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Post by endlesstuesday on Jul 6, 2016 9:02:58 GMT
Hello all, I'm currently having problems with one of my achatina fulica, Charlie, and I'd like some help. Over the last week I've noticed that he's been practically inactive (only really moves around when I wake him up to play or during baths) and that he's been deeply retracting into his shell to sleep. There's no seal over the mouth of the shell so I know he's not hibernating and he does wake up with effort on my part but I'm pretty worried for him. He's also not been eating, despite that I've doubled their food. He lives with one other snail who's been completely fine, and was completely okay until a week ago. I've been googling this problem and have come across this helpful website: www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/retracted.html#start but it seems pretty outdated and concludes that this problem cannot be fixed and will result in death so I'd really love some other help so that this isn't a lost cause. Thank you |
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Post by etana on Jul 6, 2016 9:20:27 GMT
Hi, first of all how old is Charlie? Old snails sometimes start sleeping deeper and deeper in, and then they die of old age.
When he comes out, does he look small for his shell?
Is there anything else that has changed? Temperature, humidity, diet (other than the amount), mites, anything?
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Post by endlesstuesday on Jul 6, 2016 9:38:18 GMT
He can't be more than around three years old, I got him around two years ago and he wasn't fully grown then, he was probably about half way to adulthood although I was never told exactly how old he was.
He does look smaller than normal yes, Charlie has always been the bigger of the two snails but that's not so much the case now
We've been having pretty strange weather here recently, storms and such despite that it's the middle of summer, so I suppose the temperature hasn't been steady. And they had mites in the tank a while ago but I changed all of the substrate and that appears to have gotten rid of them. Nothing else has changed, although I'm ill at the moment so could that be affecting him? I know cats and dogs can catch colds from people, can snails? I've been disinfecting myself and such before handling them but they live in my bedroom so they're probably still in contact with it
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Post by endlesstuesday on Jul 8, 2016 14:59:57 GMT
Okay so today Charlie has been up and about more or less like normal, but he still won't eat anything other than his cuttlefish, so I'm not sure I'm out of the clear. I've booked him to go to the vets today to see if there's any infection or such but I don't believe there is, and with Charlie active again I don't think the vet will be able to help much. Does this problem come and go?
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Post by etana on Jul 11, 2016 15:18:07 GMT
Hey, I'll try to respond to your threads (this and the heatmat thread) later tonight. Sorry I haven't been around. I hope Charlie gets better.  |
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Post by etana on Jul 11, 2016 19:57:44 GMT
All right, here I am...I'll try to answer your questions. It's not unheard of for a fulica to die at 3 years old even when the care is good. Some individuals do live longer, I had one of my favourite fulica die at exactly 2 years old this summer. I don't think snails can catch human flu, but make sure he never gets the disinfectant on his foot, as he really needs all his skin and gut bacteria. Changing all of the soil is problematic, but if it really did get rid of the mite problem, it had to be done (and doing it only once in a long while shouldn't get them so ill). Sometimes snails sort of seem to sense when we're stressed and are more stressed as a result, but this is unscientific, just my own observation. Could he be pregnant with eggs? Sometimes snail pregnancies go really wrong, and they can't eat until they lay those eggs, if they survive it. Have you peeked into his breathing hole lately? Did the vet say anything else than the heat mat comment? |
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Post by endlesstuesday on Jul 12, 2016 13:50:10 GMT
Thank you for the advice, the vet told me that he's got no obvious signs of infection and checked him for anything visibile but found nothing, I've moved him away from the other snails just in case though. They also recommended upping the humidity which I've done by introducing live moss and spraying the tank more often with warm water, still confused by the heat mat problem but I'm just going to have to try it and see how it goes I reckon. None of my snails are big on digging unless they're hibernating so there should be minimal risk from that. The vet also gave me some vitamin and calcium powder to put on his food but since he's not eating I've not had any luck with this.
He's not eaten now in just over a week and a half, I've tried every food I've been able to (cabbage, broccoli, cucumber, peppers and now tortoise food) but he's not been interested in any of it when the others have happily eaten it all, cucumber especially used to be his favourite, and I tried hand feeding to no avail, he's more interested in exploring when I wake him up than anything no matter how close I put the food to his mouth. At the moment he's got wetted tortoise food in there, because it doesn't go bad so quickly and it's easier to tell if he's eaten it.
He did lay a clutch of eggs a little over a week ago and another lot a week before that, so pregnancy is definitely a possibly although I've not checked yet, I will do now that you've mentioned it. This last lot of eggs also came out very yellow, not sure if that's a sign of something bad? Is there anything I can do if he's still pregnant and struggling with the eggs?
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Post by endlesstuesday on Jul 12, 2016 19:31:45 GMT
Okay so I took a look in his breathing hole, no eggs from what I could see just a lot of sticky white/clear mucus, he was nearly covered in it when I woke him up and kept producing more as I was holding him. It's different from the trail they normally produce, thicker and really sticky like glue, he also looked to be having some difficultly opening his breathing hole. Could this be the problem?
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Post by endlesstuesday on Jul 21, 2016 17:06:57 GMT
So it's now been three weeks with no sign of improvement from him. The vet recommended an antibiotic injection might help him but he also said there's a risk of muscle damage with this option and that it might not actually do anything for him. What do I do? I don't know if he's in pain or not, I don't know what the problem is and I don't know what else I can do. I really need help here
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Post by etana on Jul 22, 2016 3:21:25 GMT
My heart goes out to you and Charlie. I don't know what's wrong, it does sound a bit like the last eggs were problematic (they are not supposed to be yellow) but other than that I honestly don't know. I only know how it feels to watch a dear snail behave weird and excrete unusual mucus. You're lucky to have a vet who treats snails. I plan to be one as well but I'm not even in med school yet. Talk with your vet, and let us know what happens. Also sorry again for not responding more quickly. Virtual hugs. |
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Post by hgradeca on Jul 22, 2016 8:44:15 GMT
So it's now been three weeks with no sign of improvement from him. The vet recommended an antibiotic injection might help him but he also said there's a risk of muscle damage with this option and that it might not actually do anything for him. What do I do? I don't know if he's in pain or not, I don't know what the problem is and I don't know what else I can do. I really need help here Hi! Unfortunately, I have nothing good to share with you... My snail exhibited exactly the same sympthoms and passed away two days ago... I am not sure whether antibiotics are going to help him, but I would suggest that you try... Unfortunately, you have nothing to lose by trying and if there is even a small chance that it may help it might be worth trying. I still hope that your little guy is going to recover! PS I totally agree with etana, you are really lucky to have such a great vet, here in Croatia it is impossible to get any advice, as none of them have any idea about snails... |
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Post by endlesstuesday on Jul 26, 2016 15:52:02 GMT
Thank you both of you, I'm sorry I've not responded sooner but as you can imagine I'm pretty preoccupied with Charlie, I managed to get a vet appointment for today to get him the antibiotics so fingers crossed that does some good. He's not changed at all over the last week, which is as much a good sign as it is a bad one I think, at least he's not getting worse. Since this happened almost immediately after his last clutch I think you're right etana, I actually kept back one of those eggs because they were so yellow and it appears the baby inside has died.
Hgradeca I'm really sorry this has happened to your one as well, R.I.P little one <3
I am pretty lucky with my vet, he doesn't entirely specialise in snails but he owns some himself so he's got more knowledge than most, I think he might be a reptile specialist but I'll have to check on that. Hes been trying his best with Charlie and I can't ask more than that, it's just a shame there's not that much information about snails avilable, no one knows enough
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Post by witchpig on Jul 26, 2016 20:50:17 GMT
🙁🙁 My heart goes out to you and charlie
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Post by hgradeca on Jul 29, 2016 14:44:39 GMT
I really hope that he will recover.
Could you please write the name of the medication your vet subscribed to Charlie? So that in case someone else has the same problem he can try to obtain it.
Thanks!
I keep the fingers crossed for Charlie!!!!
I totally agree with you, this lack of information is really frustrating... I hate being helpless...
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Post by endlesstuesday on Aug 6, 2016 13:59:25 GMT
I'd really hoped to respond with some good news now that he's been on the medication for over a week but there's been absolutely no change in him, he's had no bad reactions to it which is good but it doesn't appear to have done anything at all which isn't so good, he's still not eating and still wont wake up by himself. Unfortunatly beyond this the vet said there's nothing he can do so its a bit of a lost cause at the moment, I'm still googling anything I can think of that might help so any further suggestions would be good. I'm down to 4 doses of the medication left so I'm getting more and more worried
witchpig thank you for your support, it means a lot <3
Hgradeca Charlie is on a 14 day course of 0.4ml a day of Baytril (info on the sticker says: 2.5% per ml x 1.0) via injection. It is however an unlicensed product when it comes to snails (it's originally meant for small rodents, but the vet informed me antibiotics are the same no matter the species, it's just the concentration and dosage that changes depending on size of animal) so you have to give full consent for it
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Post by hgradeca on Aug 7, 2016 9:46:16 GMT
Thank you for sharing this info!
I really really hope that the medication will show effect soon and that he will get better.
Yep, that is correct regarding the antibiotics, the biggest problem is to determine the right dosage for differnt species. I cannot emphasize enough how lucky you are to have such a great vet!
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Post by witchpig on Aug 10, 2016 11:49:13 GMT
Yeah, vets that know snails are rare according to some people, but luckily I haven't needed to take my snail to the vet.
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Post by kellyincali on Aug 23, 2016 2:11:33 GMT
So I am new to this forum, but am dealing with a little shutting in of my snails myself, and so started reading this board.
And now I just need to know endlesstuesday... how is little Charlie? (Fingers crossed, breath held)...
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Post by endlesstuesday on Aug 24, 2016 19:21:25 GMT
Unfortunately kellyincali Charlie passed away a few days ago, it seemed in the end that there was nothing that could be done for him. I am grateful for the help everyone offered though, and I hope all of your little ones are doing okay <3
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Post by etana on Aug 24, 2016 19:50:53 GMT
Oh no... I'm so sorry to hear about Charlie  |
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Post by kellyincali on Aug 24, 2016 21:31:52 GMT
Yes... so sorry!! I hope u can take some comfort in knowing u did everything u could for him. He died loved.  Two of mine seem better today, thanks. They were active this morning and very frisky. But my 3rd, I am really concerned about. He has a pretty weak shell... It was cracked when I got him, and it's getting worse. The mites seem to flock to him as if they know he is weak. Not sure what to do... |
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Post by hgradeca on Aug 25, 2016 6:29:38 GMT
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Post by robinwhiskers on Sept 9, 2016 21:01:24 GMT
So sorry Charlie died...in early May, I found an adolescent Neohelix Albolabris snail with a severely weak shell and deep retraction syndrome. To this day he's still healthy and alive, except for his retracting.
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Post by hgradeca on Sept 9, 2016 21:13:45 GMT
From what I have read, it seems that with achatinas, deep retracting is unfortunately almost always fatal... |
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Post by robinwhiskers on Sept 9, 2016 21:43:06 GMT
I wish it was known why some snails are born with deep retraction syndrome...I feel so bad because Augie is still young and he's seemingly happy and healthy, he loves the other snails and the others love him. I usually wake him up when he retracts to make sure he eats and drinks. He always seals himself into his shell with a thin see through cover. Well, most of my snails seal themselves in overnight, but Augie is the worst about it.
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