Engaddenis not eating!

[mickysnail]

Please help. My engaddenis haven't eaten for about 6 days.

I noticed yesterday that one had sealed hiself in. I opened the seal to check he is ok. He was fine. Ive tried different temps and humidity. They are still inactive. Please help me. mickysnail

[mandywith11]

mine like it quite wet, poundland coir, room temp, so far they love cheap round lettuce

[mickysnail]

Thanks Mandy.

[mickysnail]

Thank you so much mandy. after trying things your way, they have eaten and not buried as much. mickysnail

[mickysnail]

Ten days on from Mandys advice and my other engaddenis has gone into hibernation. I don't know what to try next. Ive tried various temps and humidity. If anyone can offer more advice I would be really greatful. mickysnail

[coyote]

Would it be okay to go ahead and let them estivate for a while? Does that species normally estivate in the wild?

[mickysnail]

Thats what I am trying to work out. I have read that Isreal has rainy season that extends from october to May. This would be the wrong time for them to hibernation surely? I know that our helix pomitia can hibernate for six months of the year. I dont blame them with our British weather.

[apple]

They are active on the spring, they should only aestivate in the summer.
And even on that time you should wake them once in 2 or 3 weeks.

[apple]

mickysnail said:

Ten days on from Mandys advice and my other engaddenis has gone into hibernation. I don't know what to try next. Ive tried various temps and humidity. If anyone can offer more advice I would be really greatful. mickysnail

At which temps they have been kept?

[mickysnail]

Thanks apple, My room temp is about 20 degrees. we have had some really warm weather hear all of a sudden. Maybe they think it is summer? mickysnail

[apple]

Does your room have night drop temperatures?
They are active at night and maybe they need more humidity and lower temperatures at night( not too low...)

[mickysnail]

The temp does'nt drop. But I don't hink there is a problem with humidity. it is usually at around 80% A drop in night temp may be worth considering.

I spoke to Proffessor Heller who wrote a book about the snails of Isreal. he was quite informative. I said that they evestate spring and summer. they are active autumn and winter.
They breed, lay two clutches of eggs then once spring comes, they evestate again. This is
obviously in the wlild though.

He stated that they should be kept damp, not wet. The soil should be terra flora soil (what ever that is) He never said about temps or humidity. mickysnail

[apple]

That´s great.
I just didn´t knew that they would aestivate in the spring because in Israel it still rains in the spring, but in fact, less than in the winter. In mediterranean climate ( and don´t need to be in the coast of mediterranean sea) spring has drought periods mixed with rainy periods, maybe they are active only during rainy periods.
About the temps and humidity maybe it would be worth email him about that?
I don´t believe that these snails are ok in african giant snails conditions, even if the soil is terraflora and damp.

[mickysnail]

I managed to contact someone else from the hebrew university of Isreal, Proffessor Mienis. He confermed that this is the natural behaviour pattern. (acive in the rainy season october-April). He went futher to say that they are active only on the rainy days, It is April now and mine are evastating.

An interesting thing that he said was that if the snails I have evestate, the humidity in the tank is too low. I am in the process of trying to rais it to see what happens.

It looks as though we should be trying to re-create a permimant rainy season if we want to keep them active. Maybe 80% humidity is too low after all? mickysnail

[mickysnail]

Please can you tell me what humidity levels you keep your engaddenis at? I tried raising my humidity a bit. They still want to aevstiate. I was advised that aevestiation is normal for this species during spring/summer. All advice welcome. mickysnail

[Paul]

I have never kept them so I can't comment with any authority but I just looked at Palestinian weather:

www.southtravels.com/middleeast/palestine/weather.html

I think the problem may be temperature. They get virtually no rainfall during summer and the temperature is very high. At this time the snails will definitely be aestivating. But, at other times in the year, when the environment is wet enough for snails to be comfortable, the temperature is quite low, 10-18°C.

I'd try keeping them in the naturally coolest place you can find, in an unheated room, in shade near an exit. Keep the humidity at about 80% and see how that affects them.

Also, are you sure they are not active at night and then just seal up during daylight, much like other Helix do?

I just want to add that weather statistics are not ideal, it's virtually impossible to find micro-climate details which are more relevant to us.

[mickysnail]

Humidity Is approx 80%. the room at the moment is averaging 18 at the moment. They have built a cover. I e-mailed Proffessor Heller at the university of Jeruselem. He said that they are only active autumn/winter. He said that if they do aevestiate, just to leave them be. I am worried about doing this though. I have never had a snail do this to me.

I looked at the autumn climate in Isreal myself to try and recreate the temp. mickysnail

[thuja]

Hi Mickysnail!

Since the end of March, my engaddensis have been showing the same behavior like yours. I have tried many different conditions on them (higher temps and humidity), but nothing really helped. They keep on sealing up and I can't do anything

What you found out about their normal conditions in the wilderness might help a lot! I agree, that it's hard to leave the snails sealed, not knowing if they are ok or not. I wake mine up every 2 weeks. Maybe I could extend the period, now that I know this aestivation (however it's spelled correctly... ) is normal. I think I'll wait and see how things develop (as long as I have the impression that they are ok!). These Professors from Israel are probably right and we'll have happy, active snails by autumn
I don't think one should try to keep them active the whole year long by imitating a permanent autumn/winter. Other species (like H. pomatia for example) do also need hibernation to keep their natural "life-cycle"!

Kind regards
Jenny

[mickysnail]

Thanks Jenny. It's nice to know that i am not the only one. I cleaned and checked them today. The one that is fully sealed, I have let be. The other came out for a bit and i put him on the food. He has eaten.If he burries again I will let him be for a couple of weeks. I thought it might be something that I was doing wrong! mickysnail