Injured snail

[helen888]

Hi everyone, I stepped on a snail on Monday night while putting out the bin. I brought it inside and have been trying to look after it since then.

It has a few holes in it's shell where you can see underneath but seems healthy apart from that.

It's eating apple and blueberries but doesn't seem interested in vegetables. I've just put a pinch of calcium carbonate in the box too. It's been eating coloured paper from the box lid which I'm a bit concerned about. Have been trying to find another lid that's suitable.

I'm not sure whether I should be keeping it, would it be better off outside or should I continue to look after it?

Any other advice would be welcome too.

Thank you.

[helen888]

I'd appreciate any advice, snail is eating the calcium carbonate so hope to carry on with this until I see an improvement. Hoping this won't take too long, worried snail might get stressed if I keep it inside too long.

[t18]

Hello, snails do not get domesticated so you can keep him as long as you like and then you can release him into the wild.

I also recommend checking out this spreadsheet of what they can eat:

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_IMPM7995mjT0teGuDQy1mE-n0YSxs8INZakl8CZs3Y/edit?usp=drivesdk

I've also read that it's not good to give snails calcium in powdered form on normal food as they don't need to realize they're eating it and that can cause them problems with their shell.

I'd say you should keep him until he heals. Steady income of calcium and food will help him recover much faster.