Post by lewissnails on Aug 17, 2022 16:48:24 GMT
Hi all
I have recently adopted a juvenile african land snail (I estimate about 5 months old, as his shell is around 6cm) called Samwise. I am a new snailkeeper and I followed all the advice on the website giantafricanlandsnails.com including all the equipment it recommends, so his temperature and humidity are just right. I feed him as directed and overall his care has been very good. I tried to get the fastest shipping possible so he didn't spend too long in the post. He arrived two weeks ago. (I really didn't want to order one from a breeder because I knew this could have happened, but I couldn't find one in rescue shelters anywhere near me.)
I noticed the day after he arrived that there was a fairly sizeable hole in his shell. I didn't immediately find it because, when I transferred him from the box he was delivered in to his new tank, I didn't want to tilt him upside-down or hold him over my head as I was trying to handle him as little as possible and I didn't know if these things would disturb him. So I only noticed the hole when he got comfortable enough to start climbing up the walls of his enclosure. It's on the underside of the shell and when he is moving around normally it is pressed against the top of his foot.
(These images were taken right before his bath)
Technically, I don't know if he got injured in the post or on his first day in the tank, but there's nothing hard in there that could have caused it.
I received some really mixed advice on whether I should patch the shell or not, mostly from Reddit. Some people told me I should patch it immediately to prevent infection, others said doing so would prevent it from healing naturally. One person said patching it would kill him. I read that snails can heal their shells in a week or two, so I have been bathing him frequently with clean water for two weeks, keeping him very humid and observing it to see if it will heal, but I haven't noticed any significant changes. I think the shell might just be growing around it.
What's confusing me here is that Sam is acting just so happy. The crack hasn't stopped him from bounding around his tank, he's constantly up on the walls and the lid. The shell seems to fit quite snugly and there appears to be no danger of it falling off. On top of that, he was eating like a horse for the first week, then normally from then onwards. The first thing he did when I set him down in his tank for the first time was devour a TON of calcium from his cuttlebone and then leave a huge white poop on the water dish. He's not aestivating even in the driest parts of the day, he's certainly not refusing food, he seems perfectly curious and adventurous. I don't know what to think, he isn't acting like a sick snail. A friend of mine who owns snails says they are very hardy and likely to recover from these things, but he's just not showing any signs of improvement yet. He's the same as when I met him.
What do I do? Should I do anything? I don't want to lose him. This is already my fault for subjecting him to the post.
I have recently adopted a juvenile african land snail (I estimate about 5 months old, as his shell is around 6cm) called Samwise. I am a new snailkeeper and I followed all the advice on the website giantafricanlandsnails.com including all the equipment it recommends, so his temperature and humidity are just right. I feed him as directed and overall his care has been very good. I tried to get the fastest shipping possible so he didn't spend too long in the post. He arrived two weeks ago. (I really didn't want to order one from a breeder because I knew this could have happened, but I couldn't find one in rescue shelters anywhere near me.)
I noticed the day after he arrived that there was a fairly sizeable hole in his shell. I didn't immediately find it because, when I transferred him from the box he was delivered in to his new tank, I didn't want to tilt him upside-down or hold him over my head as I was trying to handle him as little as possible and I didn't know if these things would disturb him. So I only noticed the hole when he got comfortable enough to start climbing up the walls of his enclosure. It's on the underside of the shell and when he is moving around normally it is pressed against the top of his foot.
(These images were taken right before his bath)
Technically, I don't know if he got injured in the post or on his first day in the tank, but there's nothing hard in there that could have caused it.
I received some really mixed advice on whether I should patch the shell or not, mostly from Reddit. Some people told me I should patch it immediately to prevent infection, others said doing so would prevent it from healing naturally. One person said patching it would kill him. I read that snails can heal their shells in a week or two, so I have been bathing him frequently with clean water for two weeks, keeping him very humid and observing it to see if it will heal, but I haven't noticed any significant changes. I think the shell might just be growing around it.
What's confusing me here is that Sam is acting just so happy. The crack hasn't stopped him from bounding around his tank, he's constantly up on the walls and the lid. The shell seems to fit quite snugly and there appears to be no danger of it falling off. On top of that, he was eating like a horse for the first week, then normally from then onwards. The first thing he did when I set him down in his tank for the first time was devour a TON of calcium from his cuttlebone and then leave a huge white poop on the water dish. He's not aestivating even in the driest parts of the day, he's certainly not refusing food, he seems perfectly curious and adventurous. I don't know what to think, he isn't acting like a sick snail. A friend of mine who owns snails says they are very hardy and likely to recover from these things, but he's just not showing any signs of improvement yet. He's the same as when I met him.
What do I do? Should I do anything? I don't want to lose him. This is already my fault for subjecting him to the post.
