Large hole in body whorl

[coyote]

Latif, my Theba pisana, had a small hole in his body whorl last night, where the shell is paper-thin. He has spent almost all the time I've had him buried in the substrate, and last night was one of the few times I've seen him out on the side of the tank, and had a chance to take a closer look.

Overnight the hole grew large enough for him to fit his whole neck through, which he has been doing repeatedly all day. He won't come out of his aperture, he uses the hole instead.

Mr Coyote and I have attempted a broken shell repair, but Latif keeps on pushing through the hole before the plaster can set. We don't know how to keep him from poking out through the hole.

Any suggestions? Is a hole that large in the body whorl unrepairable? We are very distraught over this.

[kanin]

Sounds quite serious but it might be fixable. I've noticed with my pisanas that they due to the very soft growth often harms themselves but they seem able to quickly repair their damages aswell. I would perhaps try repairing it again when latif is less active. If that dosent work i would try give him some time in a good misty environment. perhaps he'll repair it and perhaps he'll lose more parts of the shell in order to move around. I dont think he'll try to come out through the aperture while the hole is still there though.

[coyote]

Thanks for the advice, Kanin. We are going to try it again.

Here are a couple of quick pics I took.

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[coyote]

Another pic.

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[coyote]

He's actually peeking out the aperture in this one, and you can see inside the hole.

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[muddydragon]

wow, further back than i immagined. I'ld say it's a waiting game, it's obviously not bothering him at the moment, i'ld bet that he will slowly start to repair it and stop sticking his neck through, or maybe the hole would eventually reach the front and he would repair it all. just be thankful that it's not occured so far back into his body as to be unrepairable - does he show any signs of nibbling at his own shell to smooth out the edges when sticking his head through?

[Rachel]

the only thing I can think of is wait till he's asleep then try the repair.

[kanin]

The hole is higher up than I first realized and the growth below it looks quite stable.
I would say that the only thing to do is to try repair it again as he will keep destroying any new growth by pushing his body through the hole repeatedly, and if that fails I would try a bandaid over the hole to keep him from sticking his neck through. I've used bandaids over holes like this earlier on wild pomatias in my old garden and many times we where able to spot them again with new shell repair underneath the bandaid so bandaids definitly help and in this case it might be easier to aply a bandaid as you describe him as too active for a more permanent repair.

It dosent look like he's suffering from the hole but he'll get weaker with time if he's unable to move around and eat.
So a small stable container with food within reach aswell as calcium and some sort of help with the hole and I'd think he would be able to recover.

Hope he'll get better
emil

[coyote]

Thanks, everyone. Mr Coyote and I tried the repair again, and succeeded somewhat. We put Latif into a tiny tank and then into the refrigerator for a little while (he's not a GALS, so it wasn't as risky as it sounds). We were able to apply plaster of Paris in two stages, giving Latif some time out in the fridge in between. He's still in his tiny temporary tank with fresh cuttle and food until we can figure out how to get the excess plaster off his shell, as it is now a little too heavy. Then we will apply nail varnish to seal it, and once that's completed, he'll go back into the main tank to rejoin Remington and Paola (the latter of whom he mated with recently and whose eggs should, with luck, hatch in a couple of weeks -- if they're fertile).

In between the repair stages last night it looked like Latif tried to push through but couldn't get the hole completely open again. That, plus the fact that the newest shell growth in that immediate area is alarmingly thin, is why Mr Coyote felt it best to err on the side of caution and not skimp on the second application of plaster. But at least the hole is repaired now and there's no chance of Latif getting through it again.

I did observe him rasping on the edges of the hole yesterday, before we made any repairs. I was surprised at how he seemed to prefer emerging from the hole to crawl around, instead of using his aperture. I would think having that little bit of shell underneath him would be uncomfortable, but he kept on insisting on coming out of the hole to crawl.

That bandaid idea is a good one, Kanin, thanks for mentioning it. I wouldn't have thought of trying that, but it's good to know it will work!

[kanin]

Thats great that you where able to repair it. The refrigerator idea of calming him down was great havent thought of it before even though I've hibernated both tortoises and snails in my fridge.
To remove excess plaster I've used a small file(right word?) designed for nail trimming that worked quite well- sandpaper can also be used.

From your description he sounds healthy and active which would indicate that the shell damage isnt caused by weakness from disease or that any interior damage has occured. To my experience he'll most probably be ok from now on he might have some problems in the beginning before he's made his own repairs underneath yours but to my experience thebas grow shell quickly and are fast at repairing so he's got good chances.

[coyote]

We have a set of files as well as some sandpaper to use on the excess plaster. I'm glad he's got good chances!