# How long do Nerite Snails survive out of the water?



## lsunick (Apr 13, 2015)

What is wrong with your nerites. LOL. I have seen several people mentioning nerites outside the tank. I have about 15 in my 44 gallon and have never had a single one "jump" out. If I have any jumpers, I will time them and try to break any records y'all might have. Just kidding. I did see an interesting youtube video that suggested putting petroleum jelly around the upper rim of the tank to keep snails in. Not sure how effective it really is or how it affects other aspects of the tank though. You might give it a try to keep your snail from escaping.


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## quiquik (Dec 13, 2013)

I have also seen a lady put the spiky part of sticky Velcro around the top of her tank,,, when her snail would attempt to escape the snail did not like the feel of the Velcro.


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## nayr (Jan 18, 2014)

They are tidal snails with lungs, this is why there so tolerant to fresh water. They can survive a long time high and dry.. dunk em back in your tank and test your parameters to make sure its not too acidic for its shell and your supplying adequate calcium

they can definitely survive days, and perhaps weeks depending on conditions before the tide returns.. one of the benefits of living in a mobile home.


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## sleepswithdafishez (May 23, 2013)

Well ,he's gone AWOL again this morning ,or he is hiding somewhere in the tank and I cannot see him.
Once they're out of the water ,do they venture far ,or do they just retreat in their shells and wait?


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## kep (Feb 3, 2015)

sleepswithdafishez said:


> Well ,he's gone AWOL again this morning ,or he is hiding somewhere in the tank and I cannot see him.
> Once they're out of the water ,do they venture far ,or do they just retreat in their shells and wait?



I imagine they suck up and wait so they don't dry out. That's what my mystery snail did when she bailed to lay eggs. We didn't notice until a day later and found her behind the tank all sucked up and waiting for rescue.


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## sleepswithdafishez (May 23, 2013)

I just found him on the floor in a corner.Must have missed him this morning.I dropped him back in the tank and he's moving.Tomorrow we start over.


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## Shreyawagle (Mar 5, 2019)

Hey this just happened today. So yesterday I got 2 nerite and I put one of them in my 25g community and other in my molly fry tub. The one in the tank seem to be coming out of the tank often but it has a lid on it so I wasn't worried. This other one though was always hiding so I did not worry or put any lid on the tub. So I woke up in the morning to find the nerite in the tub was missing. I guessed it got out of the tub so I searched everywhere and didn't find him. So when my dad came back home at 6pm I asked him if he found a stone like thing on the floor. He had found him and he kept in on a table where there was no moisture. He didn't seem alive but since my dad insisted, I put him in water again. After 10 mins I saw him move. He is alive! So in short he got out sometime at night, my dad found him on the floor at 8am and I found him and put him back in water at 6pm. So most probably he was out of the water and still managed to survive for more than 10 hours. My guess, more than 12 hours!


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## ohaple (Nov 30, 2018)

Ive had one dry for almost 24 hours. I once overheard a LFS employee telling a customer that they are able to seal themselves up and last for weeks, and that you will know easily if they are dead by the smell. I take that sort of advice with a grain of salt, but it is interesting at least as a data point. Now I will always put a nerite I am unsure about in a cup of tank water for a couple of weeks if they are non-responsive to see if they are still alive. I have been surprised twice that snails that look dead in the tank start moving again if left long enough. So step one is to keep them in the tank, and step two is not to be too hasty to dispose of them.


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