Eaten Alive? or Dead?

[kotilo]

Can anyone help? Or explain?

One of my Gals was on its back this morning. Later I went to see them and one of the other ones (i've got three) was on it, looks like eating it..? The one on its back it retracted and the other one pushed its head inside the other one.

I don't know how it looks like when the mate, so could be that??

I can hear it 'eating' the other one.

Thanks

[kotilo]

I'm not sure what going on, the one that looks dead is alive, moves when I touch it. The other one keeps 'eating' it, pushing head into the 'dead' one's shell.

---

Now I went to check them again, and the 'dead' one is still on its back, half of the foot sticking out of the shell, but otherwise inside it. So it's not completely hidden. It's not moving, but not dead.
The one that was eating it is now climbing the wall, and left it in peace.

So, were they mating?
Is one of them ill or dying?
Do snails eat each other?



Grateful for any explanation... thanks

[vikingsnail]

Hmm, I'm not sure whether snails will eat other snails (especially if they're alive) but they might...

Doesn't sound like they were mating, both would be out of their shells and you'd probably see their 'love dart' which is white and will stick out of their neck.

I'd take the retracted snail out of the tank and give it a warm bath and put it in a tank of it's own if you can... sounds like whether it's being eaten or not it might be ill, and you don't want anything spreading to your other snails and you certainly don't want your other snails to be trying to eat it... I'm not sure what the problem might be, but at the moment it doesn't sound like a good idea to have this snail in with the others..

What species are your snails? I know there is one species that is known for being carnivorous... can't quite remember which one, but I think it begins with a P ...
Could the other snail have possibly been eating the other's shell? Sometimes I have to try to discourage my snails from doing that to eachother, sometimes it seems as if they don't realise it's another snail, they just see the shell as calcium...

[Arno]

I agree with Viking,you should take the ill one out.I know that some GALS will eat other snails when they are dead and like Viking said they use eachothers shells as a source of calcium.Often this happens with shells that are empty though.
It looks like the one on it's back was dying(sorry)I've seen this with my snails,when only the foot was sticking out.
I hope this is not the case with yours.Good luck!

[kotilo]

Hi and thanks. I bathed all my snails (fulicas by the way) and put the ill one in a different 'tank' (lunch box...). I put lots of lettuce front of it, as they like it as lot. It is still alive but hardly shows any signs of life. Only when I touch it it moves slightly (retracts itself even more).
I've got three of them, all the same age, but they are all different size. One of them is half of the size of the biggest.

[kotilo]

Here is a picture (sorry not a very good quality). As you can the one of the snails is on the other one, like glued to it, pushing its head inside the other one. And the third one is watching.
The yellow thing is a plastic toy frog.

[coyote]

kotilo said:

It is still alive but hardly shows any signs of life. Only when I touch it it moves slightly (retracts itself even more).

That is how one of my snails was right before she died. She wouldn't eat anything either during her last couple of days. I hope that's not the case with yours. Good luck.

[kotilo]

Hi, it looks like one of the remaining snails has similar symptoms. It was falling off the wall, not really holding on, looked tired. I really hope it will not die like the other one did (yes, it's dead now..)

After reading about the herbal remedies like green tea and garlic, I made a special bath for them (weak green tea), and bathed the two snails in it. They seemed to be ok with it - the submerged their heads and drunk the water.

I also soaked two slices of garlic in some weak green tea for a while, and then filled one of the snails' swimming pools with that weak garlicy green tea, and another with just green tea.

They quite like they pools (plastic jar lids, shallow) so I am hoping they'll go and drink the remedy.

I put some lettuce front of them after bathing them and they are both eating now. I also gave them some cottage cheese which they love!

My other half is suggesting maybe they got ill because I gave them some raw egg to eat as an experiment (not sure though whether to ate any of it). I hope they did not get ill because of that!

[whodoesntlovesnails]

well, maybe it isnt a good idea to experiment with what ur snails eat, whether they eat it or not. so sorry about you snail though

-miley

[kotilo]

whodoesntlovesnail said:

well, maybe it isnt a good idea to experiment with what ur snails eat, whether they eat it or not. so sorry about you snail though

-miley

Of course I am not experimenting with anything poisonous etc. Raw egg is on the list of things they can eat, so was happy to try that.

I think it is a good idea to experiment - they deserve a varied diet, and that way I may find more foods they love. Cottage cheese is a good example - it is not obvious 'snail food' but they love it, and it is a good source of calcium as well.

[whodoesntlovesnails]

no, no, no, i wasnt saying that you shouldnt experiment, but maybe you should ask around if anybody has had problem with feeding snails a sertain type of food. i mean, like right now, i didnt know that you could feed snails raw eggs and cottage cheese. i am just glad that it wasnt the egg tht could have done this to your snail, but either old age (i really dont know kus i dont know how old ur snail is).
still, so sorry about your snail. best wishes

-miley

[kotilo]

No worries miley.

My snails are about 6 months old and not fully grown yet. The largest one is about 7,5 cm long and the small one 6 cm long (shell that is). The dead one is about 7,5 cm too. They've grown a lot in the last two months, and they seem bigger every day!

I saw them drinking the green tea I gave them yesterday, and I hope that will help. They seemed quite happy yesterday, were active, eating and drinking a lot. Today they have been hanging on the walls, but they often do that - active/inactive cycle of a day or two.

Thanks for all your help

[whodoesntlovesnails]

glad to help (if i did, lol)

-miley

[helikulo]

I am wondering if it may be a calcium deficiency causing this behaviour. I'm not sure about this but it may be worth trying to increase their calcium as a precaution.

[whodoesntlovesnails]

helikulo said:

I am wondering if it may be a calcium deficiency causing this behaviour. I'm not sure about this but it may be worth trying to increase their calcium as a precaution.

that could be a possibility

-miley

[vikingsnail]

Sorry to hear that your snail died

I'm not sure about a calcium defficiency - surely if that were the case the other snails would have been eating the snail's shell, rather than sticking its head in to its body?
And from the pic, the shells look in good condition with new growth...

I'd be careful with the garlic though, I've heard it's not good for snails.... although, I'd be very interested to hear if your alternative remedies (so to speak) have an effect - alot of the time with ill snails there's not much we can do, so that's interesting..