Large trapdoor has come to life again ...

[mermaidwannabe]

The one trapdoor snail which I have been concerned about because it remained closed up on the substrate for so long is now creeping up the glass. So I guess they come out when they feel like it or when they're hungry, and when they don't/aren't they just stay sealed off like little balls on the gravel and sleep.

Now I know what to expect, I'm not going to worry about them, anymore. Just check now and then to see that they aren't hanging out limp.

Thanks, folks, for all of your information to my earlier threads. This dormancy, lack of activity is apparently quite normal for these snails, and they operate on their own schedules.

-- mermaidwannabe

[Scrup]

Look around for a tiny snail or two, just in case. They will be about the size of a pea when they are born.

[mermaidwannabe]

I do have two very tiny ones, but they both came in on the floating plants I bought (the elodea which my LFS sold me as being hornwort!). I'll check for others. It would be neat to see newborns. I think snails are an essential part of a natural aquatic habitat, and I really have no problem with them being in my tank, so long as they don't overpopulate it.

When I transferred snails from my pond to the tank, I did transfer some tinier ones that had been born in the pond. They have since grown, and are now larger. Only three or four in all, plus the two really large ones and the two tiny plant hitchhikers. At one time, I had a total of nine pond snails in my tank, but three have mysteriously disappeared. I suspect the Dojo loaches might have eaten them, shells and all, as there is literally no sign of them.

I watch very carefully when I vacuum gravel, and if any snails are siphoned up, I put them back into the tank. So I know none of them went out with the dirty water.

-- mermaidwannabe