Shell Bleaching?

[nancydrew]

I have noticed where I live that there are some places where many of the wild snails appear to have bleached shells; shells that are losing their colour/pigment and are turning white. The majority of these snails are cepaea nemoralis, and one spot in particular where I noticed them was right next to a large blueberry farm operation, but even my last snail, a helix aspersa, had a few patches on the 'ground side' of his shell that were also seeming to lose pigment. I was wondering if anyone knew anything about this condition, or if anyone else had noticed this happening with any of their snails?

And as a side note, I am happy to announce that I happened upon another helix aspersa at work, only a month or so after Hubert passed away, and I eagerly took her (Patty) home. I guess I should be glad that these guys are able to cross the border undetected in boxes of produce!

[coyote]

Congrats on getting Patty! I hope you post pics soon.

WRT bleached shells, that can happen from losing the periostracum, which is the thin membrane-like organic layer that covers the outer surface of a snail shell. It's this layer that usually gives shells their colors. Old shells are almost always white, because they have lost their periostracum.

IIRC, blueberries prefer an acidic soil, and acidic conditions could wear away the periostracum, so that could be one explanation about the nermoralis you saw.

I haven't noticed any loss of pigmentation with any of my snails so far. I imagine it's possible there are other explanations as well, but that's the only one I've ever read about.

[lucyjames]

That explains my Sid's shell going white.... I was worrying he was missing something in his diet...

Does polishing them with sesame oil help to maintain this layer better at all?

[Rachel]

it would probally help protect it so I would think it would help a little.

[lucyjames]

My babies might get a polish on top of their baths this week then ;D

[zakalwe]

May 5, 2009 6:11:01 GMT nancydrew said:

I have noticed where I live that there are some places where many of the wild snails appear to have bleached shells; shells that are losing their colour/pigment and are turning white. The majority of these snails are cepaea nemoralis, and one spot in particular where I noticed them was right next to a large blueberry farm operation, but even my last snail, a helix aspersa, had a few patches on the 'ground side' of his shell that were also seeming to lose pigment. I was wondering if anyone knew anything about this condition, or if anyone else had noticed this happening with any of their snails?

And as a side note, I am happy to announce that I happened upon another helix aspersa at work, only a month or so after Hubert passed away, and I eagerly took her (Patty) home. I guess I should be glad that these guys are able to cross the border undetected in boxes of produce!

Glad to see another person from Canada on here. I've got a single Aspersa as well and that's exactly how I got him. I work at Sobeys on the wet counter (lettuce, carrots and all that stuff) and I reached into a celery case, and when I brought it out the snail was stuck to my hand.

I've noticed this bleaching on him too, and it's started to cover a sizable portion of his shell now. Is it perhaps something that just comes with age?

[coyote]

I think older snails are prone to losing their shell color. I would think it was unusual to see on a younger snail, but an older snail whose shell had been exposed to more wear and tear and other environmental factors would be more likely to undergo pigmentation loss.

[zakalwe]

I was just reading a text book on snail biology that my fiance was nice enough to get from her University, and it mentioned that snails release an acidic fluid from their foot to help break down the calcium in the soil, so I'm thinking that maybe this is what's happening to Gary, as a lot of the other small snails like to sit in that one spot on him.

[coyote]

That book sounds interesting - what's the title and author?

[lucyjames]

I would definitely be interested in reading that book... it seems so difficult to get any snaily books!!!

Though, I am not sure that this acidic secretion is what happened to my Sid - he lived by himself when his shell started paling...!!!!

[zakalwe]

The book is called "Pest Slugs and Snails-Biology and Control" by Dora Godan. It's mostly about controlling and killing them sadly, but the first few chapters explain about the biology and behavior of snails and even how to mass rear them.

[snailysnail]

despite the horrible chapters, it sounds like an interesting book...i havn't found many snail books that look good either. maybe we could make all the petsnail website information into a book and sell it. i don't have any ideas of what to raise money for though. and of course paul(he wrote a lot of it, didn't he? correct me if i'm wrong!) would have to get a good share. i printed out all the pages to put into a ring binder for reading up when i cant get on the internet and ask you guys! then again i suppose there isn't anything stopping other people doing the same as me.

[lucyjames]

That's a cool idea - this site is pretty much my bible for anything snail-related...!!!!

[zakalwe]

If you go to your local University or College, you'd be surprised at what they have.

There's another book that I'm reading right now called "Behavior and Its Neural Control in Gastropod Molluscs" by Ronald Chase. It's really heavy on the technical science terms (didn't take biology in high school so I have to try to figure out everything) but it's an awesome read.

I'll see if I can find them on Amazon.

[zakalwe]

Update

www.amazon.com/Behavior-Neural-Control-Gastropod-Molluscs/dp/0195113144

www.amazon.com/Pest-Slugs-Snails-Biology-Control/dp/0387118942/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246618135&sr=1-1

There it is, price tag's a tad high though. LOL

[coyote]

There are websites such as abebooks.com and half.com where you can sometimes find these kinds of books, often at a reduced price.

[zakalwe]

Thanks for the link, that sounds awesome.