Giant African Land Snails - Urgent Advice Needed Please!

[Kate75]

Hi,

I really need some advice about my Giant African Land Snail please. I've had him for almost 7 years now and I know his behaviour and what happens when he hibernates (and how to revive him!).

However, 3 weeks ago he stoppped eating his cuttlebone and fresh food - although I continue to put it in his tank everyday. He hasn't gone into hibernation and sometimes is out of his shell but not doing anything at all. 3 days ago he seemed to revive himself and he crawled onto the top of his tank where he then fell off onto the soil at the bottom of the tank. He stayed on the back of his shell and didn't attempt to right himself so I picked him up and put him the right way up. I also put his fresh food around him but he ignored it all and went back to the corner of his tank where he has been ever since. His head is out of his shell but his eye stalks are not out. He isn't really moving but he's not dead yet.

He has a heat pad and is a darkish room. I also continue to lightly spray his tank once a day.

He has stopped responding to anything so I think he might be dying but it seems to be taking along time ... please does anyone know what might be wrong with him? If this is what happens when they die? How long does it take and how will I know he's dead?

Many thanks,
Kate

[Bas Pels]

Although I know one of the omembers on this forum has land snails himself, this topic is a bit of a surprise to me

Are you certain no forums better suited can be found?

[Kate75]

Thanks for your reply.

I found some information on snails on this forum earlier which is why I posted here.

I haven't used this site before so I wasn't sure of which forum to post on.

Do you know of one which might be more relevant?

Thanks
Kate

[Bijn]

I did breed these snails a couple of years ago but I didn't have an idea about their lifespan. Although google give's you the answer pretty fast. I think his/her time has come. If you have the snail for 7 years it's at least 7 years while the average lifespan is around 5 years, max around 10 years.

how will I know he's dead?

don't worry about that, you will surely smell it. No doubt about that.



I agree with Bas, this is a strange place for questions like this.
But I'm a nice person and try to answer all questions when i know the answer.



More relevant fora:
http://petsnails.proboards.com/index.cgi
http://www.bugnation.co.uk/index.php?si ... 9244ea8c4c

[MatsP]

I know of a few members have them for pets - Shane has them living wild in the garden as well, but I don't think that's by choice!

I do think that Bas is right - there are probably other forums that are better placed to answer your question.

Having said that, a quick search on google seems to indicate that they normally live for approximately 5-6 years, so if yours is 7 years old, it may simply be "old age". Many creatures, when they reach their lifespan limit will just stop feeding and perish as a consequence [I don't really know if this is a DIRECT or INDIRECT thing - direct would mean that it's part of the creatures lifecycle to stop eating when "old", and there is no other underlying cause, indirect would mean that the actual cause that they stop feeding is something else, such as an infection that they can't fight, or similar.]

Please don't take my word for this - I haven't experienced "old age" in this form of creature.

--
Mats

[Kate75]

Many thanks for your reply and for the links to other forums.

I will try those .. I realise this is a strange place for this post but as I said I have seen other Land Snail posts on here so out of desperation more than anything I posted!

Anyway, thanks again.

Kate

[Kate75]

Thank you Mats, the direct and indirect thing was really interesting and it certainly seems like that with my snail.

Thank you for your help.

Kate

[PeterUK]

Have you tried www.bugnation.co.uk ?

I know that they have an active section of snail keepers on there.

[sidguppy]

a while ago I wrote quite a large piece on the care of Achatina snails.

it's linkable I think; it's in here, but buried.
they don't grow very old. grow fast, breed like roaches and hence don't go in for ages.
7 years is a respectable age.

[Marc van Arc]

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... na#p170759

[andywoolloo]

i was thinking of that exact same article as i resd thru this thread, great you located it. I have always remembered it since i read it, cause I had neber known there were such huge snails.

[Kate75]

Thank you to everyone who has read and given me advice about my Land Snail.

As an update he is out of his shell but hasn't moved for 24 hours so sadly I think he has died.

Thanks again though for all the advice.

Kate