Panthera - Split Shell

[lisajane8482]

Hi, I just got 2 panthera babies, i noticed last night that one has a split shell (he did not arrive with it). I have put him in to a box by himself with some damp kitchen roll, food and cuttle fish... I'm not really sure what to do now though, he seems happy enough, slimming around, eating his food and hammering the cuttle fish, but his poo seems to get stuck in the split . Do i just leave the loose shell, try to fix it ? I've had a look on the problem page but it's not much help.







Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[spook]

Poor little snail!
sorry i can't really offer any advice though I've never had to fix a shell before almost looks like it needs some sort of temporary sticking back together so then the shell can start to fix itself!? I'm no expert though,hope someone else can help!

[katherineh]

It does not look like the broken bit of shell is displaced much, or any internal organs are exposed, so I should think it would heal ok if you continue to give plenty of good food and cuttlefish. Is there anything in the original tank he could have fallen on, a flowerpot or water bowl maybe, to cause the damage?

[lisajane8482]

There's nothing hard in the tank, i put water on an old lid off a small container so it's soft plastic, there is a piece of cork bark which they can climb on, a small piece which is on the floor that i put their food on and a silk vivarium plant. There is nothing hard in there, I wondered if he could have caught the edge of his shell on something, like when you catch your nail???

[goose]

I would be tempted to carefully remove the end of the split part that is sticking out at an angle. It is very very thin shell there which is easily damaged anyway and I don't think it will reattach at that angle (much like a split nail won't repair) - it is more likely to get caught on something else and rip right off. You can see where the snails mantle has moved up out of the way of it so if you are careful you won't hurt the snail at all. At that age snails make shell very quickly and he will then repair the gap rapidly - you won't even notice it eventually - it will grow down the same level as the leading edge of the rest of the shell. Just provide plenty of calcium to enable the regrowth, nothing to worry about.

[lisajane8482]

goose said:

I would be tempted to carefully remove the end of the split part that is sticking out at an angle. It is very very thin shell there which is easily damaged anyway and I don't think it will reattach at that angle (much like a split nail won't repair) - it is more likely to get caught on something else and rip right off. You can see where the snails mantle has moved up out of the way of it so if you are careful you won't hurt the snail at all. At that age snails make shell very quickly and he will then repair the gap rapidly - you won't even notice it eventually - it will grow down the same level as the leading edge of the rest of the shell. Just provide plenty of calcium to enable the regrowth, nothing to worry about.

may sound like a stupid question, but i want to make sure i do it right, how should i remove it? with a pair of nail scissors or similar (sterilised of course)? should it follow an angle similar to the red line(it wouldn't be as exaggerated and ensuring that i don't hurt/cut any part of the snail of course), or just straight like the black line.

[goose]

Hi - no not a stupid question at all - I would say like the red line in the picture as the black line will leave a 'corner' which may catch. Nail scissors should be just fine, blunt ended if you have them if not don't worry too much - you won't need to sterilise them as the shell is just tissue like a nail or hair. As long as you don't nick the mantle which you can see like the 'quick' in a dog or cat's nail it will be just fine. My baby tiger lost a large bit of his shell like that but it regrew very quickly and you can't even see where the chunk was missing now. He will be fine.

[lisajane8482]

Thank you Goose, i was a bit worried about him but I feel a lot better now. ;D

I think I'll take your advice about blunt ended scissorsand invest in a pair just to be safe.

Thank you again.

[goose]

No - problem, glad to be of help, when they are that little its easy to worry isn't it, but splits and breaks in shells of that extent are quite common at that age as their shells are so thin and fragile, its very difficult to avoid them getting damaged at some point, its nothing you are doing wrong at all.

[Val]

Very good advice there from goose!!

Val

[lisajane8482]

well when i got home from work the loose shell had come off, so i guess i was worrying over nothing, never mind, at least i know what to do if it happens again.

[goose]

At least you didn't have to perform the surgery!!