hello a snail is sad

[sadsnail]

hello i am new and i am sad about a little snail i found outside

its shell seemed very fragile and crumbly.

will it be ok? will it grow another shell?

poor little thing.

[coyote]

Hi sadsnail, welcome to the forum. I have a few questions for you - where do you live? That will help identify what kind of snail you found. Have you taken it in and are you trying to care for it? What kind of tank do you have it in? Is there cuttle bone in the tank with the snail? Cuttle will help it repair its shell. What are you feeding it? All snails seems to love cucumber and sweet potato and lettuce as well as most other fruits and vegs.

The snail won't grow a new shell but the calcium in the cuttle will help it repair its existing shell. Good luck with your little snailie, and let us know how it goes!

[sadsnail]

hello thank you for your message

looks like i did the wrong thing then, i left it in the flowerbed as i didn't want to damage it/upset it.i live by the east coast right near the beach.

i didnt feed it.tomorrow i shall go and put some fruit and salad stuff in the flowerbed in case it comes back.

when i saw it i picked it up to see what was wrong with it but its shell was almost breaking in my hand and i didnt want to handle it too much

it wasnt happy as it withdrew into the shell.

i felt very helpless, and came here because i just thought it would die, but you have helped in that if it eats then it might live so i feel a bit better now.

i love snails and did not like to see that.

[coyote]

You did the right thing by not handling the snail too much. I don't think you did the wrong thing by leaving it in the garden. A lot of snails in the wild repair cracked shells just fine, as long as they have access to a source of calcium (local soil rich in limestone, for example). You can try getting a cuttlebone at a pet supply store (usually in the bird section), then break a piece off, rinse it off well, and place it close to where you've seen the snail or where you're going to leave food for it.

Let us know if you see the snail again and how it's doing.

[sadsnail]

hi

well i feel much happier now because i looked in the flowerbed yesterday and I did not see him where i put him and today he was not there or anywhere about either.

so that means he must be ok and have been able to leave on his own.

i was fully expecting to find him dead where i left him.

[coyote]

I'm glad!