Swollen Mouth

[coyote]

Hercules, my milk snail, seems to have a swollen mouth. I noticed it first last night, and it's still like that this morning. It looks like a little bubble of tissue on his face, and his radula is really dark instead of its normal color. I can't be sure, but I don't think he's eaten in a couple of days and he seems a little listless.

Is this a precursor to gut extrusion? Even if it isn't, should I euthanize him? Or should I give him some time to see if he gets better?

[snailysnail]

if it was me, i would give him a bit of time just to see if he does improve.
good luck,

anna x

[coyote]

This afternoon shows no change. It looks like a little snout sticking out from his face.

Thanks for your kind wishes.

[Deleted]

Could you provide a picture?

[coyote]

I'll do my best to get a pic. It looks very similar to the pics in the Swollen Mouth section on the main website.

[Deleted]

like this?

If so I doubt it could survive.

[coyote]

Here's some quick pics I took this evening:

i38.tinypic.com/2d2fw42.jpg
i33.tinypic.com/rvekad.jpg
i35.tinypic.com/2u5f5gz.jpg

[Deleted]

I don't think he will survive. The tiger in the photo died shortly afterwards, and one of my snails had it and died. Maybe you should euthanize him?

Do you have any idea what caused it? My one that had it got it after I dropped it and the shell broke, and I think the one in the picture was a brixton snail.

[coyote]

I euthanized him last night. I didn't see any point in waiting to see if it would get better.

He had been looking a little thin these past couple of weeks. With 2 snails in the tank, it was hard for me to tell exactly how much either on of them was eating, so it may have been just the other snail that had been eating lately.

He had been fine up until just recently. He even mated with Buster, the aspersa, a few times. He was WC, so I don't know his exact age or health history.

It's possible at some point he may have fallen from the tank lid during the night without my knowing it, but I never witnessed any accidents. He did escape from the tank once and was found the next day on a nearby houseplant. Who knows what he got up to during those few hours he went missing?

Rest in peace, little Hercules. You were a fabulous snail.

[millsy]

Hi sorry to read about your snail, i found this site while searching for information about the same problem with the class snail. Sarah (the snail) has had a swollen mouth for a while now and has days without eating. I bath her regularly and hope she isn't in pain but it doesn't look good.

[coyote]

Hi millsy, welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear about the problem with Sarah. I'm sorry to say that all I've read about swollen mouth isn't good. I suppose it is possible for a snail to recover from it somehow, but I haven't found anything online. It's possible you may have to euthanize Sarah. If so, I'm so sorry. I hope she will be one of the lucky ones and recover, though. Best of luck to you, and please let us know what happens.

[lee2211]

For more information about swollen mouth see:
www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/swollen_mouth.html#start