster of paris, or something similar, making sure that nothing touches the snail's insides. I did something similar with one of my snails a few years ago, and it seemed to work well, as it lived a normal snail lifespan. I would also provide the snail with cuttlebone, or another calcium source. Once again, I am not sure about how exactly you should go about fixing the shell, or even if that's the best option. Hopefully someone more experienced can be of more help, as I have only had to deal with one severe break. I wish you and the snail luck!

[lindz]

May 4, 2016 15:46:47 GMT HazelSnail said:

Poor little guy. It's definitely a bad break, though at least the organs and body underneath seem relatively intact. Snails are very resilient, and it is amazing what they can recover from, so it is hard to tell if it will survive or not. I am not certain about this but since you have the broken piece of shell, You may be able to gently overlay it over the exposed body, and reattach it to the rest of the remaining shell using plaster of paris, or something similar, making sure that nothing touches the snail's insides. I did something similar with one of my snails a few years ago, and it seemed to work well, as it lived a normal snail lifespan. I would also provide the snail with cuttlebone, or another calcium source. Once again, I am not sure about how exactly you should go about fixing the shell, or even if that's the best option. Hopefully someone more experienced can be of more help, as I have only had to deal with one severe break. I wish you and the snail luck!

Thank you. I'm nervous to try to fix the shell yet because it's VERY thin and some of the edges are a bit sharp now. I'm assuming this little fellow had just come out after his/her winter slumber and was trying to make it's way across the sidewalk when someone or something did a half-job stepping on it. It's pretty small - about the size of my 5 month baby snail. My fingers aren't super delicate, but if it's still alive tomorrow, I might try to reattach the shell piece I have. The other bits were too small and I had to pull them out. It looks a bit swollen, so I think it might not make it through the night, but when I first brought it home, it was crawling slowly and it's eyes were still moving. Thank you for your ideas! I feel so bad. This is why I always pick up "stray" snails on that sidewalk. The first one I found (which I thought was just a pretty empty shell at the time), I returned to the garden when I realized the shell wasn't empty. The next day, I found a snail crushed on the sidewalk and was so upset that I decided I would pick up any I found there. Now I have seven. 

[astana]

Though I'm not quite sure about whether or not he will survive (it really depends on multiple variables) but I am certain he will not survive if his organs remain unprotected like that for too long. Make sure wherever you're keeping him is sanitary, and try not to move/touch/pick him up too much. I hope he survives, and best of luck.

[Liguus]

That looks very bad to me. I would not expect it to last much longer than a few days maximum. I'm not sure if repair is an option at this point. I've found snails with less damage which only lasted a week in captivity. Sorry I couldn't be of more help :/

[lindz]

May 5, 2016 1:25:23 GMT astana said:

Though I'm not quite sure about whether or not he will survive (it really depends on multiple variables) but I am certain he will not survive if his organs remain unprotected like that for too long. Make sure wherever you're keeping him is sanitary, and try not to move/touch/pick him up too much. I hope he survives, and best of luck.

Thank you for your input. I place the large piece of broken shell back on the mucus membrane to protect it and apply water regularly. It is very swollen though and I do not think it will live, but I at least wanted to try. I am going to see if I can get some carbon dioxide in the small tank its in later - that may help, as its good for tissue damage. 

[lindz]

May 5, 2016 2:28:50 GMT Liguus said:

That looks very bad to me. I would not expect it to last much longer than a few days maximum. I'm not sure if repair is an option at this point. I've found snails with less damage which only lasted a week in captivity. Sorry I couldn't be of more help :/

Thank you for your input. Yes - I think it probably won't survive. But I feel so terrible I wanted to at least try. It's still moving today, but not much - and it's very swollen. Hopefully it will pass peacefully at least - I don't have the heart to crush it. 

[lindz]

Unfortunately, I think my little creature has died. Or else, it's in a coma (which is possible). I had to work a lot today and was afraid to meddle with it too much, but it barely moved this morning and then didn't move at all tonight. It seems super swollen and is either completely out of it, or dead (though surprisingly not dried at all, which is why I've been hopeful). I put vitamin E oil with progesterone (progesterone is a healing hormone, & I figured the vitamin E would help with scarring) on it and that could have knocked it out and hopefully allowed it to fall peacefully asleep forever..... Otherwise, I will wake up tomorrow and it will show signs of life. I wish things like this didn't upset me so much, but I just hate seeing creatures suffer because of carelessness..... though it was likely a dog that stepped on it, or a seagull, because its shell was so thin, a human foot would have crushed it for sure.

[robinwhiskers]

Rest in peace, little baby snailie.

[gigas]

Sorry to hear. You did what you could, and that is all that matters.

[astana]

I'm sorry to hear that. I'm glad you tried doing something to help.