Snail Shell Disintegrated

[thexwoman]

Hi, I am new here, and have no idea what I am doing, but as a concerned "parent" this was the best place I could find to go for help.

I've had Rosalind Franklin for almost 4 years now... She's a helix aspersa, was pretty small when I got her and grew rather readily and healthily since. She's always had minor problems with her shell; sometimes it would crack and flake, but I would put some eggshell in there and it healed up right quick.

Well, in the last couple days her shell flaked off completely. I've been keeping eggshells in her cage regularly for about 6 months now, so I'm not sure what could have been the cause. She was fine one day, and the next just flakes coming off.

Now it's gone completely. She seems fine right now; last night she curled up and stayed in the same spot for over 12 hours, and I thought she was a goner. But now she's up and about again, crawing around the cage and acting fine. But her shell is totally gone; the rest of her body is in the shape of the shell, but completely soft.

I have been keeping her wet and making sure she has water constantly. Does anyone know what is wrong or what I can do?

I'm a snail novice and just a worried parent. Things have been fine the last four years; what have I done wrong? Any help would be appreciated. :-(

[Moracai]

Maybe she didn't eat enough of the egg shells? I give mine egg shells, but also always have cuttle bone and spray daily with water that has a drop of liquid calcium in it.
I don't know what else it could be.

[Paul]

A snail without a shell isn't gonna last long I wouldn't have thought. I'm not even sure if it's possible for them to rebuild an entire shell particularly since they are prone to infection and drying out without one. But, there is a chance. I would suggest getting some cuttlefish bone, as I think it is a better source of calcium for snails than egg shells.

Snails use calcium reserves and can also use calcium from a different part of the shell to mend breaks if needed. It may be that she has been using her own shell somehow to try and repair a slowly disintegrating shell and ended up in a downward spiral, through the inefficiency of calcium reuse.

I think the only thing you can do, is to keep the tank scrupulously clean and provide as much cuttlefish bone as she can eat, even to the point of mixing it in with things like porridge, to make sure she gets loads. If the shell starts to rebuild she may be in with a chance, even if the shell will never grow back normally, a thin, papery covering is better than nothing.

That's all I can think of, I'd love to see pictures, particularly if she makes some progress.

Good luck!

[thexwoman]

Thanks for your advice. I didn't know about the cuttlefish idea until I found this board, so I'm going to run to the petstore today and pick one up for her. I'll also try that idea with mixing it in with food. She's been mainly on a fresh fruit and veggie diet, but I'll try the porrige idea and see if she takes to that.

I'll keep you updated, and I'll try to post pictures later. She looks miserable right now but she's still hanging on, hopefully I can help her through this.