Fulica shell opening covered in film

[sunshinesj]

Hi everyone

I'm very new to keeping GALS, my three babies are approx 2/3 months old. I keep them in a plastic tank, compost on the bottom, a bit of sphagnum moss, feed them cucumber and tomato, spray them twice a day, awaiting heat mat coming through post....

My problem is this.....

I discovered tonight that all three of my GALS had a thin film covering the opening of their shell, they were coaxed out of it by having a lukewarm bath. Why are they doing this?! Any help welcome....

[Dusk]

Don't worry - this is normal If conditions aren't quite to their liking, they often decide to sleep through it until things pick up, by sealing themselves in their shells. It usually means things are too dry, but it can also be because they're a bit chilly. If you've got a heat mat coming, that might well solve the problem; if not, you might have to keep them a little damper. This is often because there's too much ventilation in their tank and the moisture is escaping - you could try covering up some of the ventilation holes in their tank and just leave a few open for air flow.

[sunshinesj]

fantastic, thank you for your help! They became less active when i put the compost in their tank (i was originally using just sphagnum moss but found it dried out too quickly) - now i'm back to using just the moss and they're really active tonight, one having a bath in his dish as i type, lol. Will keep them a bit damper from now on and just use moss, seems to suit them just fine