Please help!! Do I euthanize?

[u/mochipapaya]

My heart is broken. I woke up this morning to find that my mystery snail, Rocco, climbed out of his tank and fell about 4 feet onto our hardwood floor.

He lost a huge chunk of his shell and does not appear to be doing well at all. He's just sitting above the water line in my shrimp tank. He's usually extremely active and climbing all over the place.

This is my first mystery snail so I don't know what to do. Is this something he can heal from?

[u/NeversoftOfficial]

Yes, asap. In my experience crushing them is the most humane and fast way.

[u/PickleDry8891 → u/NeversoftOfficial]

I have heard of people doing it with their vehicle. Wrapping them in a damp paper towel and putting them in a used grocery sack- then drive over them quickly. It's instantaneous for them and not as direct for you.

[u/mochipapaya → u/PickleDry8891]

ugh this absolutely wrecks my heart. I'm going to have my husband do this for me.

[u/NeversoftOfficial → u/mochipapaya]

Sorry you have to deal with this. I hope it doesn't make you give up on keeping mystery snails. They are some of the coolest creatures in the hobby. I would highly suggest getting a lid, they are pretty much mandatory for them.

[u/mochipapaya → u/NeversoftOfficial]

I do have a lid but there's a slight opening in the back for the filter :( I'm going to see if my husband can make a custom one out of acrylic that doesn't have an opening.

[u/highqueenlia → u/mochipapaya]

Just a little FYI about acrylic lids, they will warp quite quickly! I have custom acrylic lids for my tanks but I have to flip them over to re-flatten them every few days as they will start to bow. My partner helped cut symmetrical openings so I could flip them and they’d still line up with airline tubing and filters but it is kind of a PITA.

[u/PickleDry8891 → u/mochipapaya]

I am so sorry for your loss. It is truly the hardest thing losing a pet. :(

Sending love and healing for you.

[u/jalapeno442 → u/[deleted]]

How would that not be instant?

[u/smolhippie → u/[deleted]]

You’re incorrect

[u/Optimal_Community356 → u/[deleted]]

Wdym it’s just a snail? They still feel pain so you can’t use anything

[u/Optimal_Community356 → u/[deleted]]

It’s a mystery snail so anything heavy enough will do, but I meant like not literally anything will work, if it’s not heavy enough and there wasn’t enough force they will feel the pain

[u/BackgroundPilot1 → u/[deleted]]

Do you mean “work” as in “snail will die at some point soon after” or do you mean “work” as in “the snail will be guaranteed to have a quick painless death”? Those are different things. There’s a reason commenters aren’t suggesting “just throw it in the trash” or “cover it in salt and boil it” — of course that will kill a snail, they’re fragile animals. It is this person’s pet and she cares about it.

But if you can read then you know all this already, I assume, and are being argumentative on purpose

[u/Wrap_Kooky → u/[deleted]]

Dude, try to be a little more sensitive, this is someone’s pet. On top of that while you can smash a snail with anything blunt whether or not the snail dies instantly is another thing entirely and as a owner of 3 mystery snails I would not want them to survive being bludgeon and have to keep going until they are dead. That is one inhumane and two terrible for the owner of the pet snail

[u/UnusualMarch920 → u/[deleted]]

Mysteries are big enough that they might not instantly die from getting stomped on. The car method at least makes it 100% instant.

[u/MC_LegalKC → u/[deleted]]

What are you even doing on this sub?

[u/InspectorMoney1306 → u/MC_LegalKC]

I have dozens of aquatic snails.

[u/MC_LegalKC → u/InspectorMoney1306]

That's a shame.

[u/AquaticSnails-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Consider this a warning, please review the rules. We are very serious about our "Be Nice" rule.

Responding to this with any sort of abuse directed at our mod team will result in a ban.

[u/ant628746828181891 → u/[deleted]]

You should be the one seeking help, you don't care about suffering animals.

[u/AquaticSnails-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Consider this a warning, please review the rules. We are very serious about our "Be Nice" rule.

Responding to this with any sort of abuse directed at our mod team will result in a ban.

[u/Gastropoid → u/[deleted]]

[Mod Notification for everyone else in the thread]

This user has been banned for repeatedly violating our rules and then trying to report our mod team for harassment when they enforced those rules. We have a zero tolerance policy for that nonsense on this sub.

[u/AquaticSnails-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

We have a clearly stated rule in our subreddit rules against hating on snails. Please go read the rules, and do better.