Epiphragm formed, is this normal? HELP

[galadriel48]

I have a brown garden snail, found him outside a little over a month ago. Some days he’ll sit and make the papery, thin layer outside his shell. I’ve woken him up before, about two weeks ago, and yesterday I cleaned the tank. This morning I woke up to the epiphragm formed again. Am I doing something wrong or should I let him sleep?

There’s a new layer of shell that’s forming, slightly see through. The tank has mixed substrate from the pet store, sphagnum moss, and he ate some lettuce before sleeping. I keep the soil slightly damp and it’s in my bedroom, about 70F. It’s end of June, so is this normal behavior or is something in the tank environment causing it? Should I let him sleep? Please help, this is my first snail

[galadriel48]

I should add that I do give him cuttlebone so he has calcium

[pasi9]

It's normal for snails to do this sometimes, but if he's doing it regularly, then it may be that something in his environment isn't quite right. So it may be worth going through everything to see if anything needs altering. Some possibilities-


What do you typically feed him? And are you washing it thoroughly to remove any pesticides/chemicals?

Does he have the food and cuttlebone available 24/7?

What sort of substrate have you bought from the pet store?

If you pick up a handful of the substrate and squeeze it, does water come out? If so, it may be too damp.

Does he look healthy? I'd check both him and the substrate for mites or pests that may be bothering him.

How regularly do you clean the tank?

Does it have adequate ventilation?

[galadriel48]

Jun 28, 2020 20:42:46 GMT pasi9 said:

It's normal for snails to do this sometimes, but if he's doing it regularly, then it may be that something in his environment isn't quite right. So it may be worth going through everything to see if anything needs altering. Some possibilities-


What do you typically feed him? And are you washing it thoroughly to remove any pesticides/chemicals?

Does he have the food and cuttlebone available 24/7?

What sort of substrate have you bought from the pet store?

If you pick up a handful of the substrate and squeeze it, does water come out? If so, it may be too damp.

Does he look healthy? I'd check both him and the substrate for mites or pests that may be bothering him.

How regularly do you clean the tank?

Does it have adequate ventilation?

He normally gets an assortment of lettuce and sometimes cucumber, I’ve tried zucchini, strawberries, bell pepper, cantaloupe, soaked fish food and soaked cricket food but he doesn’t like any of them. I always wash it before feeding and the lettuce is mostly from a local farm.

I leave food in for a little over a day and replace with fresh if he hasn’t eaten it or if it’s getting moldy and ground up cuttle bone in the soil. I have whole cuttle bone I offer once a day but I haven’t been leaving it in the tank to prevent it from going bad.

The substrate is a mix of peat moss, sand, and soil. It’s damp to touch but no excess water or condensation. The tank lid is fully covered with slots, it’s a plastic critter carrier.

My snail looks healthy, no sign of pests or mites. I bathe him once a week under a thin stream of running of water and his shell is healthy with no scratches or damage. He recently made it bigger with the new growth. About once a week I clean out all poop and wash the food dish. Since I’ve only had him for a little over a month yesterday was the first deep clean where I completely emptied the tank, washed the decorations, sides of tank, rinsed the moss, and the baked the soil in the oven for 2 hours.

Everything seems to be in order, any ideas of what it could be?

[pasi9]

Hmmm. There's a few things that I'd change, if I were you.


Diet-
Lettuce and cucumber usually aren't high enough in nutrients for them. They're great to give sometimes, but they need more.
Sweet potato is a huge snail favourite, so it's worth trying that. My guys also adore carrot, broccoli and sweetcorn. Snails seem to prefer thinly sliced/grated food too, so maybe try doing that if you haven't already.
I'd put those foods in, without lettuce or cucumber, for 2-3 days at a time(some snails prefer old food). Don't give in, and eventually the snail will eat it to survive, and hopefully realise it actually tastes pretty good!
They'll still need protein, so maybe once you've got him eating different food, you can try again with the moist fish flakes.

Cuttlebone-
As for the cuttlebone, it's not a good idea to mix it in the substrate because snails can accidentally absorb it through their bodies. If it's in the substrate, they won't be able to control how much they are absorbing, and that can make them very ill from overdosing.
But cuttlebone should be available 24/7. Try putting a little saucer of ground up cuttlebone in there, and leaving it in there permanently. That way you can just refill it every few days so it doesn't go bad, and he can take it whenever he wants.

Substrate-
I don't think sand is good for snails, it can irritate them. I would recommend you use a different substrate. Coco coir is really good, and has no fertilisers/pesticides that normal plant soil has. You can buy dried blocks from pet shops and online places like Amazon. Just add water!


Cleaning-
It's good you've only washed his tank once. Generally snails need an environment with plenty of their own gut bacteria to aid digestion, so keeping it too clean would be bad for him. If you change his substrate, maybe try burying his poos in it for a little while so it can get that bacteria going. Sounds gross, but it's good for him and if they are buried, you can't smell them!



It makes sense that he's sealing off, with what you've told me, but the fix should be fairly easy.
I think if you can make these changes, you'll have a much happier snail. Good luck!

[galadriel48]

Jun 28, 2020 22:07:20 GMT pasi9 said:

Hmmm. There's a few things that I'd change, if I were you.


Diet-
Lettuce and cucumber usually aren't high enough in nutrients for them. They're great to give sometimes, but they need more.
Sweet potato is a huge snail favourite, so it's worth trying that. My guys also adore carrot, broccoli and sweetcorn. Snails seem to prefer thinly sliced/grated food too, so maybe try doing that if you haven't already.
I'd put those foods in, without lettuce or cucumber, for 2-3 days at a time(some snails prefer old food). Don't give in, and eventually the snail will eat it to survive, and hopefully realise it actually tastes pretty good!
They'll still need protein, so maybe once you've got him eating different food, you can try again with the moist fish flakes.

Cuttlebone-
As for the cuttlebone, it's not a good idea to mix it in the substrate because snails can accidentally absorb it through their bodies. If it's in the substrate, they won't be able to control how much they are absorbing, and that can make them very ill from overdosing.
But cuttlebone should be available 24/7. Try putting a little saucer of ground up cuttlebone in there, and leaving it in there permanently. That way you can just refill it every few days so it doesn't go bad, and he can take it whenever he wants.

Substrate-
I don't think sand is good for snails, it can irritate them. I would recommend you use a different substrate. Coco coir is really good, and has no fertilisers/pesticides that normal plant soil has. You can buy dried blocks from pet shops and online places like Amazon. Just add water!


Cleaning-
It's good you've only washed his tank once. Generally snails need an environment with plenty of their own gut bacteria to aid digestion, so keeping it too clean would be bad for him. If you change his substrate, maybe try burying his poos in it for a little while so it can get that bacteria going. Sounds gross, but it's good for him and if they are buried, you can't smell them!



It makes sense that he's sealing off, with what you've told me, but the fix should be fairly easy.
I think if you can make these changes, you'll have a much happier snail. Good luck!

I’ve tried other foods, I think I’ve done sweet potato before but he ignored it, I’ll have to try again with a shred of it.

I currently don’t have any other substrate and it’ll be a week before I’m able to get more. Should I leave him in the tank until then or remove the soil? When I baked it it looked like mostly soil and peat to me with only some sand.

[galadriel48]

Is coconut husk fiber the same as coir? I see lots of bricks of expanding coconut husk fiber but not many that say coir

[pasi9]

Jun 28, 2020 23:33:18 GMT galadriel48 said:

I’ve tried other foods, I think I’ve done sweet potato before but he ignored it, I’ll have to try again with a shred of it.

I currently don’t have any other substrate and it’ll be a week before I’m able to get more. Should I leave him in the tank until then or remove the soil? When I baked it it looked like mostly soil and peat to me with only some sand.

Try a few different things, I've noticed each of my snails seem to like different foods. He might ignore it at first, but he won't let himself starve to death out of pickiness; he must have eaten things other than lettuce and cucumber when he was wild, after all. Eventually he'll eat it, and learn it's good.

You said you had sphagnum moss? I'd probably put him in the tank with a thick layer of just that for now. Sphagnum is safe for them, and it'll be better than nothing.

I think coconut husk fiber is slightly different. This is the sort of stuff you want- www.amazon.co.uk/ORGANIC-COCONUT-NATURAL-FRIENDLY-PLANTING/dp/B07DRMSS1M

[galadriel48]

Jun 29, 2020 0:42:16 GMT pasi9 said:

Jun 28, 2020 23:33:18 GMT galadriel48 said:

I’ve tried other foods, I think I’ve done sweet potato before but he ignored it, I’ll have to try again with a shred of it.

I currently don’t have any other substrate and it’ll be a week before I’m able to get more. Should I leave him in the tank until then or remove the soil? When I baked it it looked like mostly soil and peat to me with only some sand.

Try a few different things, I've noticed each of my snails seem to like different foods. He might ignore it at first, but he won't let himself starve to death out of pickiness; he must have eaten things other than lettuce and cucumber when he was wild, after all. Eventually he'll eat it, and learn it's good.

You said you had sphagnum moss? I'd probably put him in the tank with a thick layer of just that for now. Sphagnum is safe for them, and it'll be better than nothing.

I think coconut husk fiber is slightly different. This is the sort of stuff you want- www.amazon.co.uk/ORGANIC-COCONUT-NATURAL-FRIENDLY-PLANTING/dp/B07DRMSS1M

Ok thank you so much, I’ll have to see if this makes a difference at all. When I first found him he ate a couple freeze dried bloodworms I had from my fish keeping years and some dandelion greens

[pasi9]

No problem! Any other questions, just ask. I hope your snail perks up soon.