Snail tried to dismember my frog

[Jenste]

I came home from work, and as usual I walked into my bedroom to look at my ACF tank.

I notice my young albino male on his back...he then jerks and flails around....His front arm is stuck inside an apple snail!! He must have swam by and scared it, and while it was shutting it's trap door his arm got stuck!

My tank is 20" of water... I started panicking that my frog was going to drown.

I grabbed my net and scooped them out into a kritter keeper I keep next to the tank "just in case". ran them to the kitchen, put half an inch of water in to keep him wet...and froze. how the h@ll was I supposed to get his arm out? he kept flopping around twisting his arm as he dragged the snail.

I called my fiance, he was 45 minutes away on his commute home.
I called my mother and she was over with in 10 minutes after hearing my panic.

we tried to "crowbar" the trap door open with a fork but it was way to big....desperate we grabbed pliers and kept yanking off shell pieces until we could untwist the frogs arm and pull it free.
I held the frog in moist paper towel during the process and now he is sitting in the critter keeper in an inch of water.

his arm is awful red and purple and pinched in half in the middle.

What do I do? I have no idea how long he was trapped...is he going to lose his arm? is he at risk of it rotting off his body from being clamped?


in the snail's evil clutches: (picture taken in case we couldnt free his arm and needed to come on to the forums.)




after. can't get a descent picture of the exact coloring. it's the frog's left forearm