shell was soft this morning ?

[lynn22]

After being over the moon with my 2 healthy looking 2 mnth old good sized albino retics that arrived yesterday & me spending ages observing them last night i checked them first thing this morning, 1 was burrowed & the other was partially burrowed.

When i picked the 1st one up I noticed that along the edge of the lip it had an extremely thin part of shell, i mean imagine the thickness of dried slime...it was that thin !!! it also had a colouration to it like its shell so my question (and worry) is would this be the start of new growth.. part of the normal shell making process or has the snail rasped away at itself until only the last outer 1 cell thick layer was left PS snail seems perfectly fine & happy...Now i check the other retic and it didnt have this but what it did have was that again along the lip area of its shell it was very soft & last night it had definately been hard ! I again would like to know if this happens if they have burrowed under substrate all night or what
The rest of their shells are just as they were yesterday, perfect condition & very pretty markings etc. is it normal for this part of the shell to become soft & pliable over night then harden when exposed to air through the day or does something soften it when they are making new shell growth ?
THis really did quite alarm & worry me today.

[siobhanc54]

Mine go the same now and then and sometimes the edge is see through, it's just the new growth think you'll notice it more because they grow so quick, it's also why you have to be careful if picking them up by there, but perfectly normal.

[Bumblebee]

What you describe sounds like new growth to me, I got young snails myself and I see new growth from time to time on them.

Only reason a snail would eat its own shell, at least according to what I have read, would be if they didnt have any source of calcium.

[lynn22]

Thanks for re-assuring me, I really was quite worried. Anyway I've had a quick google around and found an about australian snail production for consumption but it mentioned this

"If the outer edge of the shell (or lip) is soft and pliable, it means that the snail has not finished growing. To determine maturity, the shell lip should be hard and resistant to touch"

This information was mentioned on page 31 of this article
rirdc.infoservices.com.au/downloads/06-104.pdf

[lynn22]

a few days ago i noticed on one of the retics a dent (not huge but noticeable all the same) and a crack in the shell near the area where the new growth takes place (the crack is over the dent).
the crack could be felt better than seen, it isn't all the way through the layers of shell and since the shell itself is obviously growing at quite a remarkable rate its obviously getting higher up the shell (so farther away from lip)

The dent i think may have been from this snails preference to snuggle into a crevice on their drift wood type shelter/tank decor i bought for them, it was specifically for tanks etc ... i forget the actual type of wood, anyway this fast growing part of the shell is definitely soft & venerable and the the dent would tie in with it pulling itself into its favorite spot, the crack however I'm not sure about, having the shell dented & in this soft area clearly makes it weaker and i cannot rule out my own self may have done this when picking it up but I'm not aware of doing so, anyway if i touch it , it sounds like the way a lettuce does if you crunch it or break off a leaf snailie itself is perfectly fine, lively when feeding at night, never affected its appetite or behaviour in any way which is good and the only thing i could think of doing as i strongly felt it would be better to give it a protective seal/extra layer of the crack was to give a coat of nail varnish .

Ive also been putting in little piles of powdered cuttlefish as-well as the proper cuttlefish they have, they get a wide variety of veg etc and taking the likes of last night both of them sat and ate half a level filled milk bottle lid of baby snail mix which i had made into a paste with a pinch of c/fish powder & limestone flour. I am going to also order some liquid calcium to spray on as-well.

the snail in question like i said, happy & eating , growing and nothing worrying otherwise so could some knowledgeable folks on here with this type of experience advise me if they think this will heal & strengthen well & also if there is anything else i should be doing (or have done)

I was very worried to start with but seeing that the shell is growing so quick & the damaged area is now getting further away from the lip area I am slightly less worried but would like to do everything possible to fix this.

PS... the piece of wood thingy has been removed from the tank until they are older !
Also it is this snail that also has the preference to wander up to the tank lid quite often, none of the other 3 do

I find it curious that both the retics shells are like this (soft) where they grow from but the wee tigers shells don't appear to be, I'm wondering if its due to the speed the retics grow compared to the very slow ... in-fact snail pace LOL growth of the tigers.

Also all 4 snailies absolutely love boiled mashed carrot & boiled mashed broccoli (none were eating raw broc which is why i boiled it)

[coyote]

Is it possible the snail had a fall? What you described with the shell sounds very similar to what happened with my Theba pisana. Shortly after I got him he put on a huge growth spurt and the new shell was very thin. I found a very small, shallow dented area with a tiny crack, and the shell made a crackly noise when I picked him up (I've since stopped handling him till the shell strengthens).

I've seen this snail fall off the side of the tank, and judging from the position of the dented area it could very well have been the part of the shell he landed on. That's why I'm wondering if it might not have to do with your snail's tendency to snuggle into the driftwood, and might be due to a fall.

[lynn22]

It would be possible as this is the only one that climbs right up, I'm doing the same as you & not handling, well i make sure they are out to their food every night but if i need to pick him up i'm very careful to try and not touch his shell (these albino's were going to be my "girls" but I seem to naturally refer to them as males LOL...guess I should re think the names ! )

so much for the snails = no worry pets

do you think i've done all that i can then & now its down to nature & time ? I am going to keep the driftwood out of the tank just now as it would be still something hard to fall onto if that is what happened.

[coyote]

As long as the snail is getting enough calcium, he should be fine in time. Maybe you could use more than one kind of calcium source in the tank (such as cuttle plus liquid calcium and/or limestone flour, etc.), just to be sure he's getting optimal absorption.

[lynn22]

Just a quick update on the retic with the wee crack on its shell..... the dented cracked area was originally not far up from the lip of shell & now its more or less over at the other side The rate of these guys shell growth just amazes me.

I have no idea if the cracked area is hardening etc as I just take great care when handling & dont touch anywhere near the injured area but it hasnt affected snailie at all ;D

[coyote]

Glad he's not affected by it!

[lynn22]

Just to let you know that the injured part of shell is not far off of a complete circle, seriously its gone nearly all the way round ! (the shell growth has moved it round not the actual injury getting bigger iykwim)

I just love these retics, the tigers are great but if I'm honest a wee bit boring, I'm sure they will be less so when they are bigger & move more, eat more etc but they are so slow growing & you can barely see them eat so watching the albino retics is still so fascinating