Baby Snails Crawling Inside Larger Snail! Bad?

[dolf]

I have a couple adult grove snails who have some babies/juveniles. Yesterday, I noticed some of the little snails crawling inside one of the larger.

What is going on? Should I be concerned or is this normal behavior? They keep trying to get inside the same adult.

Should I consider releasing the smaller snails into the wild??? They are native to the area in which I live.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Deleted]

inside what part of the snail?

[dolf]

the front part. the main hole where you would retract into.

Yesterday evening, the adult snail was moving around and a little snail was in the front part of the shell. the adult snail appeared agitated. I used a pen to pry the little snail out and off.

this morning the adult snail was upside down (I know, not good) and there were three babies that had crawled into the front of the shell. The adult had retracted into the shell.

I got the little snails out of the shell and set him back down on a piece of lettuce and had to get to a meeting. And I swear as if it didn't look like one of the little ones was trying to get in there again.

That's where we stand right now.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[dolf]

BTW... My adults look exactly like the snail in your profile picture.

I am a snail neophyte. My 4 year old son captured a couple snails and I started taking care of them. At first a bit of a hassle, but now I find myself quite fond of them.

[coyote]

I've never heard of this phenomenon. I hope the adult will be all right. Let us know how it is doing.

[dolf]

Things do not appear to be good.

The adult snail remained retracted in his shell and was once again surrounded by the baby snails. Some up inside the shell. I gently removed the babies and put down new food. I put the adult down on top of a lettuce leaf. [That was last night] When I looked at him this morning (Tuesday) he had not moved and was once again surrounded by the babies.

The other adult snail came out and ate last night and appeared to be left alone by the little ones. This morning he was in his usual spot hanging at the top corner of the tank.

Not sure what to think or do...

[ravenqueen]

Why don't you put the snail that is being harrassed into a temporary enclosure? I never leave animals that are picking on each other together. No offense, but that seems like the most obvious solution to me.

[dolf]

No offense taken... As I said I am a snail newbie... I will separate them and see what happens. I was just hoping that this was "normal" behavior and that I had nothing to worry about.

[coyote]

Does the retracted snail have any odor? If it smells bad, it's more than likely dead.

Would juvenile grove snails feed on carrion? If so, and if the adult is dead, that might explain why the juveniles are trying to crawl inside its shell.

[dolf]

There is no odor.

And as I mentioned, I initially noticed a baby inside the adult snail when it was fully out of his shell and moving around.

I think I need to release the babies/juveniles soon or else my favorite adult "Gary" could be next. At this point they seem to be leaving him alone.

There is plenty of food in there - lettuce, carrots, and cuttle bone. I don't see any reasons for the little ones to go cannibal... I hope that's not what happened...

[Deleted]

It's probably best not to have snails that are very different in size in the same tank together. I think you should move the babies to a different tank or release them.

[Ryan]

Yeah I`d second that. I keep a lot of snakes aswell as snails and I wouldn`t be able to relax if I thought I couldn`t just seperate one of them at the drop of a hat because things happen,problems occur. Good luck with that though ! snails are great aren`t they? I find myself watching them snail about they`re tank quite a lot ! lol

[Katie]

yep id say either seperate the babies from the adults or set the babies free

[dolf]

Guys, thanks for all of the help... I separated the adult but unfortunately I think he has passed. Their is a distinct odor coming from him and he has not moved. ;(

I released the babies and juveniles last night. I put them at the edge of a tree line (they are grove snails), included the substrate from their tank and a little extra, i bought a cinder block as a base for their shelter, and of course left them with some lettuce, carrots, and cuttle bones.

I guess the question is: Was the adult snail sick to begin with and the little ones came to aid or comfort? (Quite touching...)

Or did the little ones cause the death? (Quite scary...) I never saw the little ones trying to eat the adult. They just congregated and crawled inside him???

My son's original snail "Gary" (the other adult) is once again all by himself but apparently healthy and doing well. We will have had him for one year in October.

[Deleted]

That seems very strange. I don't know how the babies could've killed him...unless he was 'traumatized' to death by the babies crawling on him...but I've never heard of that happening before. Snails probably get things crawling on them in the wild.

Maybe a baby crawled into the pneumostome and he suffocated?

Aug 27, 2008 14:50:31 GMT dolf said:

Was the adult snail sick to begin with and the little ones came to aid or comfort? (Quite touching...)

no that wouldn't have been it.

[dolf]

Aug 27, 2008 17:59:02 GMT @lotsofsnails said:

Maybe a baby crawled into the pneumostome and he suffocated?

That's a very good theory. Once the snail died, would that have attracted the babies into the shell? I am assuming that's normal.

I don't think he was traumatized. They all got along for many weeks with no problem. The little ones occasionally stuck themselves to the adults but it never seemed problematic.

Thanks for the response.

[coyote]

I can't imagine why a baby snail would go inside an adult's shell. Once they hatch, they are independent and go off on their own to fend for themselves.

The only thing I can think of is if they would try to scavenge off carrion, and were taking advantage of the dead snail nearby.

I'm sorry for your loss.

[dolf]

A weekend trip to Nashville and I come back with a new tank mate for Gary. A juvenile garden snail dubbed "Nash". Now he's not alone any longer. (I didn't leave one of the prior baby/juveniles for Gary because I didn't know which ones might "attack" him as they did with Morris.)

[speccyblue]

How sad. I am glad to see Gary has a new friend

[dolf]

Thanks! Nash is still going strong one week later. His shell is a little clear. However, he has been eating the cuttlebone regularly so hopefully that will start helping him.

It was funny... Nash usually stays in a tiny plastic overturned bowl within the tank. The other day I noticed that he had climbed all the way to the top corner of the tank. Gary (the adult and about 10 times bigger) stayed a couple inches below him. I was glad Gary didn't steamroll on top of him (possibly smothering or crushing him) to take his traditional top of the tank corner spot!

[whodoesntlovesnails]

i just read these posts for the first time, and i would have to say that the baby snails could have caused the death, but i am completely not sure, it is a mind scratcher for me

[dolf]

whodoesn't , i am still curious as to what happened... no one has heard of something like this happening before...

[pinkunicorn]

I recall a situation like this happening with my old fulicas. A very old snail was apparently in the process of dying and was attracting little ones, as well as adult ones, to it. I suspected that some cannibalism in the form of carrion eating happened, because when I eventually removed the dead snail it was kind of lighter than I had expected it to be. But it would depend on the species I think, whether they are omnivores or not.

Edit: Ugh, 2008... I totally read 2011 and thought I'm not necromancing too much. Sorry...

[coyote]

No worries, pinkunicorn.

[kikiandhersnails]

I have not heard of this before, but outside in the woods around my house, I have found old snail shells from snails that have passed on, and quite a few times when looking inside found several small babies inside crawling around. And there is nothing left of the bigger snail. Even once I found a snail shell that had been mutilated by a bird, and there where at least five babies inside. I don't get it