Baby GALS sleeping/resting fully extended

[zedde]

Hello, I'm completely new to the forum.  This seems like a great place to share info and experience so I'm hoping someone here might be able to put my mind at ease.  

We got our baby Zeddemore at the beginning of March, and 'he' is our first ever snail.  The snails at work had 'snabies' at the end of last year, so that's where I got him from.  At first he was burrowing a little bit in his substrate and under his moss to sleep, and then eventually he started sleeping on the lid of his tank, all cosy and retracted.  For the last week he has been on the floor of his tank refusing to budge from his cuttlebone, and it appears he is sleeping or resting in a fully extended position.  His wee eyes are sometimes retracted, sometimes semi retracted, and one time I caught him with his whole face completely folded into his body. (I got a picture, it was quite sweet) I check on him every few hours to make sure he's still alive, and sometimes he looks totally deflated and his eye stalks are droopy, a bit like he's nodding off, but he does perk up a bit with stimulus. (a quick misting with water)  

I've noticed that he tends to be quite still and inactive for a couple of days every now and then (usually on the lid, hanging upside down) and when he comes back down again it seems like he's grown a bit, so at first I wasn't too worried about it, but he's never stayed in one position like this for this length of time.  He does eat normally I would say because I woke up the other day to find he had completely destroyed his dinner, and when I changed his substrate recently he went for a wee slime across the tank to his water, had a quick bath, then went back to his cuttlebone.  I don't see any physical changes to his body or colour, but I'm just a little worried that there's something I'm not doing right for him.  We've not had him for long, but I'm pretty attached to my little Zedde.

Is he just lazy? 

Thanks in advance

Zeddemum

[etana]

Hi, and welcome to the forum. Apologies for the slow reply.

Snails change their sleeping habits according to the humidity and temperature of the tank. The only sleeping position you actually need to worry about is very deep retraction. Sleeping with his face showing is normal, and so is retracting just enough to hide his body in the shell, snails are hardy and clever little creatures when it comes to adapting to different conditions and regulating their body temperature, skin moisture and calcium intake.

Please don't wake him up every few hours, you wouldn't want that done on you either just because you were sleeping so peacefully. If he sleeps on the glass or hanging from the top, you might see his little breathing hole open and close every couple minutes or so. That's how you know he's perfectly fine without interfering with his rest. With time you will become more calm and trusting about his sleep times, and that he will wake up and go about his snaily business.

Also I hope you didn't desinfect or thoroughly scrub Zette's tank when you changed the substrate. Usually it's very well enough to wipe snail trails off the walls, pick up the poops that stand out and remove food that's gone off so bad it smells and/or attracts fruit flies. Full substrate changes are almost never needed and are actually risky for snails if done often, because some of their gut bacteria comes out with their poop and they need to be able to swallow it back later by eating the soil and taking bites of poops. If you need to change a lot of the substrate, try to keep at the very least a handful of the old one if at all possible, unless there are parasites in it.

Sorry about the lecture, this just can't be repeated enough and it's also for any lurkers reading this thread. Good luck, and let us know how little Zedde is doing!

Edit to add: A few quick questions just to be sure the basics are fine. What species is Zedde? What do you use for substrate, what does his diet consist of, and what's the tank temperature?

[zedde]

Thank you so much for your reply, all of this is extremely useful to know.

Little Zedde is Achatina Fulica (I think), hatched in November and isn't so little anymore! He's used to that coco fibre stuff that comes in a brick form (hatched in this, and has lived in it since) and he likes to be at around 20 degrees, although it's gone up a little in the last few weeks with the pretty changeable weather. His diet is quite varied, depending on what is fresh at the supermarket. His faves are lettuce, baby corn and pepper, is partial to a bit of broccoli, and obviously his cuttlebone. He gets sweet potato and things like that as well, and since he is still fairly new to me, I want to make sure I've tried him with different things so I know what he likes and needs. We keep snails and other 'mini beasts' at work (education charity, so we show them off to visitors and teach them about them) and they are super comfy in the tank there so I tried to replicate that at home, and so didn't change his diet or habitat much, and he seems happy and healthy. The issue was that I don't get to spend as much time with them at work as I do with my bestie Zedde, so any new behaviour gives me the major fear! Zedde spent a good two weeks shuffling about on his cuttlebone, and was really only eating cuttlebone with the odd munch at some veggies, so I'm starting to wonder if he had fallen off the lid of his tank at some point while I wasn't looking. He doesn't look scuffed and he has no cracks in his shell so I can't be sure.

When I try to rouse him it's at the times when he would normally be starting to wake up (around 8pm, so normally I change his food around this time). It did used to be more often at the start of the weird behaviour, (shameful I know..) until my husband pointed out that if he had hands he'd definitely be showing me the finger by now! When I check on him, it's just to make sure he's doing his usual wee shuffle about, then I can tell he's still alive! I've noticed when he sleeps on the lid of his tank that every few hours he'll wake up, spin round on the spot and go back to sleep - so cute! About 2 weeks ago he started sleeping on his little cuttlebone island in the middle of the tank and I wasn't sure if he was moving at all, which is why I was so worried about him. Yesterday when I woke up and went to check on him, he was hanging out on the lid again for the first time in two weeks, and his behaviour later that night was almost like normal. Happy Zeddemum!

I never disinfect the tank, I usually just wipe the glass so I can see in. Since March (when we got him) I think I've only completely changed the tank twice (once because there were fruit flies, and then again hours later because I was an idiot and made his substrate far far too wet for him.) Normally I just take out the parts that need removed, and sometimes give the substrate a wee churn, so the bottom doesn't get too wet. I didn't know that about the gut bacteria, and eating the substrate - thank you very much! I'll make sure not to disturb it much.

I feel a whole lot better knowing that this sort of sleep is normal, it was so odd to see his habit change so dramatically overnight. I'll try and upload a few pics to show him off - he's an absolute beauty in my eyes, and it's really fun/panic inducing getting to know him and his wee quirks. Although I know I should just chill out, eh?

Sorry for the long response, I'm absolutely gripped by everything he does, and find it fascinating to talk about him! What snails do you keep? The one in your profile pic has such a beautiful shell!

Thank you thank you thank you again.

Zeddemum

[etana]

Hey! How is Zedde doing now?

Sorry I missed that you had a question for me! I currently keep Achatina fulica, Achatina achatina, Achatina balteata, Achatina immaculata, and Archachatina marginata. The snail in my avatar is a wild-caught Cepaea hortensis, I haven't kept them for a while but I agree that their shells are very pretty!

[zedde]

Hi! Sorry for the late response, we moved house and am at this very moment in the process of buying Zeddie a new house too, since he is getting a little on the big side for his wee baby tank. He is thriving, and getting bigger and bigger by the second I’m sure of it! I’ve come to take his quirks in my stride now, and he goes through a wee cycle of sleeping retracted then extended then retracted etc. Thanks for asking. .

That’s quite a big extended snail family you have, I bet they all have their own personalities.