Bad growth/chewing shell

[vikingsnail]

Both my snails seem to have a bit of a problem with their shells, but I was wondering if it was actually anything to worry about...

My iredalei Gary has been growing quite quickly since I got her (yep, a girl called Gary lol) - about 2cm of growth in about 2 months, but I've noticed her shell is quite rough, and whenever she gets new growth it's not smooth to the rest of her shell, if you know what I mean...
It doesn't bother me if her shell doesn't look perfect, I was just wondering if this could be a problem for my snail's health? She's very active, eats plenty and also eats lots of cuttlefish.

I've also noticed that my fulica Arnie chews his shell... you can tell he has chewed it a fair bit in the past - there's a part of his shell that is a little rough and you can tell a fair bit has been chewed away as it's 'lower' than the rest of his shell if that makes sense. That bit is past his new growth, so I'm not sure if that's left over from when we had a mite problem (which is gone now), or if he's still doing it. Apart from that, his shell is in good condition, he's still growing and he is also very active, eats alot and eats his cuttlefish too.

I also use liquid calcium in their water sprayer about every 3 days.

Could either of these problems be a health issue for my snails? And is there anything I can do to help smoother growth or to discourage chewing the shell?

Also - I've got some ground oyster shell, but I don't think it's ground fine enough for the snails to eat. Anyone know of a way of grinding it down some more? I've tried using a food blender by it doesn't do anything...

[Rachel]

i use my marble pestle and mortar for oyster shell. It might be arnie has got a habit of eating his shell, he may even be doing Gary's to. unfortunately its difficult to break the habit of shell eating, especially if it started with mites.

[vikingsnail]

I've never seen Arnie try to chew Gary's shell - I think whatever the problem with Gary's shell, she's had it all her life.

Hopefully the fact that Arnie is active and healthy and eats alot of cuttlefish will cut down any damage he might do by eating his own shell... silly snail lol

[samurai]

I´ve got few fulicas that are eating their shell as you discriped yours are doing. One of those are doing it constantly and others like in periods...all of those are eating calsium well and feeling healthy and living. I´m wongering should I separate the one that is eating it´s shell constantly, would it make any good for the others ? Can snails teach bad habbits to one another ?

..and we haven´t had mites or anything.

[vikingsnail]

Hmm, unless your snail is chewing the other snail's shells, I don't think you need to seperate them.

I guess unless snails are doing alot of damage to their shells by chewing them, it's not too much of a problem if they're healthy and happy..?

[whodoesntlovesnails]

vikingsnail said:

Hmm, unless your snail is chewing the other snail's shells, I don't think you need to seperate them.

I guess unless snails are doing alot of damage to their shells by chewing them, it's not too much of a problem if they're healthy and happy..?

i agree, that unless they are really hurting themselves (which i dont think they are) than you shouldnt seperate them unless these actions become more serious.

-miley