Achatina dimidiata Drowned :(

[sezzy5889]

My tiny dimidiata Milky drowned in the night he is 1 1/2 cm shell length and i found him laying in the water and his body was as if it had absorbed the water and had blown up so big and popped out of his shell But the weird thing is i think he may still be alive, i put him on a tray ready to throw away but when i came back and picked him up i think he tried to retract, so i have put him in a pot on a heat pad and see what happens. i doubt he will survive though because about half a cm of the bit thats meant to be inside the shell is outside :-( only time will tell....

[section8angel]

OMG That sounds so horrible. I'm so sorry. I hope he gets better...


Corrected Latin name for search purposes - paul

[Val]

Well, what can you say, there shouldn't be any water around with tiny baby snails just damp substrate. Very sad - and avoidable!!


Val

Corrected Latin name for search purposes - paul

[copigeon]

I dont know why people have so much trouble with drowning snails? I happily keep water with young snails and have never had a death?
Maybe it temperature, my water is usually much cooler than the ambient temp of the tank, perhaps they can feel the difference. Whereas with warm water there may be no indication as to what theyre getting themselves into. I figure snails have enough sense not to wander into ponds, should be able to cope with a plant pot tray.

could just try putting moss IN the water filled container?
or marbles? largish pebbles. Would prevent the problem and allow larger snails to drink

Corrected Latin name for search purposes - paul

[section8angel]

I've not had a problem either. I haven't got water in with my babies at the moment, but before I have done and they've been fine
I'm going to be putting pebbles in when I put water in with the babies now, but only as the bowl is -really- deep. (It's not the same one I've used before)

Has there been any improvement Sarah?

Corrected Latin name for search purposes - paul

[sezzy5889]

He is alive but not moving, i don't think he will survive the night
There where pebbles in the water, the ones you use for fish tanks, the only thing i can think of is that a larger snail climbed on top of him, pushing him under the water, hes been in with deeper water before when he was in only with other small snails and they where fine.

Corrected Latin name for search purposes - paul

[Arno]

valerie said:

Well, what can you say, there shouldn't be any water around with tiny baby snails just damp substrate. Very sad - and avoidable!!


Val

I don't think 1 1/2 cm shell length is tiny,and certainly not small enough to not have a waterbowl.Unfortunatly accidents happen.Hope he'll be alright,Sarah

Corrected Latin name for search purposes - paul

[section8angel]

That sounds more like it, being pushed down. Either that or just very bad luck I'm afraid

He's still alive though, and that is a good sign! Even if he isn't moving. I'll keep everything I can crossed for you Sarah You've had enough bad luck already, be gone now!! >=/ No more!

Corrected Latin name for search purposes - paul

[sezzy5889]

I don't think 1 1/2 cm shell length is tiny,and certainly not small enough to not have a waterbowl.Unfortunatly accidents happen.Hope he'll be alright,Sarah

He was tiny compared to his siblings which are 3-4cm :-(

And sorry but i think he died in the night

[Deleted]

hmm....in my baby tank theres a water bowl, about 1cm deep water. they just NEVER go in it. they climb up the side of it but then when they touch the water theyre like 'eugh' and go away. its quite cold water i put in there.

[section8angel]

Aww I'm so sorry Sarah I had everything crossed for you.

[ian]

I had a baby that managed to drown in an upturned bit of tomato, its so easy for them to do sometimes i think they have no sense of danger at all.

[sonicsnail]

Sarah, I'm so sorry. This does highlight this question:

Is it really worth putting water in with smaller snails?

I have reasons to believe that it is certainly not worth the risk, especially with smaller snails. There have been a few reports recently about snails that have drowned. I just think that, yes it is nice for water to be there, but it isn't worth the risk. Surely, they must get enough moisture from a daily spraying down. Not to mention food that has water present in it. Maybe avoiding putting water in would avoid most cases of drowning, (Except drowning in porridge and tomato.) Despite many people have not yet experienced this before, it doesn't mean that it would not happen to you. I hope that this doesn't happen to anyone but I predict that it most certainly will happen if putting water in with smaller snails continues.

[sezzy5889]

well the water was only 1cm deap with stones in the bottom, milky was stunted and never grew and i didn't want to keep him on his own so he went in with the rest, which were alot bigger than him, some where only a cm bigger than him but most were around 7cm and i think one of the bigger ones climbed on top of him while he was in the water and he went under and drowned because the bigger ones are too heavy for them to push off.

[sonicsnail]

Oh Sarah, that reply sounded to me as if I was saying you did something terrible wrong. I wasn't meaning that at all. Lots of people put water in with their smaller snails and never have problems. I'm just saying that I personally don't think it is worth the risk. It wasn't directed at you, more as a making people aware that this could be an issue. I'm just stating my opinion and bringing up the question, that was all.

[sezzy5889]

Don't worry about it :-)