Roman snails shells growing poorly (urgent concern!)

[gluckuk]

I'm at my Wit's End. I don't know what's wrong with two of my three Roman snails. The one on the right is named Claude and he had this problem for a long time. New sections of his shell have been growing in very quickly. And they aren't nearly as pretty or even as the older sections of the shell. They're growing in thin and almost transparent.
I've been feeding them a mixture of lettuce, Kale, apple slices, carrots, and calcium rich flavored reptile food. They also have cuddle bone to rasp on.
The one on the left is named Popeye. He's just now starting to show the same problem. You can see that a section of his mantle is showing past the opening on his show and it's starting to form new show in an uneven way. this seems to be the way that the new shell is forming at such a fast rate. Their mental sticks out pretty far and then it forms new show but it's half transparent and never the right color.
I have two questions. Why is this happening and what can I do to keep it from continuing?

imgur.com/a/FqcWuU6

[Liguus]

What is your protein source? what % protein does it contain and how often do you feed it?

[morningcoffee]

Don't feed them foods with added calcium, they should have a calcium source in the tank that they can consume at will without having any extra calcium added to their food. Snails are usually very good at regulating their own calcium intake according to how much they need.

I would increase the variety of food you're giving them to include other sources of vitamins and minerals.
If you could answer Liguus's question about protein sources that'd be helpful too.

[gluckuk]

I've been giving them spinach with their lettuce.

[Liguus]

If those are the only things you are feeding then that's the problem. They need a more varied diet and some have suggested not to feed spinach at all since the oxalates it contains can interfere with calcium absorption. If they are fed a wider variety of fruits, veg, soaked oats and soaked bird food, dog biscuits, egg, or mealworms/bloodworms, and have a cuttlebone everything should sort itself out.

[gluckuk]

Nov 15, 2019 0:49:38 GMT Liguus said:

If those are the only things you are feeding then that's the problem. They need a more varied diet and some have suggested not to feed spinach at all since the oxalates it contains can interfere with calcium absorption. If they are fed a wider variety of fruits, veg, soaked oats and soaked bird food, dog biscuits, egg, or mealworms/bloodworms, and have a cuttlebone everything should sort itself out.

I thought I was giving them a pretty big variety. What should I be feeding them? What do I do for protein if I can't give spinach? Is there anything I can do to save Claude's shell or is it permanently disfigured?

[littlegoldsnail]

Uh... the protein in spinach isn’t very bio available, spinach probably isn’t a good source of protein anyway. As suggested above, you can feed the bloodworms, protein rich fish food mixtures (like betta and Cichlid food), I like to make snello (snail jello) with puréed peas, carrots, leafy greens, some bloodworms, crushed betta pellets and Cichlid flakes, calcium powder, a little water and gelatin, you can also use baby food as a base, but I prefer blanched, puréed veggies. Sweet potatoes are one of the most nutritious foods on the planet, and snails love them. I also feed parsnips, plantains, an occasional blueberry or slice of banana. Lettuce (especially iceberg) doesn’t have much nutrition and is mostly water.

[Liguus]

The existing portion is permanently disfigured however the subsequent growth can return to normal if diet is corrected.

Protein: things mentioned in this thread already are good sources. Eggs, bloodworms, dog treats, fish flakes/pellets.. I'm sure there are others but personally I just bought a variety of dog treats that I use.

They should get a mix of fruit and veg consistently. You can keep feeding lettuce, but main items I would include are sweet potato, bell pepper, mushroom, apples, carrots ... lots of other fruits and vegetables are also acceptable. There is a safe foods list on this website somewhere....

[gluckuk]

Nov 17, 2019 17:19:10 GMT littlegoldsnail said:

Uh... the protein in spinach isn’t very bio available, spinach probably isn’t a good source of protein anyway. As suggested above, you can feed the bloodworms, protein rich fish food mixtures (like betta and Cichlid food), I like to make snello (snail jello) with puréed peas, carrots, leafy greens, some bloodworms, crushed betta pellets and Cichlid flakes, calcium powder, a little water and gelatin, you can also use baby food as a base, but I prefer blanched, puréed veggies. Sweet potatoes are one of the most nutritious foods on the planet, and snails love them. I also feed parsnips, plantains, an occasional blueberry or slice of banana. Lettuce (especially iceberg) doesn’t have much nutrition and is mostly water.

How do I make snello with those ingredients?

[gluckuk]

Nov 17, 2019 21:56:03 GMT Liguus said:

The existing portion is permanently disfigured however the subsequent growth can return to normal if diet is corrected.

Protein: things mentioned in this thread already are good sources. Eggs, bloodworms, dog treats, fish flakes/pellets.. I'm sure there are others but personally I just bought a variety of dog treats that I use.

They should get a mix of fruit and veg consistently. You can keep feeding lettuce, but main items I would include are sweet potato, bell pepper, mushroom, apples, carrots ... lots of other fruits and vegetables are also acceptable. There is a safe foods list on this website somewhere....

I feel very guilty about this. I don't think I'll ever be able to look at poor claude again without feeling like a failure. The growth just happened so fast and it seemed to only happen to him.

[littlegoldsnail]

Don’t feel bad, beating yourself up is the worst thing you can do.

Making snello is very easy.

Purée all the veggies you want (if they are boiled to the point of mush then you can simply mash them with a fork, or you can put them in a blender)

Put purée in bowl

Mix in crushed fish food, and/or bloodworms, krill, river shrimp, whatever extra protein source you are using.

Add calcium powder (crushed cuttlebone, broke open calcium tablets, whatever you want to use)

The mixture should be somewhat thick at this point

Then poor in some boiling water to make hot and more liquidy

Sprinkle in some gelatin as you stir it

Let cool in fridge

Should solidify within a half hour.

There isn’t really an exact recipe, I just estimate with everything. luckily it pretty hard to mess it up bad.

[littlegoldsnail]

Alternatively, if you don’t have any gelatin you can simply feed them the puréed veggie protein mixture, but it’s very very messy and a big pain, plus, gelatin is great for protein.

[littlegoldsnail]

Another thing, you can google snello recipes and a bunch of videos will pop up of different people and how they make it, it’s actually pretty popular (especially for aquatic snails).

[gluckuk]

UPDATE: I made snello with fish flakes as the protein source. At first they loved the first square I gave them, but they seemed to really quickly get sick of the stuff. I've replaced the half eaten cube with a fresh new one and they've barely touched it.

[littlegoldsnail]

Since snello is made with gelatin, it is really high protein. Really high protein foods are very filling and sustainable, so they only eat a little to get full. Many animals are the same way (for example, birds, filler bird foods are really high protein). I have some snello in the freezer, and I keep a constant supply of fresh veggies and only give them snello weekly or so.

[gluckuk]

That makes sense. I was trying to make it their main diet.

[morningcoffee]

Dec 4, 2019 7:48:40 GMT gluckuk said:

That makes sense. I was trying to make it their main diet.

Protein-rich food shouldn't be given any more frequently than about once a week. You need to aim for a balanced diet with plenty of their natural food (a wide mix of leaves, fruit and vegetables), not just feeding masses of one kind of food or nutrient.