Snail mostly inactive and hasn't eaten in over 3 days

[Molly H.]

A few days ago, when I was cleaning my garden snail, Chewy's, tank I had noticed this white gooey stuff that is kind of stretchy on him when I picked him up to put him back in the tank. I removed it from him because it was stuck to his body and thought that it might be some of the snail mix that he was just eating (I recently ordered some for the first time and he just tried it that night). Also, there might have been some in the tank when I cleaned it. I thought it was a piece of the paper towel that had broken off, but thinking back, it looked kind of similar. I was wondering if it might be dead skin falling off after and injury, but I don't know what the cause of it would be. (Also, the appearance of the pieces seems to be smaller and less often now, which seems to be a good sign, but no behavior changes.)
At first he seemed to be acting normal, because after I cleaned the tank, he was active and wandering around everything that was freshly cleaned, but the next night, he only moved to the opposite side of the tank and didn't eat (there have been some periods where he doesn't eat much though). 
The next morning his mantle looked puffy? It's usually kind of puffy, but it looked more than usual (see picture below, it's from a few days ago). 
Now, it's been a few days and Chewy still hasn't changed and hasn't eaten in 3, almost 4 days. He still moves across the lid to go sleep in a different place every night, and I see him stick his eyes out sometimes, but he's not eating anything I offer. Last night, I was able to fully get him to come out for about 10 mins, which he hasn't done since I started seeing him like this, and, from what I could tell, I couldn't see any injuries on the body. I tried to offer him blood worms, but he didn't eat. I was going to go to the store today to try to get him a vegetable he's never tried before, because he usually likes that, but I still don't know if he'd eat it or not. Advice please? Thank you.

Pictures of the gooey stuff:




Puffy mantle:

[SuspiciousBagel]

Hiya! Sounds like Chewy might've either:

A: Been mating. Even if he's alone he can still mate with himself (I have no idea how the logistics of that work and honestly I don't want to know). The white stuff could be snail sperm and a puffy mantle is usually seen after a snail has mated. If he has mated, the inactivity is likely because mating does take quite a lot of effort for a snail and he needs to regain some strength. Keep offering protein and if that still doesn't work get something you know he really likes. He'll definitely eat eventually! Oh, and make sure to look out for eggs in case he lays any, though you can't keep ones that come from just one snail as they won't be healthy. Just put them in a ziplock bag and crush them finely before disposing them.

B: Optionally, Chewy might've had a reaction to the snail mix and not been able to properly digest it, and the goop is partially digested mix that he pooped out. Its not unheard of for snails to get puffy mantles if they've eaten something bad and in that case the inactivity is because he's not feeling too great. There's honestly not much you can do if this is the case though except not feed it again and monitor him closely in case his condition deteriorates, in which case I'd suggest a dilute cool green tea bath to get him to perk up a bit.

Wishing you and Chewy the best!

[Molly H.]

Thank you for the suggestions. He actually seems to be doing better right now! After not eating for about 5 days, he just suddenly woke up last night and started searching for food near him and ate a little piece of carrot and a bloodworm. I saw him on the bottom of the tank today on the cuttlebone, which he hasn't been on since he started not feeling well, and even though he seems a bit weaker and slower, it looks like he's feeling better.