snail's skin is coming off, HELP

[ayupan]

Hi I'm new here and this is my first snail so I need help. Mr Snail (my giant african land snail) isn't even grown up yet and he is already ill

I went on holiday for three weeks and left him with my mother. When I got back he was badly infested with mites. I kept washing him and cleaned out his tank, now they are gone. But he started hiding in his shell and stopped coming out to eat. He wouldn't even come out when I put him under the tap (which he usually likes). He was really far up into his shell.

So today I took him out the tank for a check and put him under the tap to wash off his faeces (he still occasionally does his business even though he doesnt eat) and he finally popped his head out! But I soon realised that a patch of skin from the botton ofhis eye bits (dunno what that's called) to about halfway down his body is missing. It's just a white patch. I found some of the skin stuck in his goo. I washed him again and put him in a little box with some food (which he hasn't eaten. As soon as I put him down he just went back into his shell but he is actually stuck to the floor rather than hidden.

Pleeeeease someone help me, I really don't want my baby to die

Sorry for the looong message but I thought I'd give the background lol oh and sorry for the lack of technical terms.

[ayupan]

oh and the end of his shell has gone a sort of chalky white

[coyote]

I'm so sorry your snail is having this problem, ayupan. I've never heard of anything like what you described, so I'm at a loss as to what to advise. I think you're doing the right things so far, I can't think of what else to recommend. Is it possible to get a pic of him? That might help us figure it out.

I hope he gets better soon. Let us know how he's doing!

[ayupan]

this is the best photo i could take, hope that helps. the white bit is where the skin has come off.

he's on my hand atm

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[ayupan]

oh I've just noticed that his shell is still growing

[muddydragon]

hmmmm, i dont know what to recommend, maybe it was some sort of allergic reaction to severe mite infestation? someone had a problem with skin coming off when the snail had worms but they were in blisters (are there any obvious blisters?) that white patch looks like scar tissue - dont wory about it, but i wouldnt touch it until you are sure its fully scarred over (it will stay white im afraid)
I think what you have been doing is best, bath him to wake him up around the time he would normally eat and pop him straight down on some nice fresh moist food (if you use limestone flour on your food, i might adivse not popping it on until hes eating properly again), but dont stress him by constantly waking him up when he would not be awake when well.
It's interesting he's producing faeces, when one of mine stopped eating faeces production stopped too (could he be eating when you are not observing?)
sorry that wasnt a great deal of help
best of luck with him!

[Dusk]

Firstly, the tip of the shell losing colour is perfectly normal; the outer layer starts to wear off after a while but it doesn't affect the snail in any way.

I've never had the exact same thing but I have had a couple of snails arrive with similar patches of missing skin, I assume through misadventure of some sort. They've healed without much action on my part, though I've sometimes found that raising the heat a degree or two and making it slightly damper can help, as well as making sure they have their favourite food and calcium right in front of them so they don't have to move far if they don't want to. Aside from that, as has already been said, don't stress him too much - just let him rest and heal.

The only other point I'd query is that the mites may not be completely gone - they hide up inside the shell and bathing and cleaning usually aren't enough to clear them entirely. If there are any left, they could well be irritating him futher and aggravating his bad health. Potentially, if they're really bothering him, he could even be rubbing off the patch of skin where the mites are hurting him, like scratching a mosquito bite and making it even worse.

[ayupan]

thanks everyone

if he does still have mites, what should I do?

[Bumblebee]

There are predatory mites, hypoaspis, that you can put in the tank, those mites will kill the mites your snail is infested with, then the hypoaspis ones will sooner or later die off, and not be to any trouble to your snail at all. Downside with these mites is that they are rather expensive as I have heard =/

[ayupan]

hmm I don't like the idea of purposely infesting my tank with something else :s will they definitely die off eventually?

thanks for the help

[Bumblebee]

Ive never used hypoaspis mites myself, but what I have read on this forum is that these mites will eventually die off, since they feed on other mites only. Apparently these mites are also good for all kinds of terrarium living animals that got mite infestation, and not only snails

[Rachel]

hypoasis miles remove any mites, small flies etc from the tank, then die. They cause no harm to the snails, and are perfectly safe. they cost about 12.99 for a large pot from defenders

[ayupan]

a little update: I woke him up about 10mins ago to try to see if he will eat. He keeps sucking in his mouth and it looks very open. From what I've looked at about gut extrusion I think it might be that. maybe. But I don't see how that would make his skin come off. Unless the mites caused both.

I'm getting really scared. Do you guys think he is in pain?

[ayupan]

ok so he seemed to be getting better, he actually ate something! but now is mouth is extremely weird. It's really long and looks kinda like a beak :/

[Bumblebee]

oh thats not good as far as I know it sounds like swollen mouth, witch is a bad bad thing

www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/swollen_mouth.html

[coyote]

I lost a snail to swollen mouth. I don't know of any treatment for it. The snail cannot eat and will get weaker and weaker. I had to euthanize mine. I'm so very sorry if this is the case for your snail.

[ayupan]

Mr Snail is completely FINE he's eating LOADS and is growing really fast! the missing skin is even healing over! the pattern on his skin is returning I'M SO HAPPY! thank you all

[aerliss]

Oh that's brilliant news!

What have you been doing to help with his mouth? Any info may help us combat similar problems in the future.

[ayupan]

I gave him some water which he drank. Then I made sure he was on his food everyday. I think he may have forgotten to eat lol so they may need reminding. His mouth is now back in... his mouth lol

[coyote]

Wow, that is fabulous news! I'm so glad Mr Snail is better! ;D Thanks for letting us know.