how do you know if a snail is dead?

Question

idk if it is or not... its a snail that lives in the water aquarium

Answer 1

if the snail has a "trap door" that covers the entrance to his shell, then that will become loose and floppy.

the best way is to take it out and have a quick sniff, if it makes you want to vomit, it's dead! dead snails really pong!!

Answer 2

Snails will go dormant or float, It doesn't mean its dead. The ONLY way to tell if its dead is if you take it out and smell it. It will smell rancid, that means its dead.

If your snail is not active, do a partial water change by vacuuming the gravel with a siphon. Make sure you don't go past 50 percent and that the new water is dechlorinated and the same temp as the water thats in the tank. Snails are sensitive to high ammonia and high nitrates.

Answer 3

Watch it, and if it doesn't move for three days it is most likely dead. Is it sealed in it's shell? If so it might still be alive but I'd only give it a few days. if the snail is not holed up and is not moving mostly it's dead and you should remove it from the aquarium if the fish aren't eating it because it will produce ammonia when it dies... wish I had known that when mine died....

Answer 4

Pick it up and move it a place in the front of the tank. If it doesn't move in a day it's dead. If it's floating wait a day or 2. If it's still floating it's dead.

Answer 5

Take it out and smell it, if it smells dead its dead.

Answer 6

It may float, or sit sideways with its trap open, it won't have suction anymore.

Answer 7

If it's not move for a few days you can say it's dead.!

Answer 8

Choose a link on the left to explore more Ecology topics


St Anthony's Wilderness, State Game Lands 211
Ken Hotopp

Land snails are mollusks found on all continents and they occur virtually everywhere in Eastern North America, where there are more than 500 native species. They live primarily in the upper leaf litter of forests, old fields, and wetlands, but also in more disturbed habitats such as active gardens and fields, river banks, suburbs, and even cities. The term “land snails” includes snails and slugs, which have no obvious shell.

These terrestrial mollusks feed upon a wide variety of organic material, mainly green or dead herbaceous plants, rotting wood and fungi, bark and algae, but they also consume empty snail shells, sap, animal scats and carcasses, and even rasp limestone rock or cement. Carnivorous snail species attack nematodes and other snails.

Land snails in turn are eaten by a variety of invertebrate and vertebrate predators. Predators include invertebrates such as parasitic mites, nematodes and flies; beetle larvae, beetles and millipedes; and other snails. Cychrine beetles have specialized bodies for preying upon land snails. Fireflies are a well-known insect whose larvae consume snails. Vertebrate predators of snails and slugs include herptiles such as salamanders and turtles; shrews, mice and other small mammals; and birds, especially ground-foragers such as thrushes, grouse, and turkey.

With regard to ecosystem function, shelled land snails (as opposed to slugs) are important in calcium cycling. They glean calcium from their food, concentrate it in their shells that are made mainly from calcium carbonate, and pass it up the food chain as they are consumed by Predators. Both shelled snails and slugs can generally be categorized as decomposers, though they play only a small role compared to other decomposition organisms.

Land snails do not move far over their lifetime, so they can be excellent indicators of site history and site conditions. Because shelled land snails have a high calcium demand, they are sensitive to calcium availability due to soils and plants. Site moisture and past land clearing or fire also strongly influence snail populations. Land snails have been used extensively in European archaeology to interpret environments of the distant past. They can also be indicators of pollution, as they uptake environmental toxins such as cadmium.

Human use of land snails as food ranges from Native American consumption of Oreohelix species snails in the western states, to fine dining upon Helix species snails served as escargot in restaurants. Medical uses include the production of an anti-agglutinin from the albumin glands of Helix aspersa.

Land snails can also have negative interactions with other organisms. Snails are intermediate hosts to a variety of mammalian parasites. The cervid brainworm Parelaphostrongylus tenuis is carried by deer and can severely limit moose and caribou populations. But the most serious ecosystem and agricultural impacts due to land snails are often related to non-native pest populations. For example, the introduced European white garden snail Theba pisana that can damage ornamental and citrus plants has been the subject of eradication programs in California. And virtually every Pennsylvania gardener knows the problems that introduced arionid slugs can cause.

Further importation of non-native land snails as pets or as “biological control” agents has the potential to create major agricultural and ecosystem impacts. The Giant African Snail is one popular pet, which – although it is illegal to import to the United States – is being sold by poorly-regulated, ignorant, or unscrupulous dealers and then released into the wild by unknowing owners.

Ken Hotopp 10/22/05

Answer 9

it could be sleep but if you ask someone or go on the Internet I'm sure you could find out.

Answer 10

if they dont move in a few days and start to stink