HELP baby snail

[linky]

Hi Everyone,
I recently found a snail on my grapes, a baby I assume a garden snail , I live in cape town south africa it is summer but we have had a drop in temp today only about 17 deg c this eve, I kept her for a day in my pot plant, then bought her a small fish tank that came without a lid, I had some old pot plant soil and mixed in garden soil, put it in the tank about 2cm's, I added 2 / 3 stones and followed instructions with cutting an plastic pot plant container for somewhere for her to hide. I have been giving her lettuce, cucumber, parsly and crushed egg shell, also a small slither apple, in 4 days all i have actually seen her eat is some cucumber earlier this eve. I am concerned, tonight i covered the top of the tank with plastic wrap since i was worried it was not humid enough for her, I made a hole in the middle for oxygen, is this suitable as a cover ? i have sprayed the tank so the soil is moist, she does not want to hide away in the plastic pot plant thingie and instead insists on remaining at the top of the tank again the plastic wrap ? is this ok? also i thought they were nocturnal yet she has barely come out of her shell the whole eve ? only when i disturb her, is she sick ? i dont want her to die, please any advise will be much appreciated. I have her in my kitchen which is the warmest place. she is alot less active that when she wa just in the pot plant, what am i doing wrong, I will try get cuttle fish tomorrow as she does not seem to want the egg shell, the sides of the tank have some water so she gets water from there. HELP , should i get her some preservative free baby food tomorrow ( pulp _ vegies ? ) woul dthat be better for her ?
thanks
linky

[coyote]

Hi linky, welcome to the forum. I'm not sure what kind of snail you have -- posting a pic would be very helpful.

If you have only had her 4 days, she is probably still settling into her new tank, and hanging around at the top of the tank is not unusual, so far. All of my new snails have done that for a few days, until they get used to the tank and then they begin acting more normally.

It sounds like you are offering good food for her. I would suggest stopping the cucumber for a while and offering thinly sliced sweet potato instead. Snails love cucumber more than anything and will ignore other food if given a choice. But snails also love sweet potato, so she should be able to make the switch. Offering lettuce and apple are good too, as long as the lettuce is not iceberg.

Plastic wrap is not the best cover for your tank. If you can use a piece of window screen, either metal or plastic mesh, that would be better. I suggest spraying the whole tank a couple of times during the day to keep the humidity up. It's a balancing act between allowing enough fresh air in and keeping the tank humid enough.

I also suggest removing the stones (in case she falls from the top of the tank and cracks her shell) and putting in some real or fake plants so she has more hiding places and some foliage to climb on. A small stick or two than spans the diagonal length of the tank is nice (wash and rinse them well before placing in the tank), for climbing.

I think if you gave your new snail a few more days to settle in, things will be okay. If you have any other questions, though, please don't hesitate to ask.

[linky]

Hi Coyote,

Thank you so much for your speedy reply. I am unable to get a lid for the tank today, do you think it will be ok with the plastic wrap for now? I have made a hole in the top a pretty big one , so there is air, and I have apiece of grass like/ mesh paper on top covering the top ( hard to explain ) i took a pic but have no idea how to up load it ? I got some cuttle fish this morning for her and sticks and twigs that i washed, I have no sweet pot but am cooking some butternut and cauliflower right now which i thought i would mash up for her ? is that good ? Also My vet said parsley is good calcium ? took out the pebbles all but one large one which she likes to sit on and hide under the lettuce and part of pot plant container. She is weird though, its daylight and she is moving around and at night she is in her shell? I also saw a worm in there this morn, i left it in, is that ok ? I will have to get fake plants another day but the parsley leaf is almost like a plant ? She seems to like the egg shell ? and i have left 1 piece cucumber I am happy if she eats it at least eating something right? can you tell me how to load a photo or 2 ? thanks linky

[coyote]

A thin slice of raw butternut would be good, or a dab of cooked. If it was me, I'd offer it separate from cauliflower.

It's okay to leave the cucumber for her for now, but eventually she will need more diverse food to make sure she gets the best nutrition possible.

Just about any fruit or veg that you eat would be good to offer your snail; raw is better than cooked.

The idea for the plants was to provide something with foliage larger than her shell so she has something to crawl in and crawl into, an alternative to the plant pot. Snails in the wild will seek out leaves wider than their shells to sleep on or under. It's best to try to replicate their wild environment as much as possible in the tank. Some people have success with live plants in the tank, and others, like me (in spite of my green thumb with houseplants, have to use plastic aquarium plants. My snails always seek out the plants with the widest leaves to sleep on. So unless your snail is really tiny, the parsley probably isn't going to serve that purpose (unless it is really gigantic parsley).

You can leave both the cuttle and the eggshell in the tank. Don't be surprised if you see the snail using both. Calcium is crucial for the snail, so many different sources of it in the tank couldn't hurt, as the snail can choose which one it likes best.

You can upload a pic from your computer by going to the Reply page and at the top, in the second field "Attachment," selecting Browse and then selecting the file you want to post.

Alternately, if you have uploaded your pic to a Flickr, Photobucket, ImageShack, SmugMug, TinyPic or other photo-hosting website you can post the URL for that image.

It's okay to leave the plastic wrap for now, but in the long run I think it will cause more problems than it solves.

The snail active during the day and resting at night is nothing of concern. They do that sometimes.

If the worm you saw was an earthworm, it's okay to leave it in the tank. It will help eat the snail poop and any decaying food, and keep the tank clean. If it's a larva, though, we need to know more about what it is to tell if it's okay.

[linky]

hERE is a photo of my little one, I was reaading about the oxulate of the vegies and the calciun not being properly absorbed if high oxulate veg, I boiled them in distilled water as that should remove the oxulate and help her to better absorb the calcium ? she liked them, but i will take your advise and not mix the veg together, I will have to try find out about the worm, but will prob just remove it next time i see it and rather clean her home myself everyday. Shame I wonder how you got those snails in your drawer !!!

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[linky]

prev pic did not come out so well ? its so clear on my pc though? strange , lets try this pic

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[morningcoffee]

Mar 10, 2011 18:38:41 GMT linky said:

hERE is a photo of my little one, I was reaading about the oxulate of the vegies and the calciun not being properly absorbed if high oxulate veg, I boiled them in distilled water as that should remove the oxulate and help her to better absorb the calcium ? she liked them, but i will take your advise and not mix the veg together, I will have to try find out about the worm, but will prob just remove it next time i see it and rather clean her home myself everyday. Shame I wonder how you got those snails in your drawer !!!

Definitely don't clean the tub/tank daily. Snails need certain types of bacteria in their environment to stay healthy - keeping the tank too clean can actually be very damaging to a snail's health in the long run. It's best to leave some poop, old food and used soil around in the tank. Wiping the sides and roof of a tank daily to remove slime is fine.
Also, it would better to feed your snail raw, uncooked veg that have been thoroughly washed, rather than boiling the food, simply because raw veg is far higher in vitamins etc. than cooked veg. Even tiny snails are very capable of eating hard raw foods - they rasp the surface off layer by layer, so they don't have to bite down or anything like that.
Don't worry about her too much - snails are very capable of looking after themselves and taking care of their own needs. As long as you provide a suitable environment, food and calcium, the snail should be just fine. If they are able to survive in the wild, they are more than able to survive in a suitable environment in captivity. Don't bother the snail too much - just let it settle into its new home without much disturbance. So long as the tank receives regular sprayings and fresh food every few days, you shouldn't need to interact with the snail much until it's settled in a bit.

[linky]

Hi Morning Coffee,
Thank you for the great info, I had been taking out the food everyday and replacing it with fresh food, I was giving the veg and grape and carrot raw, broccoli raw, cucumber, egg shell and the cuttle fish broken into a small piece, to see what she liked the most, so a huge selection for her to choose from. I noticed she did not go for the raw carrot and broccoli, but preferred the pulp veg and cucumber ? She does not seem to like the cuttlefish though, only put it in yesterday she almost moves away from it. I have noticed that if i add anything new to her home, whether it just be a new leaf or stick, she goes to the side of the tank on the glass, very aware of anything new. I guess i have been pestering her a little . Why is it I need to keep the enviroment so moist when in the wild she would not have that kind of moisture or humidity ? not here at least. cape town gets very hot but rather dry, sometimes its humid but not often ? so how would she survivie in the wild? Also when i found her, i cracked her shell it was very soft as she is a baby, it is harder now, but i can still see the crack, will it repair ?
thanks again

linky

[coyote]

As long as she has access to a calcium source in the tank, she will repair her shell over time. Needless to say, be very careful in handling her, at least until she gets bigger and her shell has had some time to get stronger.

Your region may be hot and dry during the day, but how much doe sit cool off at night? I live in a region of California with a similar Mediterranean-type climate, and it cools off considerably at night and the humidity rises. Snails will simply estivate more if it is too dry for them. During the winter rains they are more active, and in the summer they can estivate for 2 or 3 weeks at a time. That's how they survive the dry times.

You can try letting the tank get a little dry during the day and do your misting starting at sundown, and a couple more times during the evening until bedtime. That will more closely mimic the natural hot/cool, dry/damp cycles of the environment.

[snailysnuggles]

Welcome to the forum love, You sound a really loving caring person.

Jo xx

[Deleted]

Welcome to the forum and if im not right some one correct me please but i think she is a Helix Aspersa this is what she will look like when she is an adult www.solpugid.com/cabiota/snail2.jpg
she will either have a black foot or a white foot (i prefer the white foots (easier to spot) )