Snails outgrowing shells?

[Jarred Darque]

ok, I have an apple, had him for a few months. He used to fit inside his shell. While he is still ALWAYS adding to his shell, he can never fit into it anymore, he continues to outgrow it. I picked him up and he retracked as much as he could, and there was still a decent gab between his covering and the shell.

 

[OceanMaiden]

I think thats normal, all my apple snails are so fat they cant completely fit in their shells either LOL. Yeah they eat a lot of algea and shrimp pellets so they are nice and big. My largest one is bigger than a golfball and is a deep chocolate color. He cant fit in his shell hardly at all cuz hes soo fat!! So as long as your snail is getting plenty to eat and has enough calcium he should be allright...chubby n cute.

 

[WaterPond]

yeah, thats completely normal, mine is the same way. lol

 

[Tostada]

So ... does the shell ever catch up if you keep feeding them a lot?

 

[Jarred Darque]

hm if it is normal, I would think so, they seem to have a max size around the size of a baseball or even a softball. I guess aslong as I dont have any big snail eating fish though, it wont be a problem. The fish i have that do eat snails, like my angel and my pacu, dont mess with my apple, tehy only like ponds and MTSs

 

[joannde]

I'm not sure that a snail not "fitting" in its shell is normal. While its ok for them to leave their little heads poking out, not fitting when the "door" is tapped might indicate a problem. When you tap on the "door" does it close all the way ? If not I would suspect that the snail is swollen. Ammonia and Nitrite poisoning are common causes; high nitrates can also cause this, so check your parameters.
Sometimes the swelling can go down if you take the snail out and put him on a damp paper towel or in a shallow bowl with only a little water on the bottom. Leave him like that for 20 minutes. If that doesn't work try it for another 20 minutes with fresh water (don't forget to dechlor the water !).
the other thing you might want to look into is the new shell growth - is it normal ? does it seem thin ? (maybe its breaking ??). You can add a small piece of cuttlebone (sold in the bird section of the pet store) to give the snail enough calcium to grow his shell properly.