my snail has a swollen body

[lunylune]

This is my first time posting here and sometimes I wish I found this six months earlier as I already have lost two snails to issues I saw come up here. It's so sad to me that there are so many resources as to how to kill snails and not how to help them... I'm very thankful I found this website now.

Now my third snail is in peril. Their body is swollen, the whole body past the head, like there is a small grape inside her, not the head or the mantel. The mantel is actually pretty far retreated. I was holding her over the light and could actually see her crop (I think, I'm pretty new to snailkeeping and clearly floundering ...) Everything seems to be intact. I think she is just filled with fluid. At first I thought she was eggbound as she just laid eggs, but I don't think that it the case. (she has been getting enough calcium, that I know for sure) Despite her issues, she is actually very active, moving around and eating and pooping (poop looks normal). She pooped as much as she always has, even before issues started. Her shell seems to be digging into the bump a bit because of how swollen she is, but she doesn't seem to be bothered. Yesterday the bump was going down in size, but now it is worse again... My little Peper is an adult common garden snail and her body was previously about 1 cm in size (heigth), but now it is closer to 1.8/1.5 cm (maybe a bit less, I'm panicking just a bit)

I feed them carrot, brocoli and I used to give them cucumber (not anymore as I saw mentions of it not being very good for them). They get eggshell and cuttlefish bone as well as occasional fishflakes with safe ingredients as far as I could tell. I recently tried sweet potato because It was mentioned as safe and Peper seemed to like it. Now I am worried this might have played part of the issues... I would feel really guilty if this is due to that.

I don't know how to include pictures on here. But if anyone regognizes this issue and has tips it would be really helpful.

I've seen mentions of bathing snails multiple times also, I'm not sure if this would help her, but I'm also not really sure how to do it.

I hope I posted this in the right place. Thank you to everyone adding to this site, it has been very helpful.

[narumi]

Hi!

I don't really know what is wrong with your little snail but I wanted to chime in to maybe alleviate some of your worries. I do not think sweet potato has anything to do with it, it's my Lulu's favourite and as far as I know it's safe snail food. I would suggest you diversify the veggies/fruit you give her though. As for pictures, you add them by uploading them somewhere on the internet, then linking to them in the post. I think adding some pictures would be a good idea As for bathing, I just use a small plant saucer that I fill with whatever I want to bathe her in but make sure that it's very, very shallow so that there is no danger of her drowning.

Hope Peper will get well soon!

[lunylune]

I sadly think it is just one of those events we don't really know what to do about then. Glad it wasn't the sweet potato, as she is a very picky eater and it is one of few more nutrient filled foods i got her to eat. I have Peper isolated with nutrient rich food and plenty of fine ground up cuttlefish (to powder with water to make paste) because i think she is or was constipated.

She is still eating! She is still pooping!
She pooped out something dark and hard, i think it was a stick fragment. This might have caused the constipation (what the resources suggested caused the swelling) Another issue has popped up but i'm not sure if it actually is what i think it is. Mantle tear... (not collapse, thank goodness, if it is a tear. Her body is so swollen its hard to tell) either due to the handling when bathing and isolating her, or from when she fell... this was when i decided to put her in a smaller tank for now.

She is in a small shallow tank to avoid climbing. I don't want to hope to much yet, but she was able to enter she shell much further than yesterday. I will continue to care for her and document what is happening, regardless of the outcome.


Peper is also not inclined to rest or sit still, trying to climb and move dispite her swollen body and possibly hurt mantle! Stubborn little snail!


Thank you for the advice, it means a lot to me ^_^

[galsforpals]

How's it going now?

I've had similar worries about snails and they are sensitive to do many things it can be so nerve-wracking, especially when you can't * DO* anything productive.

Sweet potato is very nutritious for snails apparently, my picky snails that sometimes won't eat anything but lettuce are major fans of sweet potato slices ^v^

Washing all food well too remove any pesticides is always a good idea.

[lunylune]

Okay so, a lot has happened. Another snail i had have sadly passed. It is only now that i spotted the mites crawling... I wish I knew, but I had no idea until Cayenne was already deeply retracted... Thus was very upsetting. Snails are truly sensitive to so many problems, I don't know why they have the lable "easy" pet.

But in slightly more positive news! Peper is still alive and doing slightly better! I'm trying not to hope too much, but she is less swollen and the mantle tear hasn't worsend (still not sure if that is what it is, but regardless). Peper is eating, peper is pooping, peper is active. Not all the fluid has drained yet, but i think with time it just might. Little fighter. I know peper was lucky to be able to pass either the eggs or the constiparion material (my money is on the latter)

All the tips I can give as an extremely inexpierenced snailowner who got immidiately thrown a rather uncommon issue (judging from the posts here) all i can say is i'm lucky and so is peper. I truly don't think there is much i could have done, aside from giving her lukwarm baths in hopes of helping with the constipation and keeping her humid until the swelling goes down (due to the strain her body puts on the mantle i recommend a shallow container too, just in case you know). Since she started pooping again I have been giving her calcium paste and her favorite food. I sometimes drop a small bit of cold green tea on her, as I don't dare pick her up with the possible mantle issues, in hopes the green tea helps avoid furture infections. Washing food SUPER WELL is also important, as I don't think Peper can handle any more strain on her systems (i always made sure to do this anyway, don't trust the stores to do it for me :l )

Sorry for the long post, I have been documenting her situation in hopes of helping others too and to make myself feel less useless in helping her as there is just so little I can actually do.

I have hope for her though. She might never fully recover or live long due to the stress this has put her body and organs through, but she seems mostly unbothered.

(Also sorry for the spelling mistakes, my hands are very shaky today)

[snaileyhammy]

I’m so sorry to hear about your other snails! But I am glad that Pepper is doing better! What is happening to her could be a mantle year, not sure why I didn’t think of that, or it could be something else, but only time can tell I guess. For now just continue doing what you have been doing, and let me know how it goes, and how she is doing!

I will do any research I can and try and help you any way I can. Just making this post helps problems that may occur in the future, and you don’t have to find any useful information for anyone. It is very very hard to help snails with only the information we have, let alone find things that may be antidotes, etc, and you are doing a wonderful job. So, don’t feel any pressure to figure out what is going on, etc.

[lunylune]

I want to post about peper's situation, because it makes me feel like I'm doing /something/ , you know? I definitly don't think I'm figurimg anything out '^_^ but i still want to share regardless, because the only other thread about similar issues is three years old and never shared the outcome (which is fair).

I think her mantle issues (if that is what they are, it's so hard to see) were caused by either the swelling and the pressure this put on her, or perhaps I handled her just incorrectly in an already delicate state while moving her to the small container.

I have been taking daily pictures of her, to see if she is improving or worsening (thankfully improving) i might post the pictures here, if that us allowed and I find out how '^_^

[snaileyhammy]

Gosh, ok, ignore everything I just said! I thought this was a different post, and I am not exactly sure what was running through my mind when I read this! I am SO sorry!!

I have not read through your post, but I will ASAP, and see how I can help you. I think I was confused earlier, haha.

[lunylune]

(just got home from work)


NEVERMIND PEPER HAS MOVED AND EATEN

i was a bit worried today. Though honestly, any moment she is not suffering and happy, even if there only a few left idk how this will go, make me happy ^_^ (i still haven't found out how to post pictures here, so if anyone could point me to an instruction tab that would be lovely 0_0 )

[lunylune]

Hi sorry to keep extending this thread '^_^

I think the scariest thing is when i wake up and I find her laying outside down or sideways thinking peper might have passed. But with her large body that can't retreat she loses suction sometimes. This is why she is in the small tank with soft moss at the bottom... i just righten her and put a droplet of water on her little but not so little head and body. She gave me this scare this morning, but she is perfectly active and moving once i rightend her.

I swear this snail...

Also this whole thing has been going on for a month now, my first post marking when Ithink peper got rid of the constipating material. She is smaller now, but not a lot or anything...

[snaileyhammy]

Hey there!

Ok, so, I replied on here a while ago, I don't remember what I was thinking... BUT all I know, is that I got mixed up and I thought this was a different post, like I said before. As stated, I did say I would read over this again, and I just did. And so here is what I have to say about this situation now that I am not confused

So, I am not 100% what her issue is, but what I do know, is that literally ANYTHING could have caused what ever her issues is. So, I would not worry so much about finding out what caused this, and rather what the issue is and how we can help her.

Before I go into talking about what the problem could be, I would like to say I think you are doing a great job! Navigating through snail illnesses is no easy task, and you are handling it well! I totally understand your urge to help her, and find a cure to this unknown illness, and possibly help future snails. But I assure you, that that is no easy task, and just MAKING this post will help so many snails!

So, it sounds like to me, that the issue has improved over the month. Correct? Thats a good thing, hopefully. What I need you to do, is upload all the pictures you said you had, that will help tremendously. If possible, list all her symptoms as well, that way we will get a complete run down of exactly what she's been going through. Here is how you can upload images > petsnails.proboards.com/thread/5529/posting-pictures

Here are some pages that I might help you figure out what is wrong with her that you can take a look at for now, and let me know what you think >
www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/not-eating.html#start
www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/retracted.html#start
www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/broken-radula.html#start
www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/mantle-collapse.html#start
www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/limp-body.html#start
www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/gut-extrusion.html#start
www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/swollen-body.html#start
www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/wounds.html#start

I just linked every page from the 'problems' section on that website that I thought might relate to the issue here. Im thinking, this is something gut extrusion related, etc. But like I said, you let me know what you think.

I hop that snippet of information I gave you helps some! Let me know how things go, and if you have any others questions or concerns!
(also, if you advent already, check out that website that the link takes you to, there is loads of helpful information on there)

[lunylune]

I will properly reply tomorrow and try to upload pictures.

For now a new and pressing concern is the deep retraction which i suspect is from her body not handling nutrients for a bit when she wasn't eating or pooping. Despite her eating now this has not improved. She will only eat cuttlefish, sweet potato and goldfishflakes (i wanted to switch because alleries, but she is already so starved) She touches nothing else i've tried. She is still active, crazy snail that peper is, she moves and eats, but her body doesnt seem to be working properly...

Non of the issues you linked seems to be what Peper is experiencing thankfully (aside from deep retraction, but she isn't slow or barely moving, so i'm confused. I'm genuinely confused as to how she is still alive honestly). Her mantle issue i noticed earlier has also cleared up. She eats, she moves, she poops.

ive been keeping track day by day and while she has improved a bit (less swollen), progress has now halted despite her seemingly living her best snail life.

I'm also incredibly thankful for all the help. Just the fact people are trying warms my heart. God knows ill need more help because Peper decided to have 25 healthy babies just before this...

Latenight attempt at list of symptoms
-swollen body, seemingly filled with fluid
-deep retraction, but still active and eating
-mantle is deeply retracted, but sort of protruding at one side (ill include pictures later)
-a period of not eating nor pooping, followed by eating and pooping
-hard fragment found in stool once
-extremely picky of food, though this was true before other symptoms
-her body is sort of seethtough because of the fluid. I can see exactly if she ate sweet potato or her calcium source.

It should be noted that my snail did mate with another snail before these issues started, Peper laid ~40 eggs of which i hatched 25 (long story...) it was after this that issues started, but I'm unsure if it is related. There seem to be no issues around her egglaying area

[lunylune]

[lunylune]

Sadly, during the night Peper suddenly got ill (or well, her issues caught up to her). She is not moving, crawled as far back in her shell as fit and is mostly limp. She does not respond to touch or lukewarm water.

She has either passed or is in the process of passing. I'm not feeling to sad though... It more of a fond sadness. I had a while to prepare myself, and I have the babies to take care of. She left me 25 silly snail. I hope that these babies will have a long life with me.

Thank you everyone who tried to help. Just writing here helped with the stress and panic I felt around this. Thank you so much.

[snaileyhammy]

I am so sorry, I just now got around to replying due to a family emergency. I am so very sorry to hear this. I’m not totally sure what the issue could have been. I will keep searching to see if I can find anything. And you keep an eye on her and tell me what happens. I am so sorry

[lunylune]

Sadly she started to smell, so safe to say Peper has officially passed. I think there is very little anyone could have done. Being filled with fluid like that, no matter if the original issue is fixed or not, is hell for the body i imagine.

She's buried in my garden now.

[snaileyhammy]

I figured she was near death. I am so sorry for your loss. But, you did the best you could, and she knows that! ❤️