snail won't eat cuttlebone, also has a sponge problem

[cheesealicious]

So I've got a lovely little garden snail named hugo and I recently put him in a bigger tank so I've had some problems with keeping the tank humid, which has led to other problems. First off, he suffered a small fall back in July while cleaning his tank. He's stable now, the crack sealed itself, I just made his tank as moist as possible and let him get lost in the moss. Problem is that his shell is pretty dusty (white-ish? comes off with water) and isn't quite healing right because he refuses to touch his cuttlebone at all. To be fair the old cuttlebone was chipping off and had some weird brown stuff underneath the white layer, and I had heard that some animals dont like old cuttlebone, so I got him a new one. Still won't go near it.

If anything, he doesn't come out of his shell very much at all, which to be fair I don't blame him the tank isn't as humid as he normally likes (it's about 75% right now). He's not sealing the entrance to his shell though, he just sits in the moss because its moist. The only time he came out of his shell is about a month ago when I placed some wet sponges in his tank to keep the new tank moist (it's an old trick I used to use to keep his smaller tank moist), except suddenly I see him crawling on it and next thing I know his stool is as bright yellow as the sponge! Immediately took the sponges out, but now for the past month he hasnt eaten any of his usual favorite foods and I've replaced the cuttle bone too and I really wish there was a vet for snails. He doesn't usually have an appetite for sponges? He used to sit on top of them sometimes but never actually try to eat them.

My worst fear is that the sponge might be causing some kind of blockage, or it's just not moist enough for him to come outside because his shell is still isn't 100% healed. I've been too terrified to pick him up for fear that I might hurt him.

Please advise.

[morningcoffee]

Sept 18, 2020 5:06:57 GMT cheesealicious said:

Please advise.

Make sure the tank is not too wet. It should be slightly humid but not soaking - many species of snails don't actually like constantly wet conditions. Pick up a handful of soil and squeeze it, if more than a couple of drops of water come out then the substrate is too wet.
A shallow water dish can help to raise tank humidity if necessary, many snails also like to bathe themselves. You can also cover ventilation holes, if the tank has a lot of ventilation then the humidity will drop.
I would recommend limestone flour if he isn't interested in cuttle, you can buy it in bags as a horse or reptile supplement - you can get it easily on Amazon or eBay.