Re: My ramshorn snail is homeless!

[A Man]

Ramshorn snails do not normally come out of their shell. They are physically
attached to the inside the shell via their mantle, I think. For some reason
the mantle became damaged and it came out of the shell. All in all, if
nothing eats the snail (he is now very vulnerable) he should be fine. I
believe ramshorns get their oxygen from the water via gills. They do not
breathe air like many mystery snails do.

Mystery snails use their shell to store air so they can be underwater for a
long time.

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[Logic316]

A Man wrote:
> Ramshorn snails do not normally come out of their shell. They are physically
> attached to the inside the shell via their mantle, I think. For some reason
> the mantle became damaged and it came out of the shell. All in all, if
> nothing eats the snail (he is now very vulnerable) he should be fine. I
> believe ramshorns get their oxygen from the water via gills. They do not
> breathe air like many mystery snails do.
>
> Mystery snails use their shell to store air so they can be underwater for a
> long time.


I guess that makes sense. The snail's pretty big, so I doubt the betta
can do him any damage. But will it ever grow back a new shell? I don't
know what could have damaged the snail's mantle, but could it have
weakened due to a lack of calcium or some other nutrient?

- Logic316



"No lower can a man descend than to interpret his dreams into gold and
silver"
-- Kahlil Gibran

[A Man]

On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 13:58:49 -0400 in article >,
spoke thusly...
> I guess that makes sense. The snail's pretty big, so I doubt the betta
> can do him any damage. But will it ever grow back a new shell? I don't
> know what could have damaged the snail's mantle, but could it have
> weakened due to a lack of calcium or some other nutrient?

A lack of a specific nutrient possibly weakened his connective tissue (to the
shell). I have no idea what that nutrient would be, but you can try to feed
your snail a variety of blanched vegetables. As far as it growing a new shell
back, I have never heard of a case like this, but I would guess no, because
the shell develops while the embryo is still inside the egg.

Yes, add calcium to the water in the form of a cuttlefish bone, found in the
petstore bird dept. See what happens. Perhaps the snail will munch on the
cuttlebone. At the very least, it will dissolve into the water slowly. Snails
need hard water to live in, so they will absorb calcium for their shells.



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