Why would my snail turn sideways?

[etana]

My Tiger snail Ewert, the one who had a bad start to life, is acting weird lately. I find him turned sideways in his shell, so that his entire foot has turned,  and his face is inside the shell, in the direction of his breathing hole.

I've even found him upside down in the tank and he is not big on climbing, so I think he's squirmed himself that way rather than had a bad fall. It's also seemed it takes effort for him to carry his shell right. 

He also takes forever to wake up, and he's always been a big sleeper but I think he's not been exactly this way before.

Any ideas?

[poppy]

I'm sorry to hear about Ewert. My old snail Clover had this, she eventually stopped eating completely and kept retracting until she died. I'm sure you will be able to save
Ewert.

Hope Ewert gets better x

[etana]

Oh no! I really hope I can help him. I thought it was a positive thing he'd started sleeping above the soil, but he may be too weak to dig.

Not long ago he was so happily bathing and eating, I wonder what's changed.

[etana]

I think I'll try extra warm bathing for him, he's been constipated before and treated himself that way in the bath against a heatmat. I'm at a doctor waiting room myself now... we can be pain buddies :/

[etana]

Coming home from the doc I found him in deep retraction. I don't know how long I spent with him but he eventually came out. I sat him on a plate with warm water, spirulina, mashed banana, tomato insides, tiny sweet potato slices and a bit of cucumber, and I think he's swallowed a couple times, I saw it move through his head. I think he'll be sitting there quite a while longer.

[poppy]

I'm sorry to hear that Ewert isn't improving much. I am struggling to think of advice because when some of my snails had Deep Retraction, I removed him/her from the tank and sprayed her every few hours and kept a good eye on him/her. Sadly my snails never came out again and passed away. Maybe regular green tea baths could help. Ewert could be just going through a phase... You never know.

[etana]

He looks tiny now, like a half of what his size should be, and he almost can't move his shell. I added some stuff to the food I prepared earlier, and then took Gaius my younger, very lively Tiger on the plate too just in case being alone bothered Ewert. Weird thing is, lots of patting and actual very slow kissing on the mouth ensued between the two. I hope Ewert wasn't saying goodbye to Gaius.

[etana]

Poor little guy... I think he's going to go. I will try to get him to eat as long as possible but this doesn't look good at all.

[poppy]

I'm really sorry but I think Ewert is showing just about all of the signs for deep Retraction, which is 100% fatal... www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/retracted.html#start
I really do hope Ewert won't leave you.

[etana]

Since that webpage was written there have been anecdotal cases who have come back from the edge... but I don't think Ewert is going to be one of them

I had him on my palm, kept him damp, and tried to put soaked spirulina into his mouth with a toothpick (I don't have syringes). I don't know if it helped. He was such a sorry sight, he couldn't even push his eyes out. I put him back in the tank, into his beloved bath tub carefully so that his breathing hole won't get wet, and put the heatmat into Always On mode (it's almost always on by default, I did this just to make sure his bathwater doesn't get cold). He's squirming slowly and breathing with a lot of effort. I'll be adding the spirulina over his face as long as he looks like he's still with me, but I don't think it'll be long.

[Zorst]

Etana I'm really sorry to hear about Ewert. As I said before my big Tiger snail Seilide who died earlier in the year had similar symptoms but he got better from it. Then several months later he began loosing weight and refusing to eat. He ended up looking tiny in his shell. Your doing all the right things and Ewert may well still come around but I've a hunch from what your saying your most likely right. Just keep doing your best for him. Sorry I can't be of more help all I can do is give you a virtual hug . please let us know what happens.

Zorst

[etana]

Thanks Zorst...
He still seems conscious so I rubbed very watery spirulina, and also just water, in his face with him shell down in my hand so that gravity could also help. He seemed to push against my finger with his mouth, and reach out with his mouth area when I wasn't touching him, but there were no radula movements and I honestly don't know if any went in. I did it for a good while anyway, just in case.

His head would balloon and go flat in the rhythm of his worked up breathing, which looked weird.

I also massaged him all over with a wet finger, and now I've put him back in the bath tub to rest. In a few hours I will see if he's still with me, and repeat the procedure if he is, I guess.

[snailcrazy]

Oh no, I really hope your lovely tiger gets better, it's really worrying when they retract so far into their shell. Fingers crossed. X

[etana]

He passed away, peacefully I hope, in a warm bath tub.

Yesterday when I went to see if he'd be up for more attempts to get food and water into his mouth, I saw he'd retracted back into his shell, and thought I'd just let him rest. Today I see his heart has stopped, and he smells a little.

I'm trying to decide whether to bury him with his shell or try to get his body out and bury just that... this is horrible, he's not decayed enough to come out easily, and I really can't bring myself to using tools. One option is to find an ant nest and hope for them to clean his shell up. I'd rather keep it just to have proof of what bad conditions do to a snail even if he's helped afterwards.

My poor little Ewert...

[poppy]

This brought me to tears , rest in peace Ewert. X