Miracle Mystery Snail

[Rue]

Roughly 2 weeks ago (very roughly) I noticed I had 4 snails instead of the 5 that are supposed to be in the tank. So I looked carefully around the tank area...on the floor, behind the desk, etcl, and couldn't find it so I figured it had crawled out of what I thought was a 'too small' opening by the filter and a cat had made off with it.

Two days ago I mentioned it to my daughter...she looked where I had looked...and there it was! I don't know how I overlooked it - it was very obvious.

I figured it HAD to be dead...at least 2 weeks out of water! So I said to toss it in the garbage before the cats really found it...instead she put it in a glass of water...

Three hours later...it was perfectly alive and crawling out of the glass...now it's back in the tank as if nothing had happened...

[troy]

That's one lucky snail.

[Dave-id]

Any chance it was hiding somewhere in your tank the first time you looked? Maybe inside the canopy or something?

[salman]

Maybe it had jumped out like 10 minutes before you looked again, 2 weeks it alot for a snail but maybe she doesnt need to be inside the water to breath?

[crackatinny]

My nephwe had a Mystery snail that he thought was dead, he got it out and sat it on top of his tank where it stayed for a week (dont ask me why LOL), well one day he said to his wife, what happened to that snail, she had no idea, then he noticed it had crawled back into the tank and was crawling around, maybe they have some sought of weird hibination period?.

[Zerileous]

I think they can pretty much sit in their shells and chill out for quite a while, regardless of whether they are in water or not. When myL LFS gets them in, they come in a large sealed bag with very little water in it. They are all fully retracted into their shells. Within a few hours of exposure to water they will poke their heads out into their new world.

[Rue]

I know they can survive out of water...but I didn't think they could go 2 weeks (or more!)...they are air breathers...they need to go to the top of the tank for gas exchange periodically (very cool! They pump in fresh air!).

But I suppose they can estivate to survive prolonged dry periods...