Two Poorly Snails

[frankjackdaw]

Hi all,

I have two very poorly Helix Aspersas in my tank of seven.

One of them is a small one who has never really been healthy. It has a hole in its shell (having always had a thin shell) and hasn't been out for days now. It's not backed up inside its shell, but it does seem to be getting smaller. I don't know if its dead, hibernating, dying or what.

The other is almost the opposite. It's my biggest HA. For at least a week now it hasn't fully retracted into its shell and is bent round to one side. It's alive but barely does anything. I'm wondering if it's maybe old age. I don't like to think of them suffering and wonder if I should put them out of their misery somehow, or whether there's some explanation for it.

The other five, incidentally, seem as happy as ever.

Thanks!!!


Adam

[frankjackdaw]

Incidentally, Maxwell, the sick big one, still seems to be eating. He just doesn't walk about, retract, or unkink.

[Katie]

I think the best way to see if the small one is alive or not is to sniff it. If the snails reaks horribly, then i'd say its dead.

Try giving them both a nice warm bathe, and entice them out with cucumber or some other foods that they like

Katie x

[frankjackdaw]

Hi Katie,

Thanks for the sniffing advice. The little one, Biscuits, did indeed smell bad, and has been removed from circulation.

The main problem I have with the other one, though, is that he won't go in. He's been half-extended for days now... he's still alive and eating, but very poorly-looking. Today he's lying on his side, bent round at a 90 degree angle, poor little chap.

[coyote]

I'm so sorry about your snails. If one has a hole in its shell, I don't recommend getting it wet, so hold off on a bath for that one for the time being. I recently lost a Theba pisana with a hole in its shell, in spite of doing a shell repair on it. The Theba just stayed in his shell getting thinner and thinner and never came out. Eventually he died. Depending on how many days your snail has not been out of its shell to eat anything, it might have become too weak to recover. If so, I am very sorry.

As for the other one, I'm puzzled. I've never heard of a snail that doesn't move around or retract and has a kink to it. I wouldn't know where to begin to guess as to what might be going on with it, sorry. If he's still eating, that's a good sign, though.

[frankjackdaw]

Biscuits did get thinner and thinner, and smelt bad. I've disposed of that one now - I hope I did the right thing. I didn't want to contaminate the others, and it'd been a while since I've seen it do anything.

I'll keep an eye on Maxwell. He was a fine and active snail till a couple of weeks ago, and now he's all pathetic. I have to place him on lettuce to persuade him to eat.

[coyote]

I hope he pulls through. Let us know how he's doing.

[frankjackdaw]

I took them all out for a play in a glass bowl today (which seems to be a favourite activity of theirs!) and Maxwell had a game attempt at joining in, but he didn't seem to have the strength to climb the sides without the weight of his shell pulling him off. Also, when he tried to retract, he was very bubbly, which didn't look good.

[coyote]

Bubbling is not a good sign.

[frankjackdaw]

I didn't think so. Any idea what might cause that or if it could be treatable?

[coyote]

What causes bubbling? It's a defensive behavior done by the snail when it feels irritated or threatened. It's designed to make a predator spit the snail out of its mouth or just leave it alone by being too slimy and unpalatable. The snail will stop doing it when it no longer feels threatened or upset.

[frankjackdaw]

Oct 14, 2009 23:30:00 GMT coyote said:

What causes bubbling? It's a defensive behavior done by the snail when it feels irritated or threatened. It's designed to make a predator spit the snail out of its mouth or just leave it alone by being too slimy and unpalatable. The snail will stop doing it when it no longer feels threatened or upset.

I wonder if he's in discomfort, then? The others are fine with being picked up, but Maxwell bubbles when I want to look at him.

[coyote]

He may not be feeling well. If this bubbling is something he started doing recently when being handled, I'd say that's a sign he's probably in discomfort. If it's something he's always done when you've handled him, it may or may not be due to discomfort.

[frankjackdaw]

Yeah, it's only since he started being listless and crooked... the poor fellah isn't feeling good, I think. Not sure what I should do about it, I hate to think of him suffering.

[coyote]

That's a very difficult question to answer. None of us wants our snails to be suffering, but sometimes it's almost impossible to tell if that's the case.

If your snail is still eating, I'd take that as a sign to hold off on taking any other measures just yet.