Another sealing in issue..

[vikingsnail]

Hi - I don't know if you remember, but a couple of months back my Iredalei, Martha, had some kind of problem - she sealed herself in, and took ages to 'wake up'. Well, it's just happened again.

Since the last time this happened, she's been perfectly normal (apart from the strange egg incident!) - eating loads, growing, being active, all looking good.

Just now it was bath time - she was slightly buried in some moss in the middle of the tank, and as I picked her up I noticed that she'd sealed herself in again. She wasn't retracted any further than I'd consider normal, but there was this hard, clear 'film' all over the shell's opening. I immediately worried - gave her a sniff, and thank god, there wasn't any horrible fish smell.

After what seemed like hours (probably just 10 minutes) of warm baths, she came out. I had to very gently pick some of this hard film off as nothing was happening with it on - I don't know if I should have done it or not, but I was very worried. After that, she came out, looking totally normal. I put her on the food, she had a nibble of some lettuce and now is sliming around the tank.

I have no idea why this happened, and it's worrying me that it's happened before. Arnie (fulica) is fine and showing no signs of doing the same thing, but obviously I'll be keeping a very careful eye on them both.
The temperature is at around 24/25c, and the tank is damp enough - not too wet, not too dry. Once she'd woken up, I had a peer into her breathing hole - and it looked almost like she had another egg in her, but I never saw the eggs inside her like that so I don't know whether it was an egg.

Does anyone have any idea why this happened? Are the conditions not quite right and she was hibernating? Is it an illness? I haven't changed anything in their tank or in the way I look after them, and I haven't fed anything out of the ordinary (they usually get things like lettuce, cucumber, courgette, yam, green beans, mango..). I don't want to lose her

[coyote]

I doubt there would be any one specific thing that would make a snail seal itself up. Tank conditions would certainly be one reason, but there could be many other reasons we don't even know about.

I've had some snails that seemed to want to be sealed up more than usual, who were otherwise healthy. I figure as long as tank conditions are right and the snail is given the right foods, it's just an issue of something unique to that snail's metabolism.

[vikingsnail]

Hmm.. so she could just be kind of 'tempremental', if that makes sense? Something that just happens from time to time?

[mysteryshopper1]

try maintaining a definite temperature no particular highs or lows and see if the snail is more comfortable. Its because of either the temp being too high - (Aevistation) or too low (hibernation).

I would imagine as the snail has buried itself slightly it is too low a temperature, but some snails get right down to the bottom of the tank for the cool temps /to escape the heat. So i would just try to adjust the temp slightly and monitor the situation.

regards
A

[vikingsnail]

Hmm, the temp is usually around 24/25, but sometimes gets a little higher on hotter days. Do you think I should be aiming for warmer? I'll give it a go if it helps

[mysteryshopper1]

i would try around 27 - 28c average my friend . you will probably find your snail/s are much happier.My zebra's / craveni are in the same way very temperamental if the temp is above 16c for too long they aevestate and i have to leave them on ice packs to wake them up.

Your problem is very likely just the reverse of this.

All the best
Ade

[vikingsnail]

Ok thanks, I'll give it a go! They've got two heatmats, one of which was unplugged as the weather had been quite hot. It's cooled down a bit now, and the other heatmat is still unplugged so I'll put it back on and see what happens

[mysteryshopper1]

Good luck , please keep me informed.

[vikingsnail]

Well, so far so good! I've raised the temp by a couple of degrees and haven't had any more issues - shall have to wait and see

[mysteryshopper1]

Hope i have helped in some way
Regards
Ade

[vikingsnail]

Yes definetely, thankyou
However, I noticed lastnight that Martha (the iredalei in question) produced a couple of infertile eggs - she did this a while back but produced alot more. Do you think this is related?

[mysteryshopper1]

could well be, Do the snails have plenty of calcium available as this is neccesary for strong egg/shell production ? sometimes they do seem to be very quiet before laying ( some snails do and some dont ) It is after all a great effort for any animal / invert etc to give birth lay eggs.

That was probably the problem all along ( eggs ), but at least now you have monitered the situation you know they seem more comfortable at the current temp.

Regards
Ade

[vikingsnail]

Yep, there's a big piece of cuttlefish in there, and I use crushed oyster shell and liquid calcium - so plenty of calcium there!
I'll go back and check my posts from the last time she sealed up and laid eggs, I can't remember off the top of my head if they happened at a similar time, maybe that could explain it.

I do worry that she's producing these eggs though. They're definetely infertile - last time she laid eggs there was about 20 of them, I kept hold of them for a while to see if anything happened and they just rotted. It's not surprising they're infertile as she's an iredalei and her tank mate is a fulica - so they're not compatible. And iredalei give birth to live young anyway - I guess maybe she'd prepared herself for having babies but ditched the eggs as they weren't fertile? Do you think this could cause her a problem in the long run?

Sorry for all the questions!

Edit: I just found the posts from last time this happened, and the last time she sealed up was the 21st of may, and she laid the eggs on the 25th/26th of may - so it looks like it probably is related. There's a pic of the eggs in here: petsnails.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=7664&page=1

[mysteryshopper1]

I dount it very much ( causing harm ) , some of my retics are just the same , loads of dud eggs repeatedley and they alive and happy > .

Regards
Ade