Sore mouth? Aspersa won't eat

[coyote]

My aspersa Zuma has not been well lately. For the past couple of weeks she has not been eating no matter what I offer her. She has lost a lot of color (she is now light beige) and seems quite thin. She also seems weak and appears to have trouble holding up her shell (she put on a lot of new shell growth after I got her in February). Sometimes she has trouble climbing up the tank wall -- she will stop partway up and slowly slide around sideways, and just hang there.

When she does try to eat, she will begin to eat but stops after one or 2 seconds, then crawls away. Often she will try to eat but recoils from the food, sometimes twisting away violently, as though the physical sensation in her mouth is unpleasant. She has been doing this with foods she ate happily before. We only buy organic produce and we wash it and rinse it too before feeding her.

After the problem started I created a whole new tank for her with new soil and a fresh clump of sphagnum moss and fresh cuttle. I kept the same plants from the first tank (African violet, Dracaena variegatus, and a plant labeled only as "red fern").

Judging from the appearance of her poo, it looks like all she's eating is the dirt in her tank. I'm using Uni-Gro Premium Organic Cactus Mix potting soil, because it was the only organic mix at the garden center that didn't have fertilizer added to it. The ingredients listed on the package are: pumice, forest products [], peat moss, sand, earthworm castings, bone meal, blood meal, cottonseed meal and alfalfa meal. I keep the soil moist and I mist the tank about twice a day.

Most of the time she sleeps inside her coconut shell or on the wall of the tank. She was a lot more active before she began to decline. Of course I'm concerned that she will waste away and die before too long if she can't eat.

Given her recoiling from her usual foods, could there be something wrong with her mouth? If so, how can she still be eating the soil?

Can anyone offer any advice? Thanks for any suggestions you can offer.

[Buse]

Im so sorry to hear about her , I have no idea whats wronge because like you said shes eating soil ... are you feeding her a wide range of foods ? maybe she is a fussy eater sorry im no help but hope shes better soon maybe someone more experienced will answer your problem and know what to do , well sorry I couldnt help but hope shegets better soon good luck

[coyote]

Thanks for your good wishes.

I've been offering Zuma a lot of different foods. She seems interested in most of them but won't eat more than 2 bites, if she even tries to eat at all.

She seems to prefer foods with a very soft texture over foods that are crisper, but it looks like she's been rasping her cuttle a lot, and, as I said, she's eating the soil, so I don't know what to think.

She has been slightly more active these past couple of days but is still withdrawn in her shell more than she was before all this began. I'm still worried about her long-term prognosis.

If anyone else has any ideas or suggestions, please let me know.

[Tigs]

Sorry i done really know what to suggest other than the soft food.

Just wanted you to know i wasnt reading this and not caring

Tigs

[coyote]

Thanks for your kind words, Tigs.

When I sprayed the tank last night, Zuma woke up, so I held a piece of cucumber right in front of her (she was on the side of the tank). Thankfully she spent a long time sitting there sideways on the tank wall eating the cucumber. she ate more last night than she has in the past two weeks combined. Her color is looking a little better as well, and she didn't act as though her mouth was sore.

Mr Coyote wondered if maybe she had the equivalent of a "snail cold." Of course she's sleeping today, but based on how she was last night I'd say she has probably turned the corner.

Do snails get colds? I'll bet that just like cats and dogs, there's all kinds of illnesses snails get, but unlike cats and dogs no one really knows what they are.


edited for clarity

[Buse]

I have no idea about the cold thing maybe i just really dont no but im happy to here she is eating and getting better

[coyote]

Some of the discussion in mickysnail's Engaddenis not eating thread has me now wondering if Zuma is just trying to estivate. Recently it has been very dry (20% relative humidity in the house) and warm here where I live in California, and it's difficult to keep her tank moist enough (it's at about 70% right now, but I just misted it and watered the plants). It does not cool down at night very much in the house. I might try putting her tank in the garage overnight, because it is always cooler there than in the house.

Keeping the humidity up will likely be a challenge, though. For my own health, I need it on the dry side, probably drier than what an aspersa would like.

Or I could just go ahead and let her estivate for a couple of weeks. After all, it is what she would do out in the wild anyway.