Post by aerliss on Mar 3, 2010 23:51:04 GMT
Quark, one of my albino retics, took a nose dive at the laminated wood floor tonight while I was clearing out yesterday's dinner. He's got a crack in his shell running from the top of the largest swirl to the opening and I think his mantle has come away from the shell (although I've tried to handle him as little as possible).
I've moved him to his own, small tank (it's a seed propagator) and put it in the bedroom. The humidity can be kept above 90 in the tank and the temp will remain above 28C.
There is no substrate, only a damp towel. The entire floor of the tank is covered in a variety of his favourite foods (mostly cucumber because he's a fussy bugger). There's a small amount of cuttle next to him and I've sprinkled all the food with a calcium+vit D3 supplement, some fish flakes and a hemp/pomegranate mix. The water also contains liquid calcium (overkill?).
I think I have all bases covered and now have to simply play the waiting game. Can anyone think of anything I've not done?
I'm fully prepared to accept the fact that he most likely will not survive such damage and I don't really expect him to fight very hard (he was small and not all that robust when I got him). Anything I can do to help him though, I will.
Fate does this to me and my babies a lot. Either they live terribly long lives (hamsters that live to be five, goldfish are moving into their 20's) or die tragically young.
[EDIT]
Some tentative good news; I looked in on him before going to bed and he's moving around. Not sure if this is a good thing as I don't know what the damage is to his mantle. However, he IS pulling his shell with him. Hopefully what I saw when I glanced at the inside wasn't a mantle collapse but just some serious retraction. Poor thing, he did sound like a hard boiled egg hitting the floor.
He's not actually eating >_> As always; a fussy little pest. Food litters the floor though, so if he does decide to have a chomp he doesn't need to go anywhere.
I've tried to minimise the distance between floor and ceiling but there's still a good few centimetres to spare and he DOES like to climb, especially when put in a new, clean environment.
The damage to his shell is more extensive than I thought, a big chunk (1cm squared) is hanging off. However, there's no debris; it's a nice clean... crack.
*sigh*
If all's as well as can be in the morning I'll see what I can do about the hole. For now; fingers crossed I don't find a snail sans shell when I get up...
[EDIT]
Good news; the mantle is fully intact, though he's pulled it up as far as he can. I assume this is to help heal the crack.
He's left little snail trails all over the towel and when I got up he was attempting to climb the wall. He can't be having too much difficulty >_> He's active and alert and as much trouble as usual when trying to get him off the side of the tank or my hand.
I've put a big woolly jumper in there under the towel and a large square bowl. There's now no room left for him to get onto the ceiling... although he's giving it a very good attempt, or is just very confused about the ceiling being so close to his head.
Should I try to patch up the 1cm square hole (the shell has now come off) or just leave him to his own devices? The crack I think he can deal with on his own.
I've moved him to his own, small tank (it's a seed propagator) and put it in the bedroom. The humidity can be kept above 90 in the tank and the temp will remain above 28C.
There is no substrate, only a damp towel. The entire floor of the tank is covered in a variety of his favourite foods (mostly cucumber because he's a fussy bugger). There's a small amount of cuttle next to him and I've sprinkled all the food with a calcium+vit D3 supplement, some fish flakes and a hemp/pomegranate mix. The water also contains liquid calcium (overkill?).
I think I have all bases covered and now have to simply play the waiting game. Can anyone think of anything I've not done?
I'm fully prepared to accept the fact that he most likely will not survive such damage and I don't really expect him to fight very hard (he was small and not all that robust when I got him). Anything I can do to help him though, I will.
Fate does this to me and my babies a lot. Either they live terribly long lives (hamsters that live to be five, goldfish are moving into their 20's) or die tragically young.
[EDIT]
Some tentative good news; I looked in on him before going to bed and he's moving around. Not sure if this is a good thing as I don't know what the damage is to his mantle. However, he IS pulling his shell with him. Hopefully what I saw when I glanced at the inside wasn't a mantle collapse but just some serious retraction. Poor thing, he did sound like a hard boiled egg hitting the floor.
He's not actually eating >_> As always; a fussy little pest. Food litters the floor though, so if he does decide to have a chomp he doesn't need to go anywhere.
I've tried to minimise the distance between floor and ceiling but there's still a good few centimetres to spare and he DOES like to climb, especially when put in a new, clean environment.
The damage to his shell is more extensive than I thought, a big chunk (1cm squared) is hanging off. However, there's no debris; it's a nice clean... crack.
*sigh*
If all's as well as can be in the morning I'll see what I can do about the hole. For now; fingers crossed I don't find a snail sans shell when I get up...
[EDIT]
Good news; the mantle is fully intact, though he's pulled it up as far as he can. I assume this is to help heal the crack.
He's left little snail trails all over the towel and when I got up he was attempting to climb the wall. He can't be having too much difficulty >_> He's active and alert and as much trouble as usual when trying to get him off the side of the tank or my hand.
I've put a big woolly jumper in there under the towel and a large square bowl. There's now no room left for him to get onto the ceiling... although he's giving it a very good attempt, or is just very confused about the ceiling being so close to his head.
Should I try to patch up the 1cm square hole (the shell has now come off) or just leave him to his own devices? The crack I think he can deal with on his own.
i used selotape XD but he sadly died 
