scared guy, uses a cap to protect herself (?)

[daniele]

Goodmorning guys, I recently found a new guy on my front door, appeared after a stormy night... First strange thing is that my front door is not at ground level, but at the first floor, so it is already a bit strange that she climbed up here, since there is nothing that can attract a snail! 

Anyway, in order to show hospitality, I gave her food and water and a little house to feel more comfortable, and with my surprise she settled in immediately, and during the following month, she never got far from her new house, no matter what!!! 
So in the following days I went on feeding her and caring her, and she decided to stay apparently (I say so, since she never moved for one entire month); at that point I decided to bring her inside with all the other snails, but first I took a sample of poop to the vet in order to make sure she had no problems and she would no t be dangerous for my guys...pooped resulted clean, so i decided to bring her in! The vet also recommended, to touch her side with a napkin, in order to make sure she has no mites either, and so I did. 
During the process clearly she felt scared and stressful, and after I touched her twice with the napkin she looked terrified (poor guy) and reacted like this:



Grabbed the cap and sealed herself like an hermit crab ahahhah awesome



She remained like this for a couple of minutes, and after realising that there were no real dangers, she came out!
I'm sorry I was not able to film it (I took some video but only after she grabbed the cap already) but the pics are still interesting in my opinion and super cute anyway!!!

I know that the reason why she did so, could easily not being driven by the intention of using a tool, and maybe she was only searching for a hide instead, but it is still impressive in my opinion!

Bonus pic, the guest taking bath and eating, super relaxed on one of her first days out of my door!

[Love snails and slugs]

like very cute snail are awsome and really beautie

[phoenix1915]

So cute!! Any funny Can I ask you, what kind of place do you take their poop to get it tested? A vet that specialized in snails? Also wanted to ask - when looking for mites and blotting with a napkin, what do you look for on the napkin to tell if they have mites or not? TYSM!

[Cashell]

May 4, 2022 7:16:46 GMT phoenix1915 said:

So cute!! Any funny Can I ask you, what kind of place do you take their poop to get it tested? A vet that specialized in snails? Also wanted to ask - when looking for mites and blotting with a napkin, what do you look for on the napkin to tell if they have mites or not? TYSM!

Try an exotic vet that regularly deals with things like reptiles, amphibians, and the like. They might get giggles at the idea of you wanting to treat a snail, but you never know until you ask.

[phoenix1915]

Cashell I will keep that in mind! Snail keeping is still very new to me so any bit of info like this is helpful

[snailpers0n]

This is the most wholesome thing I have ever seen

[daniele]

May 4, 2022 7:16:46 GMT phoenix1915 said:

So cute!! Any funny Can I ask you, what kind of place do you take their poop to get it tested? A vet that specialized in snails? Also wanted to ask - when looking for mites and blotting with a napkin, what do you look for on the napkin to tell if they have mites or not? TYSM!

Sorry for the late reply and the napking thing was useless in my opinion! I changed to a new vet because that one was not the only "random" suggestion he gave me, and he made several disasters too..

So the most accurate way I found out to be sure if a snail is infested with mites, unsurpisingly is to grab a light point it near the breathing hole, and observe the area accurately and from close distance for some minutes (I use to do it for ten but even less should be ok).


Concerning where to take the poops, as you were already advised, any exotic vet can do it!  

Also pls note that the fact that the poop are free from nematodes or parasites, is good, but isn't the only thing that can harm your snails: if they are from the wild there are many chances they have some bacteria, and to know it the only way seems to be a swab test (still can be collected by any exotic vet and then send to a specialized lab)

[Abyssal]

awwww she looks so happy in the bath