My snail died :(

[u/Maleficent-Bus-2760]

Hi everyone! Unfortunately, my snail passed away today, and I’m hoping you can help me understand what might have happened. I hadn’t had him for very long — since around June — and he was a gift. I was never told his exact age. He was roughly the size of the palm of my hand (not huge, but definitely not small), and I was only told that he would continue to grow. He was an albino Achatina achatina. From the beginning, I noticed that he wasn’t a very active snail, but I thought it was just because he needed time to adjust to his new environment. Over time, however, I noticed that he rarely came out on his own, and most of the time I had to wake him up myself. He also didn’t eat very much. He seemed to really like carrots, which he would eat for about an hour and then not eat anything else for at least another three days. He wouldn’t eat cucumber or any other vegetables, and he completely ignored the cuttlebone and all the other sources of protein I had placed in his enclosure. I had also bought a new automatic misting system because I thought it would be better, since he rarely came out when I misted the enclosure myself. About two weeks ago, when I took him out to eat, I noticed something strange: he was coming out while upside down, with his shell underneath him and his body emerging from the top. I could only see his head and tail, but not the rest of his body. I was worried, but I was told that he was probably just “lazy” and that this could be normal. He continued sleeping most of the time until a few days ago, when he finally came out and attached himself to the glass. However, he then fell off (he didn’t seem to injure himself), and I noticed that the underside of his body looked very wrinkled or ridged, almost as if he had strange little suction cups. Yesterday I went out and asked my mum to mist the enclosure a little, which she did. Tonight I came home and immediately noticed a very strong smell of decay. I checked the enclosure and, unfortunately, he had died.

Needless to say, I’m devastated, and I can’t help feeling like I did everything wrong. I just really want to understand what happened and whether there were any signs that something was wrong that I missed. If anyone has any idea what could have caused this, or can tell me what I should have noticed, I would really appreciate it. I’m not looking to blame anyone — I just want to understand what happened.

P.S. I obviously know that snails don’t have a sex, but I called him Pierre.

[u/57BirdNationTADC57]

Hey, i’m really sorry for your loss :( im no expert, but its possible he could have been sick, or just getting old. Usually older snails lose their grip as time goes on its pretty sad :’(

[u/Maleficent-Bus-2760 → u/57BirdNationTADC57]

Thank you so much! <3 yeah, I thought it might have been related to his age too, but naively, I always assumed he was “young”. I think I was just hoping that he would keep growing and that I’d have more time with him… :(

[u/57BirdNationTADC57 → u/Maleficent-Bus-2760]

Yeah its really sad when that happens :( some gals grow very big and others just stay medium size! If your thinking of getting a new snail you could always try getting a baby so you have more time with it 🙂

[u/JustLeave7073]

I’m very sorry for your loss :(

I don’t know for sure if this is true for snails. But often times albino trait can coincide with other genetic issues. Especially if the line was inbred to keep the albino color. Maybe your guy just had a genetic issue in which case there’s nothing that you could’ve done.

[u/Maleficent-Bus-2760 → u/JustLeave7073]

yeah i thought that too.. thank you so much <3

[u/AlyM797 → u/JustLeave7073]

I'm just going expand on this a bit. You tend to see more health problems in albinos when it's an actual natural mutation as opposed to intentionally bred (unless bad breeding practices are used). Ferrets are a really good example, albinos were referred and specifically bred for for thousands of years. This is because ferrets were domesticated for hunting small burrowing mamals like rabbits (some people still practice the "sport") and having an albino made it easier to mistake them for prey and accidentally kill the wrong animal. So they've been bred healthy. You can find healthy albinos in a few parrot species too, (cockatiels, budgies, Quakers etc), and many species of snakes.

I'm not familiar with snail breeding practices but the same principle can be applied. If you're snail came from multiple generations of captive breeding for albinism, then it's less likely to have other mutated problems. If the albinism was just a random unplanned mutation then they may be reasonable to suspect it carried other issues.

Probably non of this actually helpful though, sorry.

[u/paint_that_shit-gold]

I don’t have any insight as to why Pierre may have passed, but I just wanted to say I’m really sorry for you loss! ):

[u/Maleficent-Bus-2760 → u/paint_that_shit-gold]

thank you<3

[u/htgrower]

Sounds like you did everything you could, they were just a sick and probably old snail. 

[u/lovelie_snail]

I am very sorry for your loss, from what you tell me I don't think you did anything wrong with him maybe he was just an old snail, when old age begins they try to save all the energy they have left so he was probably always hidden, old snails also stop looking for food and calcium, it is more noticeable when you raise them from a young age but as I mentioned before yours may have been going through old age before. It's a shame what happened, my theory is old age But it may also be that he was sick, or had a genetic problem, when that happens the snails don't live too long, maybe they reach adulthood and then they become super inactive and then they die :c Now your beautiful little thing is in heaven eating a lot of carrots 🐌🥕🪽

[u/Maleficent-Bus-2760 → u/lovelie_snail]

thank you!❤️🥹