# Giant african land snail cracked shell



## LauraB (Jul 6, 2009)

The other day I opened the tank to find a snail that had cracked the whole end of its shell off, i seriously didnt think it would survive so I put it in a seperate tank and covered the end with a deoderant can lid to give it some protection. It sounds stupid but we washed it and it was the only thing that we could find that would fit around the end of the shell without actually touching since the inside of the snail was exposed. This was on wednesday and he hasnt been eating or moving that much but today we had a look and here is what we found








Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting
Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting








We have covered it again with something a little more light weight so now he might move around a bit more but are looking for any advice anyone might have

Thank you.

Sorry I couldnt figure out how to get the images in the post


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## ginna (Jun 2, 2009)

where is the crack exactly?


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## LauraB (Jul 6, 2009)

if you look at the snail from above, only the first two rings are actually shell, the whole pointy end has broken off. I dont know if you can see the picture but if you can none of the light part is shell, only the dark part at the top is.


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## CreepyCrawler (Jul 11, 2010)

Make sure it has plenty of calcium, should be the best thing for helping repair itself. And keep the food within easy reach. Doesn't look like any of the flesh is exposed now from the crack so there shouldn't be any risk of infection and with time the growth of the shell will cover most of the damage up. Got any idea how it happened? It might be a good idea to remove any hard objects you have in its normal enclosure to prevent this happening again or to another of your snails.


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## MustLoveSnails (Aug 2, 2009)

I am having trouble loading the pics for some reason, my computer is new yet totally useless. 

Anyway, if there is part of the snails insides uncovered then if it is possible you need to repair it, damage on the "old" shell won't always repair itself so depending on the position of the crack it could be that it never heals. If it is on the newest growth it will grow back over time. From what you have said its the smallest whorls of the shell so it won't always repair, shell tip breaks usually stay broken. Provide as much calcium, food etc as you normally do, make sure the enclosure is kept humid and as said before remove all the hard objects from the tank. Its a good idea to provide a thick layer of substrate to help cushion any falls. Try mixing limestone flour into the substrate to allow extra calcium to be absorbed in through the foot. 

Has there started to be a thin white layer of new growth over the exposed areas?


This page explains well all about different types of shell damage and how to repair if needed: Broken/Chipped Shell / Snail Problems . The broken shell repair guide has served me well with a few rescues I have had over the years.


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## LauraB (Jul 6, 2009)

We will ensure to put calcium dust on his food but he isnt eating that much and I dont want it to put him off the food any more if it tastes bad if that makes sense, he also has cuttle fish in with him but they always do anyway.
I have no idea how it happened, he must have just fell awkwardly because there are no hard objects in the tank, the substrate is orchid bark and the layer wasnt exactly thin, maybe I should put thicker layers in. I think we are going to get a tank that isnt as high so that if they do fall it wont hurt them, the tank we have at the moment isnt really high but its obviously high enough to cause some damage.
Thats right its on the smallest whorls, a couple of my other snails have knocked the very tip off the shell before but that didnt seem to affect them but this is a lot more than just the tip its like half of the shell. We have been squirting more than usual so that he doesnt dehydrate incase he drys out since he doesnt have his normal protection.
I didnt know that they could absorb calcium through the foot so ill get onto that asap.
Yes there is a thin white layer, I wasnt sure whether this was it either drying out or getting a layer of protection so we just covered it over again to let the snail continue to do what its doing.
Thanks for the link, we did have a look on that before and it wasnt exactly what we needed but we still have it bookmarked just incase.
Thank you for your replies, the little man was actually on the side of the tank yesterday and was more active than he has been so hopefully he is repairing himself.


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## MustLoveSnails (Aug 2, 2009)

LauraB said:


> We will ensure to put calcium dust on his food but he isnt eating that much and I dont want it to put him off the food any more if it tastes bad if that makes sense, he also has cuttle fish in with him but they always do anyway.
> I have no idea how it happened, he must have just fell awkwardly because there are no hard objects in the tank, the substrate is orchid bark and the layer wasnt exactly thin, maybe I should put thicker layers in. I think we are going to get a tank that isnt as high so that if they do fall it wont hurt them, the tank we have at the moment isnt really high but its obviously high enough to cause some damage.
> Thats right its on the smallest whorls, a couple of my other snails have knocked the very tip off the shell before but that didnt seem to affect them but this is a lot more than just the tip its like half of the shell. We have been squirting more than usual so that he doesnt dehydrate incase he drys out since he doesnt have his normal protection.
> I didnt know that they could absorb calcium through the foot so ill get onto that asap.
> ...


 I wouldn't keep them on orchid bark, coir or organic topsoil woud be much better. Orchid barks not that great for keeping snails and usually a lot more expensive.

Don't worry about putting calidust on the food, if he wants calcium he will take it from the cuttle and it might be offputting. For now just keep the damage protected and hopefully the white is due to him/he repairing the damage. I wish I could help more, without seeing it actually in front of me its very difficult to determine the best course of action, I have my fingers crossed for you.


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## LauraB (Jul 6, 2009)

Oh I didnt know that, do you know where I could get coir or organic topsoil from? like is there an online shop to buy it from?

Thats what I am hoping bless him, is there a way that I can put the photos somewhere for you to see them?

Thank you.


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## selina20 (May 28, 2008)

LauraB said:


> Oh I didnt know that, do you know where I could get coir or organic topsoil from? like is there an online shop to buy it from?
> 
> Thats what I am hoping bless him, is there a way that I can put the photos somewhere for you to see them?
> 
> Thank you.


You can get coir from any reptile shop it is usually marketed as eco earth and sold in brick sized blocks that you soak in water.

Try scraping some of the cuttle fish onto the food thats what i do with mine when their shells get a bit tatty.


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## MustLoveSnails (Aug 2, 2009)

LauraB said:


> Oh I didnt know that, do you know where I could get coir or organic topsoil from? like is there an online shop to buy it from?
> 
> Thats what I am hoping bless him, is there a way that I can put the photos somewhere for you to see them?
> 
> Thank you.


 I get my coir from fertile fibre, they do huge bales of organic coir dirt cheap and waaay better value than the little bricks in reptile shops, and even their little bricks are better value so if you don't have a gazillion tanks to do regularly you can still end up with a bargain.

If you'd like to you could email them to me? [email protected]
Don't know whats up with this lump of metal, it loads some pictures some days and nothing ohers *headdesk*


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