Giant African tiger snail advice

RE: Giant African tiger snail advice

Marie Kubiak — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 14:53:30 GMT

As Bob said, don't be hard on yourself. If this snail died then there were bigger issues going on than a superficial foot infection so not getting treatment started immediately wouldn't have changed the outcome. Invertebrates can be frustrating as there is no real knowledge base to go from and medications are generally guesswork! Some we win, some we lose.

RE: Giant African tiger snail advice

onecarisma — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 20:08:24 GMT

I think i delayed a bit, and i would have wished to Know What antiseptic to use and not to use something toxic..His infection Got worse while i was searching some sort if informations. i think owner done good job as i asked all information about His environment and was corect. Thx for Nice words...

RE: Giant African tiger snail advice

Bob Russell — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 10:01:53 GMT

Or it died because its time had come. Or it died because its management had been unsuitable for years.

I very much doubt it died because you did not find a good approach to treatment!

RE: Giant African tiger snail advice

onecarisma — Sun, 23 Oct 2016 22:12:08 GMT

The snail has died , as I delayed finding a good aproach to treatment...

RE: Giant African tiger snail advice

onecarisma — Sun, 23 Oct 2016 22:11:29 GMT

The snail has died , as I delayed findung a good aproach to treatment...

RE: Giant African tiger snail advice

onecarisma — Sun, 16 Oct 2016 21:41:09 GMT

thanks so much Marie for your help, I really apreciated

gina

RE: Giant African tiger snail advice

Marie Kubiak — Thu, 13 Oct 2016 20:47:34 GMT

[quote user="onecarisma"]

So I think we keep iodine somewhere in the building , I might use that one. I tried to google information but nothing is showing about antibiotics or solutions used in snails. Do u have a bibliografic source which u can share ?thank you so much for your advice and time

[/quote]

Iodine may not be effective for some potential causes so it is better to do some simple cytology first and determine what likely cause is.

The only veterinary invert text is:

Lewbart, G. A. (2006). Invertebrate medicine. Blackwell Pub..

There are very limited studies on invert medicine unfortunately and no real information on dosing.

Marie

RE: Giant African tiger snail advice

onecarisma — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 21:28:03 GMT

RE: Giant African tiger snail advice

Marie Kubiak — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 16:05:01 GMT

It isn't ancient but is middle-aged. They can live to 10years but often rubbish conditions in captivity, or predation/human intervention in the wild, reduce mean age distorting the longevity data somewhat.

RE: Giant African tiger snail advice

Marie Kubiak — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 16:02:46 GMT

[quote user="onecarisma"]

Thx Marie. What topical would u use usually?will be used as for bathing

[/quote]

Depends on findings -if bacterial F10 is a good option applied topically with cotton bud for small area, spray bottle for larger area. Dilute iodine or antibiotic liquid/cream are also options. I try and avoid bathing as they don't exactly stay in a bath!

RE: Giant African tiger snail advice

Bob Russell — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 09:54:07 GMT

Worth remembering this is a fairly old snail and age may be a factor. It may just be running out of steam!

RE: Giant African tiger snail advice

onecarisma — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 08:01:39 GMT

Thx Marie. What topical would u use usually?will be used as for bathing

RE: Giant African tiger snail advice

Marie Kubiak — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 07:26:28 GMT

It may be bacterial, fungal, parasitic or protozoal so try to persuade her to bring the snail in for assessment and cytology.

If bacterial I'd still avoid baytril injections- the tissue damage caused by the alkalinity may be marked and in a tiny animal this can be catastrophic. Topical antiseptics/antibiotic preparations would be better if the lesions are superficial. If deeper then systemic antibiotics can be given on food or less irritant drugs (marbocyl/ceftazidime) injected but there is still potential for foot damage as this is the only accessible area to inject. No dose rates are established unfortunately so I tend to use reptile ones and no data is available on analgesic safety/efficacy.

Marie

RE: Giant African tiger snail advice

onecarisma — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 20:43:56 GMT

Hi, the owner discovered a small infection on the foot. I have not seen the snail, ow. called me to ask for help/advice. She used a fish antibiotic ( Malafit I think...) and the snail seemed a bit better but not healing so Ow. was interested to have an injection with Baytril... I have no clue about antibiotics-used in snails but I d like to help somehow...

RE: Giant African tiger snail advice

Marie Kubiak — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 19:09:24 GMT

Plain rads to look at shell, barium contrast for GI evaluation (there are published normals for comparison) and ultrasound to assess heart/soft tissues but I wouldn't be confident diagnosing anything other than blindingly obvious lesions on ultrasound as I'm not be familiar enough with normal appearance.

RE: Giant African tiger snail advice

Rob Davis — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 18:30:44 GMT

[quote user="Marie Kubiak"] there are limited diagnostics/interventions available to determine medical causes though imaging is possible.[/quote]

What imaging would you use? Just curious, thankfully I don't currently have any as patients!

RE: Giant African tiger snail advice

Marie Kubiak — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 18:27:10 GMT

Is it on its shell but with normal appearance to the foot? If so then dehydration or weakness may be affecting its ability to hold on to a vertical surface resulting in falls. Review husbandry (diet and humidity particularly) but there are limited diagnostics/interventions available to determine medical causes though imaging is possible.

If it is forming a membrane across the shell opening then it is going into aestivation because it is too hot/cold/dry and change of conditions will solve this.

Marie