We have suffered quite high mortality in the last few weeks. The literature suggests that we should expect a mortality of 25% and we must be getting close to that number now. I had assumed that this mortality would take place when they were very small but we lost very few then. The ones that seem to be dying are those which are small - about the size of a little fingernail. Perhaps this is just the time that they die if they are going to?
Up to now we have been cleaning the snails and their enclosure with water. We have a 5 litre hand spray that we use for the outdoor enclosure, and the small plastic box we just sponge down. I have now however taken delivery of a disinfectant to use on both enclosures. It is called Ark Klense and is designed for cleaning animal enclosures without harming the animals. Snails are regarded as pests by most people and many cleaning fluids will kill or injure them. Ark Klense is supposedly safe - although I will still use it sparingly. Snails do suffer from parasites, especially in farmed colonies so cleaning with disinfectant should help prevent this. The disinfectant itself was hard to get, I could only get it on line, and I bought it eventually from the RSPB website shop.
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