Heartbroken. Appears as if one of my snails killed the other

[GailTheSnail]

I think one of my snails attacked another one. I’m heartbroken and don’t know what to do. I’ve never ever ever had anything like this happen.

Here’s the story: one of my snails, Reina (they are cornu Aspersum) was sleeping on the edge of their pool. When I checked on them about 3 hours later, Reina was upside down in the pool and Wonky was on top of her, like she was upside down/shell up and Wonky was right side up/vertical with her foot on her shell. I separated them and saw reinas shell was filled with bubbles and a chunk of her foot was missing.

For full disclosure, Reina is on the older side. She was not sickly like I planned on her dying soon, but her young and healthy days are behind her. However, just a few hours ago she was happily sliming around in the pool, looking just fine.

Reina is now in the death position with the bent foot but is responding to stimuli so I know she’s still alive, but doesn’t have much time left. I am devastated. I separated Wonky of course but I don’t know what to do now. If it wasn’t for the bubbles I’d give her the benefit of the doubt but Reina was clearly scared and with the chunk of her foot missing there’s no other explanation... right?

I’m thinking I have to remove Wonky but I’d feel terrible if somehow she didn’t do anything wrong. Wonky loves her home and her friends, and even now in the tiny container I put her in while I think about this, she’s happy here and with the weather outside, she would not be happy.

Has this happened to anyone before? I’ve never known snails to be anything but nice and loving. What should I do? I’m so upset and don’t know.

[daniele]

Hi, I don't understand by the description, you actually found the piece of foot somewhere?

It is extremely unlikely that a Cornu aspersum attacked another one, I have more than 100 and they interact a lot and love to climb over each other so much, sometimes they may be annoyed by another snail that is simply doing her stuff and maybe disturbing the other somehow and make some bubbles yes, but to amputate a piece of foot...how could the "attacker" even be able to?

They have no weapons, and surely they don't have the strenght and speed and "tools" for cutting away a piece of foot. Also, the "victim" snail, would have had all the needed time to retreat her foot into the shell, if she felt any kind of attack, and you can guess by yourself, how fast a snail attack could be... Also they are the same species,strenght and size must be similar!

I also have another observation: you said you found the bubbles over reina's shell right? And wonky's foot was over reina's shell right before that.. So in my opinion those bubbles you found may come from wonky instead of reina (it's just an opinion, I have no real answer im sorry), since they make bubbles when they are stressed, but the bubbles will be seen under the snail, not on top of her shell.

In my humble opinion I think something happened yes, but I don't think wonky is to blame. Did you also find together with bubbles, a slimy yellow bright liquid? They do it in extremly stressful situation, for example when they fall, or when they get hit by something that breaks their shell (for istance I've seen it every time a snail fell, and the only time that one snail was attacked and killed by a bird, so I guess is releted to traumatic events), although I have no idea abt aht it is.

I think you should investigate a bit more, tonight when they will wake up try to observe Reina better and longer, and would be helpful if you can add some pics to the discussion..

[snaileyhammy]

Yes, i agree with Daniele. its very unlikely they were fighting. maybe she just fell? I do not know much about Cornu aspersum, but I do know usually snails have no need for violence.

[GailTheSnail]

Mar 1, 2021 14:48:41 GMT daniele said:

Hi, I don't understand by the description, you actually found the piece of foot somewhere?

It is extremely unlikely that a Cornu aspersum attacked another one, I have more than 100 and they interact a lot and love to climb over each other so much, sometimes they may be annoyed by another snail that is simply doing her stuff and maybe disturbing the other somehow and make some bubbles yes, but to amputate a piece of foot...how could the "attacker" even be able to?

They have no weapons, and surely they don't have the strenght and speed and "tools" for cutting away a piece of foot. Also, the "victim" snail, would have had all the needed time to retreat her foot into the shell, if she felt any kind of attack, and you can guess by yourself, how fast a snail attack could be... Also they are the same species,strenght and size must be similar!

I also have another observation: you said you found the bubbles over reina's shell right? And wonky's foot was over reina's shell right before that.. So in my opinion those bubbles you found may come from wonky instead of reina (it's just an opinion, I have no real answer im sorry), since they make bubbles when they are stressed, but the bubbles will be seen under the snail, not on top of her shell.

In my humble opinion I think something happened yes, but I don't think wonky is to blame. Did you also find together with bubbles, a slimy yellow bright liquid? They do it in extremly stressful situation, for example when they fall, or when they get hit by something that breaks their shell (for istance I've seen it every time a snail fell, and the only time that one snail was attacked and killed by a bird, so I guess is releted to traumatic events), although I have no idea abt aht it is.

I think you should investigate a bit more, tonight when they will wake up try to observe Reina better and longer, and would be helpful if you can add some pics to the discussion..

Thank you for your reply. Reina died a few hours after that happened. Wonky ate a piece of her foot, sorry if that was unclear. It appears as if she saw Reina and went up to her snd started eating her foot and she died from the injuries. I don’t know what else to think from what I saw. I separated wonky while I think about it. I’ve raised snails going on 6 years now and I have never once seen anything like this, ever. They are always so loving to each other and I never dreamed one would hurt another.

[GailTheSnail]

Mar 1, 2021 15:21:22 GMT snaileyhammy said:

Yes, i agree with Daniele. its very unlikely they were fighting. maybe she just fell? I do not know much about Cornu aspersum, but I do know usually snails have no need for violence.

They weren’t fighting. Wonky went up to her and started eating her foot and she died from the injuries. Usually I would have thought they were just playing if I found them in the position I did, but a chunk of her foot was missing in the same area Wonky’s face was. I’ve never had anything like this happen so I don’t know what to think or do.

[daniele]

I am very sorry for you loss... I don't know what to say this situation is very strange.. Only thing that comes into my mind, did you notice if any of the two showed weird behaviours recently? And do you know if Reina was somehow sick?

This tale is a bit shocking for me I have to be honest, I really don't know what to think too. Did you find some strange liquid that could be related to the injuries apart from bubbles?? Some blood maybe (but I don't think they bleed when cut themselves, fortunately enough I have never experienced any injury like that)

I have seen some kind of somehow "aggressive" behaviours once actually, but nothing like this you are telling now.. The maximum conflict I ever experienced was last year, when they used to live inside the house, a teenager guy that used to disturb everyone else, went to disturb an adult guy by giving her some light bites at the base of the eyestalks, while she was eating; she was disturbed only at the point to retract the eye at the moment of the bite, nothing more (and I am just thinking that they were bites, by observing but I'm not sure), never doing any harm or injury; after a couple of bites the adult stopped eating her piece of salad, retracted and moved to a piece of salad nearby, the teenage guy slowly fell and went for her way. The day immediately following, some interesting behaviours occurred: the adult guy used to search for the teenage one, and used to climb and sit on her head and shell and just sit there for a while; in one of those days she also climbed over the teenage while she was climbing a wall, hurting her due to her heavier weight to the point that the teenage made bubbles and several noises by popping her shell. After that when the teenage reached adulthood they became besties, and gave birth to many guys together! In my opinion they were just kind of playing anyway, as I don't think they may have any dominance dynamic.

I hope some expert will reply to give his opinion on your story, so we can have some more idea as this situation is really strange!

[pasi9]

I've heard of snails eating dying snails before. I don't think it's an aggression thing, though.

If I had to guess, I'd guess Reina was dying already for some reason(drowning, maybe, if they were by the pool?). Snails will eat dead insects/animals, so Wonky probably sensed dead tissue and started trying to eat it on instinct.

I highly doubt Wonky caused her death.

[daniele]

I was also thinking to something like pasi9 said.. It sound like the most logic explanation , that's why I was asking so many questions...

[snaileyhammy]

It just doesn’t seem right. Also, you did make it sound like they were fighting in your post. Sorry for your loss.