My snail is eating its shell

[Bogs]

I recently found a little Grove snail, and they wont stop eating their shell. it doesnt seem to damage it a whole lot though. whenever he finds calcium he eats it for hours. i think he might be calcium deficient? but hes eaten so much, i dont know why he keeps doing it

[SuspiciousBagel]

Hi AloeFrost,
Sometimes snails chew on their shells when it is growing to smooth out rough areas, however, if it is happening excessively as you seem to describe it is a slight cause for concern. Do you have a continuous source of calcium in the tank? If not make sure to as it is essential for snails. They might well be calcium deficient, especially if you got them from outside where it can be harder for snails to get it. Otherwise, all you can really do is move the snail onto whatever calcium source you provide when you see them do it and hopefully they will stop as they grow older and their shell is no longer growing so much.

Hope this helps!

[Bogs]

Hey, thank you SusBagel
Yeah i got them from outside, and they do rasp their shell fairly often, and i give them plenty access to calcium. Theyve eaten a lot i think and hopefully they stop soon. They have plenty of crushed oyster, eggshells, and even a crab shell in their tank. most of my worry comes from how much they've been eating and how little ive seen them eat actual food

[schneckin]

I have a snail that used to do this. I got it from a friend that wasn't taking care of it, and noticed.that it did that, you can sprinkle a calcium source on its food, that really helped mine. Crushed cuddle bone a very finely ground egg shell works great for this.

[pasi9]

This sounds like the snail is grooming/cleaning it's shell. If you haven't noticed any damage/wearing down to the shell, then I wouldn't worry too much.

Jan 7, 2023 5:56:41 GMT schneckin said:

I have a snail that used to do this. I got it from a friend that wasn't taking care of it, and noticed.that it did that, you can sprinkle a calcium source on its food, that really helped mine. Crushed cuddle bone a very finely ground egg shell works great for this.

I'm glad this worked out well in your situation, but I just want to add a note; sometimes sprinkling calcium on their food can be dangerous, as the snail then isn't able to regulate their intake. If they end up eating too much calcium this could make them very ill.