Egg bound snail???

[sonicsnail]

A while ago one of my snails developed lumps all along the front half of it's body, almost like small tumours. These gradually became worse and I found that more and more of these lumps were appearing. The snail eventually died and left me still not knowing what caused its death. The next part could be said as rather disgusting or morbid but I felt I may find the cause of death by letting the snail decompose. After a while it soon did and all was left was a shell. The most confusing thing about this is that there were loads of tiny white eggs in left in the shell!!! I came to a decision that the snail could have been egg bound for these lumps on the snails body and head were the same size as eggs. I thought I would put this for it may come of some use. Has anyone else found this with a snail and was this an egg bound snail at all?

[anjieburdett]

I've had egg-bound birds!! They are helped by applying castor oil to the vent area and keeping them very warm. Never heard of it in snails but i suppose if it can happen to one egg bearing creature then its not to hard to imagine it happening to another.

Anjie,x.

[Arno]

It surely sounds like that,but I never had this happen fortunatly.

[sezzy5889]

It's a first, thank for letting us know :-)

[sonicsnail]

No problem. I knew that you can get egg bound birds, but not snails! I thought egg bound must have caused it's death. It was such a surprise though.

[Val]

If the shell of the eggs was hard then it is unlikely that the snail was egg bound. Birds become egg bound when they have insufficient calcium and the eggs are formed with a soft shell which is almost impossible for the bird to lay normally. I would think it likely that this COULD happen to a snail, but if it did in your case then the shells would feel 'jelly like'

Val

[sonicsnail]

I didn't check the eggs to see if they were hard or soft. We may never know but I hope this helps towards possible future problems that may occur with these types of symptoms.

Thanks

[Arno]

Surely if the eggs where jelly like they would have been decomposed as well.It is possible the snail could have been egg bound even with hard eggs,after all they lay quite a bit more than birds do.

[Val]

If the eggs had a hard shell, unless the snail was ill it should have been able to lay them. Perhaps the snail became ill before it had a chance to lay the eggs.

Val

[sonicsnail]

Perhaps, but it doesn't explain the small bumps along the it's body and head. They could have been tumors, but these lumps were the same size as eggs. I just thought that it seemed likely these could have been eggs, for lots of eggs were left in the shell. Any further information would be of help to solving this mystery.

Thanks

[Val]

If there were lumps on it's head, it's surely unlikely that these were eggs?

Val

[sezzy5889]

why? they give birth through the genital opening on the neck!

[Val]

I just think it's very unlikely.

Val

[sonicsnail]

Well I personally think it could be possible for I can't think of any other explanations for the lumps apart from tumours. I think it was one of my first snails. If for instance these lumps were tumours then how could I tell, there is currently no information on the site about these. Do snails even get tumours? If anyone else has found this with one of their snails then please say, I feel like I’m the only one.

Thanks

[natrat84]

Hiya
I think it is perfectly possible. If 1 egg bearing animal can get egg bound then why can't another. Where exactly on the snail were these lumps, and how long before it died, did they appear? Also how big was the snail? Maybe it was ill before it started laying and wasn't strong enough, or maybe it wasn't large enough, but snails don't automatically fertilise their eggs. They store the sperm and fertilise when the conditions are right, so if it was ill or too small I don't think it would have fertilised.
Nat

[sonicsnail]

Well, as far as I can remember, these lumps were the same size as eggs and were all over it's head and what you could call it's neck. I think these slowly started to appear and then more and more lumps eventually appeared. Erm...size of snail well I think it was about 9cm shell length. I knew the lumps were over it's head and neck but the shell length is an estimate from what I can remember. This happened a long time ago.

[supersnail]

i have had not has this happen to me luckly but i think it isnt nothing to worry about

[sonicsnail]

It may be something to worry about if this happens again....I know there have not been any reports yet, but there's nothing stopping it from occuring again.