A bit worried?

[ilikebigsnails]

Hi, I'm Sarah- new to the forum and the awesome world of snail keeping! ;D Hoping for a bit of advice- apologies if this is in the wrong forum, I couldn't decide whether this is a problem or behaviour, it's probably a bit of both!

Sorry if this is long winded, thought I should perhaps give you all a bit of background info to help you tell me what's going on!! Okies. I got my snails about three weeks ago, from a fifteen year old who had had a bit of an 'accident' with snail porn *ahem*. My little guys are three months old, and by the sound of it weren't being kept very well (she liked to smack the tank lid to make them fall to the bottom, not much space etc). When I got them they looked quite pitiful- and as it was a bit out of the blue I wasn't particularly prepared for the little guys!

Sooooo, my friends decked me out with a small, temporary tank. I had no cuttlefish, so for the first week they had no calcium (sounds like they had none from being born ), and then I read that eggshells would do the trick and used that as a temporary measure.

By the end of the first week I had obtained cuttlefish, and a good friend passed on her old axiotle (sp?) tank- a whopping 3ft by 18 inches. I still have no heat mat, but am keeping the room temperature up as a temporary measure until I can afford to get one.

Now, in some respects, my little guys (Frasier and Niles ;D) are looking worlds better. They have a lot of new shell growth for only three weeks, and their shells are generally looking less scarred and cracked- more healthy. BUT I'm worried. It may be paranoia, in which case I'm going to feel a bit silly with this lengthy post (!!), but one of the snails seems a lot less happy. They have a lot of space, are kept clean etc. But the littlest one is barely eating, and has literally spent the last three days buried. On the occasions he does come out, he seems fine, except I haven't seen him eat. His fat brother seems to be awake a lot of the time, and spends much time eating!

Also, noticed there has been barely any poo in the tank in the last two weeks or so. This is sounding a tad silly to me even as i type, but the first week of having the snails they were extremely active/exploratory and ate a LOT!! Now the little one does/eats very little, and it's got me worried sick.

Again, sorry all for the length of this post! LOL, it's a lot of words for what could be condensed into 'snail isn't eating, buried a lot'!!! Thought the background info may help though. Thankyou for your time, and a very interesting forum! x x

[spook]

Hi there!!
Nice to meet you and don't worry about the length of your post...i quite enjoyed reading it!! and it's very understandable to be worried!!

Not sure if there's anything wrong with your snail but the fact that he is not eating is certainly something that needs looking at! There could be many possible reasons for him not eating........I can only help by telling you I had the same problem when my 2 Fulicas were young and the reason being I'd put them in a larger tank too early i think and they weren't actually traveling around the tank to find the food,plus it could be that they are not warm enough and the fact that in a larger tank as well because obviously a larger tank will take more heating than the smaller one they were in to start with.
Do you give them a spray with water every day as well?they need keeping damp and warm and it's very possible that one of them just prefers it a little warmer than the other(my two are fussy like that).
when you feed them,give them a spray with water then place them on their food to encourage them to eat.
Hope this helps??!!
would love to see some pics of your little guys!
Em x

[Paul]

Hi Sarah, welcome to the forum!

In my experience snails can take a couple of weeks to settle into a new environment, and that manifests itself by less activity etc.

There are a few things to consider. Some snails seem to defecate underneath the soil so that might be worth looking into. Glass tanks are hard to check because of their weight, but digging around where they are buried may reveal faeces.

With you having more than one snail, it's not easy to know which are eating. I would suggest you try and set a feeding time when new food get's put in. Find them all, give them a quick bath in luke warm water and place them near the food. Then hopefully you can see them all eating.

The only good indicator of ill-health is not eating, so you need to keep an eye on them, but I don't think you need to be worrying just yet. New shell growth is a great sign.

If they don't settle in, there are some things you can do to improve activity. I find that maintaining a stricter dark/light routine can help. That may entail covering the tank with a towel before it's actually dark. In Africa, the light/dark is from 10/14 to 14/10 with an almost consistent 12/12 at the equator.

It's hard to judge humidity and temperature. You just get better with time. My advice is to experiment with how wet the tank is. My feeling these days is to have good ventilation so the tank tends to dry out a little during the day, and then give them a good soaking spray in the evening before lights out and food time. However, rather than simply keep changing things around each time, give them time to settle and adjust to your changes, at least for a few days so you can observe their reaction properly, then change things if they still seem unhappy.

Having the tank warm in the day, and then a few degrees cooler at night is ideal. Unless your house is cold, I wouldn't bother with a heatmat at the moment. For fulica, you want the tank between 18-25°C. All snails are different and they do acclimatise slightly so it's hard to give you the perfect conditions. You've already noticed some changes in behavior/activity, you just have to keep it up.

Hope this helps....and well done on rescuing them!

[ilikebigsnails]

Hello! ;D

Thanks for such quick replies! I'll try and address what you've both said in your posts in some sort of order!

I thought about the tank being larger than what they were used to, so I put food in a few areas in the tank for them to stumble across on their travels- generally I put some fairly close to their water bowl, some next to their favourite rock (!) and some quite close to their cuttlefish- areas of their tank that they seem to be in quite a lot. Would it perhaps be better to stick to one spot? I wanted to encourage them to explore the tank a little. I give them a misting twice a day, as with the heating on my house is pretty humid and seems to dry out quite quickly.

The littlest one who seems less active/isn't eating sticks quite firmly to the glass at the bottom of the tank when he is buried, so I'm a bit averse to pulling him off to spray him before eating. I did have a go yesterday because I was so worried about him, and tugged gently but he was stuck quite firmly in place. Also made a strange bubbling noise when I pulled the top of his shell? So I've let him be since then and am hoping he will come out of his own accord. Three days ago was when I last saw him surface- a friend was round and both snails were out, Frasier eating quite happily, Niles seemed to have a little bath then bury himself again almost immediatley.

I would love to put some pictures up, but my digital camera was broken a while ago I'm going to ask my friend to come round with hers so I can take some pictures of my little babies- and show you the tank setup as well so you can see what you think. Could be a while though!

It sounds logical that perhaps Niles just hasn't settled in as quickly as Frasier. For the past three days I've only seen Frasier up and eating- he's the biggest so it's quite easy to tell them apart at the moment. I'll try only spraying them at night and see if that helps any. I think they are Fulica- that looks most like my little guys do. Frasier seems quite ignorant of the fact that he should be nocturnal, and gets up at all times during the day to have an explore and slime up the tank. Niles used to get up more at about 11pm- but like I said, just hasn't been up at all in the past three days.

I have a wire mesh lid for my tank, that I've wrapped with garden netting in case the wire hurt them- so I think it's ventilated enough?

What sort of time would you recommend for food etc? As a student I have a pretty irregular sleep pattern myself, so they haven't had the stability of lights out at a certain time.

Another lengthy post ;D it's nice to 'talk snail' however, as most of my friends simply don't understand the fascination!

[spook]

Hi there!
I usually feed mine around tea time every day,not a set time but it's just when I'm feeding dogs and cats as well!..My snaills don't necessarily eat straight away but it's ok in there till they do..in fact some days they wait till the food has gone a bit wilted and then eat it!
you say he's burying to the bottom of the tank right to the glass?? maybe he's actually too warm and looking for a cooler place?? just an idea I can't be certain of course!....

where abouts in west yorkshire are you sarah? Cos I might live near you!!
x

[Val]

Hi Sarah, welcome to Petsnails. If I were you I would put your little snails back in the small tank as they were obviously happy in that and were also eating well, it will be a lot easier also to keep a small tank warm, put it somewhere high up in the room where the heat goes. If the tank gets warmer it will also get more humid and again the snails will like this. More warmth, more humidity and the snails will be just fine. Well done for taking them on.

Val

[ilikebigsnails]

Hmm, actually, after reading they need a heat mat I turned the heating up, and it's since then that little Niles has buried himself! So perhaps it is too warm for these little captive bred fellas, who certainly wouldn't have had a heat mat in their old home!

I live near Bingley, which is Bradford way?

I'm a bit nervy about keeping them in the smaller tank- it's only 10cm by 20cm? They looked so cramped! Frasier seems to love his new big home, perhaps it might be a good idea setting Niles up in the smaller one until he gets a bit bigger?

Oh, reading a bit more of the species section, I'm not so sure they're fulica any more. They have very similar shells- dark with lighter brown/almost orange stripes/patches, but seem 'frillier' on the bottom with lighter bodies. They have a stripe running from the top of their heads along their entire body. Sorry for the lame description, really wish I could put photos up!

Thankyou for all your suggestions, it's food for thought. I really am very inexperienced, and sometimes searching the interet gives you such conflicting advice! So glad I found this forum! Any more advice much appreciated, I'm certainly going to give them all ago (though perhaps not all at once in case snailies think the snail apocalypse is looming lol) x

[spook]

hee hee i live in keighley!! Just down the road from you!!

Blooming eck your small tank really is small isn't it!I can understand why you don't want to put them back in there!....there is a good chance they still might be fulica..the species can very so much in appearance,be really good if you could post some pics sometime then maybe we can all id them for you!!
;D ;D

[ilikebigsnails]

Hehehe I was born and bred in Keighley ;D

Thanks all again for the help so far, I will keep you updated on Niles, and post some pictures as soon as poss

Sarah x

[ilikebigsnails]

What do you know, I turned the heating down, gave the tank an extra mist and Niles popped his head up literally a minute later! ;D He's had some lettuce and is currently making typing this very difficult by sliming up my arm ;D

Can't thank you guys enough. More good news, my dad's come home avec his digital camera, so I'll be able to put some pics of Niles up very shortly Frasier is still sleeping! Will put them up in the photos section, and the ID section.

x x x x

[Val]

10cm x 20cm I didn't realise that your 'small' tank was quite THAT small!!!! So, no don't put them back in there, they sound like they are settling in now anyway, what other foods have you tried? sweet potato always goes down well with most of them also corn on the cob and sweet apple.

Val

[spook]

ilikebigsnails said:

What do you know, I turned the heating down, gave the tank an extra mist and Niles popped his head up literally a minute later! ;D He's had some lettuce and is currently making typing this very difficult by sliming up my arm ;D

Can't thank you guys enough. More good news, my dad's come home avec his digital camera, so I'll be able to put some pics of Niles up very shortly Frasier is still sleeping! Will put them up in the photos section, and the ID section.

x x x x

Excellent news......fussy little slimies eh!! hee hee!
Looking forward to seeing the little guys!!
x

[ilikebigsnails]

So far they've tried cucumber (love it), baby sweetcorn (love it), cabbage and lettuce. I'm wanting to give them a bit more of a varied diet though so will definitely get some sweet potato. Half for me, half for them ;D

They are fussy! Who knew? lol

x x