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So, tell me if this is actually possible......

I have a tank and I have 5 apple (mystery) snails in there...

One went missing....

He was found today.....

I was talking to a friend who said this scenario is actually possible....sounds like lunacy to me....

For the snail to have gotten where he got and apparently ultimamtely died......he would have had to crawled out of the tank, which is a possibility as the roof is being worked on....he would have either then crawled down or fallen onto the table which is a distance of about 50 inches, from there, he would have either crawled another 30 inches (or fallen) onto the floor, he then would have crawled anywhere from 7 inches to several more (depending where he started from) and crawled up a wooden piece of furniture a distance of about a meter tall at some point turning a 90 degree angle (kinda like in that ESPN Viking final stage show) and crawled about another 6 inches where he then crawled onto a metal bowl, where he was found today.

This all kinda reminds me of the Seinfeld show, where Kramer and Newman are describing the way Keith Hernandez spit at them and the spit traveled left and right on its way down hitting them both....

In other of that moment, I would have to finish by saying, that is one Magic Snail.....

Could he have actually pulled this off? And in case there are people wondering, no, I dont live in a body of water, once outside the tank, the snail traveled all those distances udner completely dry circumstances.

Someone please enlighten me....

WOW, Do I have news..........

When the snail was found, around 3pm in the afternoon, shocked as I was, I decided to put him back in the tank to see if was still alive, u know give him a chance......He was completely stuck in his shell, I figured he must have done that to conserve whatever water he had to survive....

There was no movement from him for hours, now almost at 8pm after I posted here on FP, I looked at him thought Im gonna check on him real close and if hes dead take him out right away....I went to the back room, got my nets and was ready to move him a bit to see if htere was any signs of life....

Low and behold, he was beginning to get his head out of the shell and was moving his antennae or whatever they are called.....

HE IS ALIVE!!!!!!

Cool, ya I gusse it is possible, my friend works in a pet store and told me every morning he goes to work he finds the snails from a FW tank 50feet away in a SW tank.

10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys

Yep it happens. I'd place bets on it being a female looking for a place to lay eggs. I know someone had one crawl out of a tank about 4' high. Go up a dresser halfway across the room. Laid eggs and then made it back to the tank. The snails also have that door on their shell for a reason. They can seal off the water inside and survive out of water for in some cases weeks. If a snail doesn't smell bad toss it back in the tank for a day or 2 and check again. It may not be dead. I used to have over 50 applesnails of various ages in my 55g and was always finding some on the floor around the tank. Nearly all of them made a full recovery when placed back in water.

read about this in a book, I'm not sure it's accurate, but I think it is.
snails of most FW varieties can make a long trip out of water, as long as they do not dry out. the reason for this is that they all breathe air, not water. when your snail is at the top of the tank with his tube sticking up, it's because he's taking a breath. the reason that they all breath air is because they are descended from land snails, and have yet to re-evolve a gill instead of a lung. saltwater snails are a different story entirely, being considered by most experts to be the original snails, they have a gill instead of a lung.

even if this info doesn't apply to all FW snails, it is true of apple (mystery) snails.

proud father of a bunch of baby haps. http://picasaweb.google.com/Sktchy/BABIES

Wow, I am truly fascinated by all that has happened with the damn snail....Ive yet to ask several other people that might have picked him up from the floor and put him there (although not sure if whoever did it, if they did it, would fess up to it). However, I find this all very interesting, specially now that the snail is back in the water.....

I really felt bad about him/her being all dry sitting in the metal bowl but hey....he/shes in the tank now and seems happy (as happy as a snail can be) I guess

Actually applesnails have gills as well as lung and breathing siphon. They can take oxygen from the water or from the air. They do like to travel to the surface and take air straight in through their siphon but they don't have to. They can also survive underwater with no access to the surface.
http://applesnail.net/content/anatomy.htm

huh, guess the book was wrong...
oh well, thought it seemed a little far-fetched.

at any rate, they have a lung and therefore can process atmospheric oxygen, so they can live a good long time out of water.

proud father of a bunch of baby haps. http://picasaweb.google.com/Sktchy/BABIES

So, guess where my snail is this morning???


In the Whisper Filter that hangs off the side of the tank


Cool. /:'

you have a crazy snail!


proud father of a bunch of baby haps. http://picasaweb.google.com/Sktchy/BABIES

Considering the role a snail plays, I believe I can say I have a filter in my filter

I gotta admit I hate that, theres nothing like having a peaceful evening only to have it rudely interrupted by a loud BZZZZZZZZZTTTT noise when a snail gets caught in a filter impellor or one of the hydor ario aerators, generally bringing them to a grinding halt.

Its one of those things, you spend hundreds of pounds on the best german filter equipment money can buy, only to realise that they can be taken out completely by a 3 mm snail with no sense of direction.

This is why filters , rather unlike lightbulbs and lcd tv's are not made to break. There will always be snails willing to sacrifice themselves , just to prove that technology is no replacement for nature

longhaired, fortunately this one is an apple snail and its about the size of a big marble so he cant go in the propellor thingie btu has managed to lodge himself near the exit between the cloth thingie that holds the charcoal, whatever its called

He probably thinks he has found heaven on earth with all he can eat there... and the calm flow of water showering him 24/7...