Snail antennae

[Seven]

I guess that is what they are called. Anywho, I have a snail that I have had since it was young and small. It has since more than doubled in size and its antennae have grown as well, of course. However, just a minute ago I noticed they were short. Both of them are really short, and from what I can tell they are at even lengths. Do they shrink or fall off and grow back or something? I had a couple of larger snails previously and never observed anything like this. At first I thought maybe something in the tank had bitten them off, but since they are both short and at even lengths, I don't think that would be it. Any explanations?

 

[krap101]

i think its just still in the shell. you should wait like a couple mins without touching or moving or touching it and then it should come out.

 

[Christmasfish]

Maybe it opened up under the heater adn sizzled its stalks short...

Maybe someone snipped both at nearly once and they are just growing back evenly...
I wouldn't worry about it that much unless there are odd water oarameters or fish acting strange.

 

[snapcrackler]

They can stretch them out or scrunch them back up at will. That has been my experience with almost all types of snails I have come across.

 

[SteveM]

They can stretch them out or scrunch them back up at will. That has been my experience with almost all types of snails I have come across.

My Black Mystery Snails do this all the time - whenever there were fish around they made their antennae short - at first I thought they had been bitten off. Now that they have their own tank, they are stretching them way out.