Reluctance to eat

[muddydragon]

As some may know i got some more snails recently.
One of them had a tendancy to retract deeply into his shell but he would come out slime around now and again but not very often. I decided to isolate him though to see why he retracted so deeply (tried having him on sphagnum only incase it was the substrate). He only really comes out if i bathe him and then he does spend a fair time sliming about. but the worrying thing is he wont eat! ( i confess i didnt notice until i moved him on his own - glaedr eats enough for 5 snails! but non of the food is going and there is virtually no poo (over about 4 days i've seen 2 mainly slime with the tiniest hint of blackish stuff far far smaller than even the little babies produce)
Anyone got any suggestions?
I've tried fishflakes with crushed pumpkin seeds, sweet potato and some limestone flour in.
pumpkin seeds straight - there was the smallest bit of wear away on these
mushy dog biscuits
lettuce (various sorts)
tomato
plantain
bannana - he showed a little bit of interest in this - ie he seemed to lick it once
normal sweet potoato
nothing seems to tempt him,
I'm about to try a bit of cucumber - (i'd run out and have just got some more)
Im also going to try some ground up pumpkin seed mash stuff and
cooked ground up sweet potato mash. And since there was a slight interest in banana making it even more mushy and liquidy.

I'm not really sure what else i can do apart from bathing him regulary placing him on food and hoping. (he keeps getting thinner which is rather disturbing)
But other than this reluctance to eat and thinning there ar eno obvious problems.
any suggestions?

[Amber]

I found with a couple of my groups of snails that even though all are the same breed one or two here or there did exactly that and the only thing that seemed to bring them around, after much showering and tempting foody treats was changing the temp. All the other snailies they lived with were totally happy, but that one little lonesome one just semed to like it a little bit warmer.... all the rest seemed as happy with or without the extra warmth so they all live together with a heater at one end of the tank now.
I only mention this because its happened twice. Both situations the same. Large group of snails, all the same breed but one just seemed too cold while the rest were happy.
Anythings worth a try.
Heres a tester, walk around for a couple of hours with him on your hand and a bit of a standard snail loved food (Cuke etc) once he absorbs enough body heat from you it may reactivate him alittle enough to come out and eat. It can take a couple of hours though...... much patience.

[muddydragon]

he didnt seem to react much to extra heat , i've had him sitting on my laptop when im working to little avail (and it gets more hot than it should)
baths work the best to get him out, i have managed to get him eating very small amounts of cucumber and moist dog biscuits but he just doesnt eat anything else! atleast the dog buiscutis contain alot of what he needs i suppose, but he eats so little its worrying, he has come round abit rather than just retracting and lying on his side in the moss in a very dead looking way, he has taken to sticking to the lid to sleep however he only manages this for a while before falling off and landing on his back, and sleeping deeply retracted upside down... fortunatly to monitor his eating i isolated him and i've moved him to a more shallow tub now so he has less far to fall.
but fingers crossed!

[crossless]

I have heard that snails could get very tired if there is too hot for them those that don't need as much tempeature than other species. Leafy type of food is easiest I think snails to eat and chopped really fine or grated and baby food. Hope he gets well soon.

Some people boil vegetables soft to sick snails. They know it isn't the best food but it's important is to get snail eat again.

[AlienSnail]

If he does come out but doesn't eat, perhaps you could place him on top of some muched dog biscuit or mushed and soggy algae flakes? Snails can absorb some goodness through their skin. Perhaps that could give it a little bit of strength?

Good luck.

[muddydragon]

Thats pretty much what i've been doing, however he will at times nibble a bit,
however
i think theres been a rather worrying turn for the worse, when i got home from work (they let me go early since i had a million forms to sign and they were fed up of co signing them ), he was in the same place as when i left this morning, and last night. however since this morning huge fungal hyphae had sprung up and were covering most things, there were some tiny fruiting bodies aswell (like penicillium), the most worrying thing was some of the fruting bodies were coming out of/growing on his shell (the outside surface not the inside) hopefully it was just muck on his shell but still.
more worrying bathing hasnt got him to come out, he's not dead i've seen the pneutrostome open and close a few times however thats all he has done.
i really dont think this bodes well atall, i wont be surprised to find hes passed away tomorrow but i'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm at a dead end if i cant get him to come out i dont know what to do. i'lll try again later

[muddydragon]

Im pretty sure he's died
I've had him in a pot of warm water (body up so he can still breathe but his shell submurged) and placed it over the light to maintain warmth.
His body moved a little excrutiatingly slowly, so he was not so retracted, however i think this was a response to the warmth, muscles relaxing or the like, nothing else has happened and he seems quite dry, and unresponsive, he doesn't smell bad but there is a hint of something not so good.
so im pretty sure he's gone
I think i should bury him, but the question is where, the front garden here doesn't seem right, and im not sure how my various bosses would react if i tried to bury him in the gardens itself - fitting as it may be.
Maybe i will go to richmond park see if i can find somewhere there.
i wish i knew why this happened, and what i can do if it ever happens again

[AlienSnail]

Aw hun. Unfortunately it happens from time to time and many of us have experienced this type of thing. It's frustrating because when they just appear to give up and fade out we're so helpless to do anything about it.
Sometimes things do to help them back to health are successful, but often nothing works, and we generally haven't a clue why it happenes.

I'm sorry to hear about your snail. I should leave him til tomorrow, just to be certain he's gone, but hugs to you x

[Amber]

Bless, i'm very sorry for you. Its horrible to lose one especially when you dont know why.
Hope you find the perfect place for him.