Snail formed Epiphragm? Help?

[dominickf]

Hi, I'm Dominick.



Yesterday I went to Home Depot and bought a money tree. I noticed that on the money tree there was a snail that was all foamy and had formed an epiphragm to seal its aperture, and it also had a small hole in it's shell. I dunked it in some dechlorinated water and put it in a plastic container with air holes, a wet paper towel, and a few slices of fruits and veggies. About half an hour later, it came out and was exploring! However, this morning I awoke to find that it had formed and epiphragm again.
How do I care for it?

I live in and found it in northern New Jersey. I think it might be a Cycladamsia Seminuda that got imported on the money tree. Even if it is not, my guess it is from one of the areas that money trees come from, and therefore would not survive in the NJ climate. 

I need help identifying and caring for this snail. Is it safe for me to release or will it die?

Update: It came out again. Why does it keep doing this?

[seastar]

Hi dominickf ,

Don't worry, the snails isn't hurt, it's just aestivating. It means that it doesn't like its living conditions right now.

If you want to keep it, you need to get a plastic container (glass is dangerous for a snail's shell), substrate (I use coco fibre and forest moss), a calcium source (cuttlebone is a cheap and useful one) and some food (mainly fruit and veggies, protein once a week). It CANNOT eat avocado, salty foods, celery and onions, most acidic fruits like lemon and stuff like that. Some acidic fruits, like apples and raspberries, are OK, but not too often. Cucumber is not the most nutritious fruit (in botanic, cucumbers and tomatoes are fruits), but snails are usually very fond of them.

If you can't or don't want to keep the snail, you can release it without problems. I'd just suggest that you do it on a rainy day, in a natural park.

Have a nice day!

seastar
Edit: actually, I'm not sure about releasing it anymore.

[Liguus]

Releasing animals into the wild is generally not a good idea. Although in this case, I am almost certain the snail would die in the New Jersey winter.

Your snail is a Bradybaena similaris aka Asian Trampsnail, originally from asia but there has been an introduction in the US and they are now very common throughout the state of florida. It is very likely that the plants in your NJ store were shipped from a nursery in FL where theses snails are commonly in the plants (international plant shipments require more paperwork so nursery's/stores avoid doing this).

It is likely sealing up since it's conditions are not ideal. It likes warm and humid tropical habitats, so an ideal set up would need to mimic this.

[dominickf]

Thank you so much!! You're so knowledgeable guys! I'll be sure to replicate that asap. I bought a plastic tank, cuttle bone and coco fiber for it today, and I'll get started setting it up right after I send this message. Again, thank you!! 

Should I heat the tank? How would you recommend going about that? 

[Liguus]

The reptile heating pads from the pet stores are what most people use, but I think the recommendation for those is to at least have a 10 gallon glass terrarium otherwise it will get too hot. If your house is not too cold (maybe around 75F it should be ok to not get a heat mat if it's too complicated).

Definitely increase the humidity though. The easiest way is to plastic wrap a large section of the top of the container so that it holds more moisture, or get smile kind of plastic storage container and drill only a few holes in the terrarium. Some people worry about their snails suffocating without a lot of air flow, but I found that they don't really need too much ventilation, some of my larger terrariums only have about 1 square inch of air access. You could also do this if you like: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj0I2IVNs6M

[morningcoffee]

Sept 6, 2018 18:11:40 GMT seastar said:

If you want to keep it, you need to get a plastic container (glass is dangerous for a snail's shell)

Glass tanks are 100% fine for snails. As long as a layer of substrate is provided at the bottom (which it should be in all tanks regardless of tank material) there's no danger to shells.

[witchpig]

Wow! What a find. Like other people said, give it tropical conditions, calcium (cuttlebone can be found in the bird section of most pet stores) food, (I use lettuce, carrot, and sweet potato, with other fruits occasionally. Since it is tropical, maybe give it some tropical fruit? Maybe banana or mango. See this thread: petsnails.proboards.com/thread/9416/feed-snails for more info) and a nice enclosure. Try plants like Dracaena sp., Parlor Palm, bromeliads, etc. See this thread: petsnails.proboards.com/thread/7851/safe-plants-tanks Add some climbing structures. You can take some branches from outside and boil/bake them to make them safe. Use coco coir or bake some compost for substrate and mist THOROUGHLY twice daily, maybe more to keep the humidity up. Have fun with that exotic snail!

[GailTheSnail]

This is adorable! How nice of you to keep it and give it a nice home you've gotten great advice so far, sounds like you're on the right path. Just wanted to say it's nice if you to adopt the little hitchhiker and they seal themselves up a lot so don't worry any questions I'm happy to help as well