Snail shell seems heavy and struggles to crawl around

[assechan]

Hello! I own a garden snail. She's been with me for easily over three years. I adopted her from outside so I'm not sure how old she is. Since then she's been lovely and I love her very much. Tonight I changed her habitat into a better, bigger and healthier environment, but she's had her shell hanging with little strength. She's had this "weakness" before but not this bad..her previous container wasn't that big and she spent most of the time attached to a wall, although I'd see her moving around at times and seemed healthy in general, able to eat and defecate fine. But now it seems she's barely able to move her shell around with her...to the point I saw a very scary sight: she was climbing onto this decoration she seemed to love instantly, but when trying to go down, she seemed fine until she wasn't supporting her shell? like it twisted like almost completely, and she started dettaching slowly as if she was faiting, I immediately and carefully picked her, allowing her to get her shell towards the right direction and came back to her senses after a few seconds, looking to be okay again. So I placed her gently on her bedding and started crawling again. This time she went to crawl on the walls of the tank and she was doing really well so I started getting more relieved, but then when turning towards a high edge, her shell was hanging too low...like her body was really struggling to move it around. It does seem it's too heavy for her and I'm very, very concerned...I was busy helping her move so I didn't take a picture, but the condition is very similar to the pictures in this post: petsnails.proboards.com/thread/10167/mantle-collapse-retraction

Is this mantle collapse or a problem in her mantle? the mantle itself seems fine and attached to her shell but it's her body or well, foot that seems very "out" of her shell.

I am very, very concerned she will get badly hurt...should I take her out of the container? she seemed very happy with having a lot of space for herself, exploring around and being very very active and eager to explore, but with how heavy her shell looks for her, I'm afraid she's going to get worse...I'm very scared, I really don't want to lose her..I haven't seen her eat in near a week or so unless she does it when I'm not looking but taking a look at her food, it doesn't seem she nibbled on it..

Please help, I lost my other snail not long ago and it was very painful to me, I could never tell what his problem was, he just stopped eating even though he was very active and playful and I really don't want this to be my current snail's problem too..

[assechan]

Update: I gave her some mashed apple and she ate! that gives me some relief. Also when crawling to sleep, I gently tap her shell and it felt firm, but the moment she goes crawling upwards for long, or when she's crawling sideways and especially when going downwards, her shell falls onto her and I can tell she loses strenght...I placed my fingers for her to crawl onto my hand and even if she was moving horizontally, her shell was still loosely hanging to a side. I helped her maintain it how it should be by avoiding it getting too low. After a bit, she was able to pull it fine. Seems she might have a problem with her muscles to properly carry her shell along with her...I moved stuff around her tank to avoid her shell becoming too hard to carry around, but I can't avoid her going to the walls, which is where she struggles the most, especially the edges. What should I do for her to get healed?

[morningcoffee]

Hard to be sure, but muscle weakness due to old age is possible. You could try giving high protein food a little more frequently to try and help.

[assechan]

Thank you so much for the reply! What foods are safe for snails that have high protein? Also she just ate a lot of apple so I should wait for her to properly digest that before feeding protein-heavy foods, right?

[morningcoffee]

High protein foods can be soaked fish flakes, soaked dog/cat biscuits, raw meat, cooked egg, or raw and unflavoured nuts such as cashews or peanuts. Snails shouldn't have high protein food more than once a week generally. Try offering some next time you feed them.

[assechan]

Got it! I'll feed her mashed hard boiled eggs then. Should I wait for her to finish digesting the apple she ate or can I feed her the heavy protein food soon anyway?

[Lainey]

Aug 18, 2020 7:12:48 GMT assechan said:

Hello! I own a garden snail. She's been with me for easily over three years. I adopted her from outside so I'm not sure how old she is. Since then she's been lovely and I love her very much. Tonight I changed her habitat into a better, bigger and healthier environment, but she's had her shell hanging with little strength. She's had this "weakness" before but not this bad..her previous container wasn't that big and she spent most of the time attached to a wall, although I'd see her moving around at times and seemed healthy in general, able to eat and defecate fine. But now it seems she's barely able to move her shell around with her...to the point I saw a very scary sight: she was climbing onto this decoration she seemed to love instantly, but when trying to go down, she seemed fine until she wasn't supporting her shell? like it twisted like almost completely, and she started dettaching slowly as if she was faiting, I immediately and carefully picked her, allowing her to get her shell towards the right direction and came back to her senses after a few seconds, looking to be okay again. So I placed her gently on her bedding and started crawling again. This time she went to crawl on the walls of the tank and she was doing really well so I started getting more relieved, but then when turning towards a high edge, her shell was hanging too low...like her body was really struggling to move it around. It does seem it's too heavy for her and I'm very, very concerned...I was busy helping her move so I didn't take a picture, but the condition is very similar to the pictures in this post: petsnails.proboards.com/thread/10167/mantle-collapse-retraction

Is this mantle collapse or a problem in her mantle? the mantle itself seems fine and attached to her shell but it's her body or well, foot that seems very "out" of her shell.

I am very, very concerned she will get badly hurt...should I take her out of the container? she seemed very happy with having a lot of space for herself, exploring around and being very very active and eager to explore, but with how heavy her shell looks for her, I'm afraid she's going to get worse...I'm very scared, I really don't want to lose her..I haven't seen her eat in near a week or so unless she does it when I'm not looking but taking a look at her food, it doesn't seem she nibbled on it..

Please help, I lost my other snail not long ago and it was very painful to me, I could never tell what his problem was, he just stopped eating even though he was very active and playful and I really don't want this to be my current snail's problem too..

Hi there! I’ve searched high and low as one of my pet snails is having almost the exact issue that you have, but there has been no information whatsoever! Came across your post and had to reach out! Curious if you have any update or ever had any luck with any solutions? Sorry to hear that you have dealt with this too as it’s been sad to watch and not know what to do to better help the situation! Many thanks

[Cashell]

Lainey,

assechan has not signed onto this forum for nearly 2 years. She may not provide any updates anytime soon. Of course, she could come back any moment, but till then, it is unknown. Follow the advice provided and see how your snail does.