Garden snails won't eat. Please help?

[leoph147]

Hello all, I am new to this forum but I've been keeping snails (Cornu aspersum) since around March. I had four adults and a hatchling nursery, when about a month ago I noticed that the adults weren't eating much and there were very tiny mites, white to medium-brown in color, climbing over my snails. Well, I followed the advice on the main site about mites and had some Hypoaspis mites shipped, and they seem to have worked, I haven't seen a white mite in several days. However, one of my snails died the day after the predatory mites arrived, I think from starvation. None of them have eaten in weeks and the others are also starting to lose weight rapidly, become lethargic and can hardly move. I put fresh food out every two days and very rarely does any of it go missing. I've been trying different combinations of foods including mashed veg, baby food, fish food, powdered snail food, and of course fresh kale, carrots, apple, etc. Nothing. I am desperate to save them, but could they be ill from something other than the mites? Or have the mites already done enough damage that there's nothing I can do? I hate thinking of them sitting there starving to death, how horrible, and the one that died was my first snail and my favorite . 

The other thing is, my babies are getting a little crowded for the nursery and I had planned to move them to the adult enclosure, but now I don't want to if they are going to fall ill too. If anyone has any advice on what could be the matter with my snails and how to save them, I'd be eternally grateful.

[etana]

Hi Leoph, welcome to the forum!

Sorry to hear your snails are unwell. Hopefully these couple simple questions will help us along in figuring out what is going on.

So, what is your cleaning routine, and what do you have in the tank and nursery for substrate and decorations?

Also, what is the temperature in the tank? Garden snails aren't awfully picky on this, but just out of curiosity.

If these questions reveal nothing, we'll think of more. I really hope we can save your snails' lives.

[leoph147]

For cleaning, I usually just wipe down the sides of the enclosure every day or every other day, and turn the soil once a week. I had coco coir and sphagnum moss in there before the mites, but i replaced the substrate with a thin layer of just coco coir when I put the mites in. So now there's coco coir and the bit of medium the mites came with.

As for decorations, I had a small branch and a few upturned pots, as well as a shallow water dish with some rocks in it. But I've taken everything out of the tank now except for food and cuttlebone.

The tank is room temp, so right now around 70-75F or around 20-23C. I keep them away from windows/direct sunlight so their temp doesn't fluctuate too much.

[leoph147]

Today I came home to find one nibbling on a kale leaf, but it soon stopped. Only a very little bit had been chewed away. BTW, they're still mating - as recently as this past Saturday.

[snerdahmik]

Oct 10, 2019 2:49:33 GMT leoph147 said:

Today I came home to find one nibbling on a kale leaf, but it soon stopped. Only a very little bit had been chewed away. BTW, they're still mating - as recently as this past Saturday.

How are they doing now? Have things improved?

[Liguus]

oof. Too bad I did not see this before. One classic trick is to soak the food in beer. The fermenting smell attracts them. For those who are underage you can achieve a similar effect by activating some yeast in sugar water and soaking the food in that for a while.

[snerdahmik]

Nov 6, 2019 17:09:24 GMT Liguus said:

oof. Too bad I did not see this before. One classic trick is to soak the food in beer. The fermenting smell attracts them. For those who are underage you can achieve a similar effect by activating some yeast in sugar water and soaking the food in that for a while.

Thank you for adding this comment! I find that helpful too!