I had a Nerite named Houdini because he was an escape artist and had him in my ten gallon. One day before Christmas..he was gone. I turned the house upside down trying to find him, for his safety and also because I didnt want to have to hunt down the smell of him when he passed. Time went on and I purchased a new snail and accepted wherever he was..he wasnt coming back. Today I nearly stepped on a snail out front and thought "oh let's move you to the garden lil buddy" before I saw the stripes and realized its not a garden snail its a frickin nerite with very similar markings to my missing one. Then I figured "oh its probably just his shell sitting there..". Turned him over and no its sealed up. Rushed him inside to put him in tank water in a cup and he doesnt smell dead. Still sealed up. I did a snail head-count and all my others are where they belong. I hope hes not frozen to death but where he was it looked like the snail had just gotten onto the concrete and then said "fuck this its cold" and stopped and sealed up. ANYWAY this nerite either had the wildest wilderness survival story ever or I found someone elses escaped nerite on my porch.
Posted by AwfulAppleOrchard
8 Comments
Are you in an area where these are running around due to folks releasing them? If not, it’s probably yours—simplest explanation and all!
Bro I lost a nerite just like that in my apartment last month maybe he made his way over, I still haven’t found him 🥲
They can go weeks out of water, probably moreso if at low temp/hibernating etc.
But how low is too low, I’d think outside in Canada would kill then
Is he really alive
please post updates I’m obsessed
I had a zebra nerite that climbed out of a tank and took himself to our other tank across the room. They are prolific little gypsies
One time I drained a 55g tank after rehoming its inhabitants, and I kid you not, a month later I came back to move it, and found an otocinclus I had missed, still alive, in a little puddle of leftover water. I refilled the tank and that dude lived for years after that.
Nerites have always been so finicky to me. And also yes, escape artists. Not the biggest fan of them, I like Bladder, Ramshorn, and MTS snails the best. I like the way they move, the way they look. Nerites just kinda sit a lot.