babies shell and behaviour..

[glittersniffer]

Baby my iredalei has a pretty hard time with her shell. Its rough to touch and often looks thin and fragile, a while back it just crumbled at the side.

I do like babies meek and kind of shy ways but i wonder if its only because shes never been well not not simply her personality.

Recently she stretches her neck out lots and moves more. A while back she was pretty inactive and took a while to respond. Just something about her seems like she's a weak snail.

She had a good appetite though and ate plenty of cuttlefish. I also have liquid calcium and herb and calcium block mix. Also within the past four months her shell has barely grown. Her body is thicker and longer and yes her shell is less transparent and longer. But not so much.

I know they need slightly different conditions but my albino retic and fulicia are having very fast growth spurts and their shells look perfect. Their appetite is brilliant now and they are forever curious.

Some pictures: The pictures tone it down a bit.

Thanks

[coyote]

If you have a hut feeling that something about her seems like she's a weak snail, I'd say trust your gut feeling. Keep an eye on her. The fact that her appetite seems good is a good sign.

[aerliss]

Could it be a vit D problem? There's pretty much an agreement (I think) on the idea that, like reptiles and amphibians (and mammals?), molluscs need vitamin D in order to properly utilise calcium. You can feed them cuttle till it comes out of their eye stalks, but if they don't have a supply of vit D they can't use it.

A daily dose of sunlight might help her shell growth. Failing that (British weather being what it is), you can get reptile calcium + vit D supplements in liquid form to add to the water bowl/spray bottle. I use a UVA+B light (helps the plants to grow too XD ) mounted behind some gauze to stop curious little bodies from sliming all over it (not that it gets any hotter than the heat mats they seem to like sitting on >_>