do they need to be held back?(snailquestion)

[onah]

first some pics like i promised these have to be some of the coolest animals ever!





now the question, i dont have a hood yet, do i need to cover the tank? will they get out? i have read some stories of people loseing snails to the fall from the aquarium so i fig i should be worried, but are these the same type? these guys are albino mystery snails, thanx (IA), and does any body know what the deal witht the burrowing is?

 

[WaterPond]

they can get out, but most likely wont. I don't think you should worry about it. My snails never burrows so i can't answer that for you. And by the way, your snails are beautiful!

 

[src]

I just lost a mystery snail that got out of the tank. The cutout around the filter was large enough for it to escape. I figure it had a 4+ ft drop to the floor, then the cats played with it for a while. Found it across the room in the corner. It was still alive, but didn't survive long after that (in a QT tank).

It was also very fond of burrowing in the gravel, uprooting all the plants just for fun. Actually, I think it was digging there because the root area of plants rarely gets cleaned very well during water changes, and food/etc. accumulates there.

 

[hc8719]

mine have never tried to escape, but some peoples do, depends on the snail

 

[Jchillin]

Indeed, snails are adventurous and will climb out of the tank to see what's out there. I've lost a couple in the same fashion as src, although when mine took the fall, they landed on their shell, which cracked and punctured their flesh.

Cover the tank. You'll be glad you did.

 

[src]

I guess the point is - until it crawls out of the tank, you don't know if it's going to crawl out of the tank. I had mine for several months before it took a walk. Better safe than sorry.

 

[plecoperson]

Yes, they definitely will come out of the tank. Sometimes the females especially will do it if there's nowhere to get out of the water (but still in the tank) to lay eggs. I keep the level down about 3 inches so they have enough room to haul completely out of the water.

Cover the tank--you will be glad you did!

 

[onah]

put in main for now (they found hiding!), and buying hood tomarrow, thanx again guys.....

 

[joannde]

My mystery snails are very fond of skydiving and since the floor is tile most did not survive. I've stuffed filter material into most of the cutouts but when a female is determined to lay her eggs she'll figure out how to get around that also. I've also placed a bucket behind the tank where she's most likely to land.
Glad to see you're getting a cover - watch out for the cutouts - you'll want to plug those up somehow.