Bad shell growth

[Leah]

My Fulica has never really grown much but where there is new growth it's gone all wierd. It's not mashed with the old shell. I tried to get some pictures but its difficult to see.







I always give him plenty of cuttlefish and sometimes egg shells so he gets calcium.

[anjieburdett]

My margies shell has grown like that! He had a really really bad break a while back though - and although he repaired it amazingly quickly and is still growing - the new growth is not quite connected properly to the old shell. He too has plenty of cuttle and is always eating it - who knows why this happens....

[Paul]

Mike made an interesting post about the differences in shells between genera. My Megalobulimus have perfect shells in terms of growth, a bit of scuffing perhaps. They seem different to Achatininae shells. And also, my smaller snails never have weird shell growth, whereas I have 1 stuhlmanni and 1 panthera with scarred growth and yet they each have a sibling in the same tank with perfect shells. I'm beginning to wonder if Achatininae shells are different and require something extra, yet I have some with perfect shells. And all the wild caught tigers and margies, apart from a bit of lip damage, had good shells. In captivity they must get a lot more calcium. My captive bred Helix had very thick and perfect shells in comparison to wild ones. Aside from possible genetic reason, I think there is a factor we haven't identified properly....yet.

One of the things may be phosporus. The body needs phosporus to process calcium and certain plants have a near perfect ratio for bodily consumption, one of the best is dandelion leaves. A lot of green leaves seem to contain larger quantities of this than other foods. If this property of phosphorus is the case for snails then perhaps it is a contributing factor to bad shell growth. My Megalobulimus eat hardly anything except for leaves which made we wonder if perhaps in the wild, snails eat more green leaves than we suspect. I'm wondering if a higher percentage of phosphorus rich greens will make a difference? All the calcium in the world isn't gonna help if the body can't use it efficiently.

Ceiron, you seemed to have some success with multi-vitamins, I realise phosphorus isn't one but did your multi-vit formula contain it, as many do contain minerals and other things? It is just a matter of finding high phosphorus foods with a low oxalic acid rating. Dandelion leaves seems the best to me.

[ceiron]

the answer to this question is calcium alone isnt good enough.

the ideal ratio is 40:1 calcium to phoshporous if i remember rightly. as used in a lot of products.

so perhaps the cuttlefish being fed sint enough alone so would up phosphorous high veg.

or use a multi vit.

very sparsely though and once a week max.

[Leah]

Ok so what can do to help him?

[ceiron]

also 2:1 calcium to phosporus content should be like the ideal acheived for all foods as a minimum.

the higher value is for growing and stuff, not everyday use.

[Val]

Ceiron, which are the veg high in phosphorus?

[ceiron]

i have no idea, i had a lsit but i cant find it. grrrr.

i presume darker, leafy greens will i think.

[Paul]

I think 4:1 is recommended for mammals, 2:1 for reptiles. Where snails fit into it I have not a clue.

[ceiron]

admin said:

I think 4:1 is recommended for mammals, 2:1 for reptiles. Where snails fit into it I have not a clue.

someone knows, lost the page i am looking for, would go with more the reptile one for snails.

[Arno]

home.earthlink.net/~rednine/nutrient.htm

there you go ;D

[anjieburdett]

SMART-ARSE!! ;D rofl

[bookitten]

ok, this isnt an answer to any questions or anything but dave had a shell like that, and also salty has a few bits on his shell where it suddenly seems to widen and lenghen on his shell.... do u know what i meen? my mum said it was probably where he wouldnt grow for a while, then grew alot in a big spurt, and seeing as how i read tigers have growth spurts to grow, i thought this was pretty likely.

[Deleted]

yeh i think it might just be where it hasnt grown for a while, and the lip has gone hard, and then when it does grow again it looks all wierd. my friends snail has an absolutely perfect shell and hers only gets a little cuttlefish. the perfect shells are the result of eating the right amount of calcium regularly, i think. perhaps too much calcium at irregular intervals produces odd shell growth.

[sezzy5889]

My brixton margies shells are a bit like that, i think it's where in transport the shell has chipped back so far into the hard bit and then when the new shell starts to grow it's nearly twice as thin and looks a bit weird.