Do Mystery Snails Hibernate? The Nitty-Gritty Details Of Mystery Snails

Keeping mystery snails as pets will have you solving the trickiest challenges and may even have you facing the worst-case scenarios. As simple as these mollusks seem, they’re quite complex and unique in their own way. While watching your snail rest may be interesting at first, it can become alarming when you realize that your mystery snail is sleeping more than usual. It’s no surprise if you wonder whether they can hibernate or not, and if they do, how often and why? Well, I’ve got you covered on this one.

Mystery snails do enter states similar to hibernation but the term is called aestivation; a state where they influence reduced metabolism and inactivity to survive uncomfortable conditions. These unfavorable situations could be anything ranging from a drop in humidity, lack of resources, or stress, but are usually triggered by an unfavorable rise in temperature.

Why Do Mystery Snails Aestivate? 6 Reasons Why Your Snail Is Aestivating

Mystery snails aestivate when they feel uncomfortable. Think of it like having an underground bunker you can run to when there’s a destructive environmental hazard. Aestivating helps your snails minimize their interaction with their hard-luck environment, thereby keeping them safe through the turmoil.

Here are the reasons in detail why mystery snails aestivate:

1. High Temperature

Mystery snails prefer cool temperatures to warm ones and will prefer to sleep the hot climate away than live through the discomfort. If your tank is above 83°F, you may notice your mystery snail sleeping more than usual. Sooner or later, under the same circumstances, it will enter aestivation until the temperature is more suitable to live in.

It goes against your mystery snail’s nature and biological build to live in climates that are too hot for comfort. If this state is prolonged, your snail will become weaker and sadly pass away.

2. Little To No Suitable Food

In addition to the surge in temperature, your mystery snail may begin aestivation when it’s not fed properly. Lack of good nutrition (e.g., relying solely on tank-grown algae) leads to several health problems like shell collapse, shell fragility, reduced immunity, and overall stunted growth, which all lead to their demise. Mystery snails are omnivorous species, requiring a balanced diet of plant-based and animal-based foods to survive and grow healthily.

There’s a plethora of options you can feed your pet snail, ranging from shrimp, raw fish (e.g., tuna or sardines), and blanched vegetables like kale, spinach, lettuce, and carrots. Alternatively, you can feed them ready-made foods like home-cooked snello, algae wafers, and sinking fish pellets, which are all delicious and beneficial for their health.

3. Polluted Water Condition

Mystery snails are massive eaters and equivalent poopers! They will poop for half of the day and get the water murky in a blink, depending on how populated the tank is. The dirty water is highly unsafe for mystery snails to live in as it encourages ammonia and nitrate buildups, which are deadly.

It is difficult for the snails to breathe or eat in such conditions, and where there is no escape, they will simply go into aestivation. It’s important to ensure that the tank is constantly clean and clear to prevent your pets from falling ill or entering aestivation under such circumstances. By performing 20% water cycling bi-weekly, you can maintain a clean and healthy environment for your snails to dwell in.

4. Stressful Territories

If your mystery snail cohabitates with aggressive tank mates that may bite at it or try to gobble it up, it could be threatening enough to enter aestivation. Mystery snails protect themselves by hiding in their shells and sealing the trapdoor until the threat has gone.

If, however, they find themselves living with the threat day in and out, it could trigger a need for dormancy until they feel safe enough. Aquatic animals like assassin snails, betta fish, and turtles are not safe to share the same tank as mystery snails since their primary instinct is to hunt prey; they will attack the mystery snail and will eat it if they please.

5. Toxic Water Living Conditions

While stress can be caused by predatory tank mates, improper water parameters are just as stressful to your mystery snail. Ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, salinity, pH, and water hardness are all important values to consider for your snail to survive. If the water is unsuitable for living, your snails may prefer to sleep through the ordeal by entering aestivation.

The problem with aestivating in unsafe water conditions is that the mystery snail may not make it out alive. It’s necessary to ensure that the water is always livable by performing the correct analysis using water API kits and performing regular cycling to maintain stable parameters.

6. The Environment Is Rather Dry

Although water cannot technically become ‘dry’, mystery snails are notorious for crawling out of their tanks and falling onto dry land in search of greener pastures or to satisfy their curiosity. In some unfortunate cases where the missing snail is not found on time, they can enter aestivation to keep themselves alive for as long as possible as they’re on dry land.

When Do Mystery Snails Aestivate?

Mystery snails aestivate when they sense a lack of resources or constant discomfort in their surroundings. This discomfort could be due to a difference in temperature or rising ammonia levels. Nevertheless, in the wild, they enter the state of aestivation during summer when the environment grows warmer than usual or during winter when it’s too cold. In captivity, aestivation can be due to an equivalent change in temperature, humidity, and a lack of resources.

How To Care For Your Mystery Snail During Aestivation

If you find your snail aestivating, don’t panic. First, you should perform the sniff test to ensure the coast is clear. If you discover a funky smell coming from it, it means your snail has sadly passed away and you should remove it from the tank immediately.

If thankfully, there’s no smell, it reassures you that your pet is aestivating and so, you should follow up with these steps to carry it through the journey safely:

Don’t Bother Your Mystery Snail

Poking and pinching the trapdoor is only doing your snail more harm than good by causing it injuries and discomfort. You’re only tearing the epiphragm which is a strong membrane that covers the trap door protecting it from bacteria and drought. Proceed to handle the snail with care as you move it; do not squish or tap the shell as it could crack and eventually kill the snail.

Provide A Humid Environment For Your Snail

Place it on moist bedding, like a damp paper towel, in a container with a lid to keep it moisturized for the meantime. This will ensure that your snail doesn’t dry out completely or sees the necessity to prolong the aestivation period. The lack of humidity can be picked up by mystery snails even in their period of dormancy, and they rely on these perceptions to determine when to turn out. You should aim to achieve 80% to 90% humidity with a temperature of 70° to 80°F in its temporary enclosure.

Check On The Living Condition

Now, you need to find the reason why your snail is aestivating. The water parameters are usually culprits as they directly affect the snails and you can easily trace and determine them by using an API test kit.

If the problem is the temperature—perhaps you live in areas where it’s either too hot or too cold—the only solution is to use water heaters or water chillers to regulate the temperature in the tank. An accurate stick-on thermometer in this case is necessary to ensure that you keep track of the temperature changes your mystery snail may be experiencing in its home.

The other parameters such as ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, and salinity can all be regulated by performing routine water cycling until the desired ranges are met. The table below is a guide on the levels of the different water parameters your snail needs to be happy and healthy:

Exercise Patience

There is no definitive time for when your mystery snail should come out of aestivation. It could last from a week to a couple of months until the snail feels comfortable enough. All you need to do is provide a safe environment for your mystery snail and it will awake when it feels like it.

A good tip is to use its favorite food to lure it out; place snello, shrimp, or its favorite veggies into the tank in hopes that it picks up on the scent. If it doesn’t, ensure that you remove the food from the tank after 24 hours to prevent it from rotting and raising the water’s ammonia level which is dangerous to your pet.

Is Aestivation Dangerous For Mystery Snails?

Aestivation is not dangerous for your mystery snail but it can turn deadly if your pet is not met with its necessities. Mystery snails aestivate as a last resort when they feel stressed by their environment. In fact, the conditions causing your snails to aestivate are much more dangerous than the process itself as it is only a means to enhance their luck to survive in every possible way.