How long can a snail live out of water?

[garfieldnfish]

I did a water change on Friday. And vacuumed the floor today, 3 days later, and found one of my applesnails on the carpet. It most likely crawled out when I had the lid off during the water change. There is a small opening in the back of the tank where a snails could fit through but they never tried leaving the water before. Except during the water changes if they get caught above the water line. I caught one escapee before but just minutes after he left the tank.
I put this last one in a jar of water and it is still alive. What is the longest they could survive out of water? Anyone know?

[Damon]

While I can't give you a deffinite answer, this site may help.

http://www.applesnail.net/

[MyraVan]

According to the Transport section of the Care guide on the apple snail website that Simpte mentioned, "The best way to transport apple snails is put them in a plastic box with moist synthetic filter cotton or damp paper towels. The snails are better protected against shell damage during transport this way and as apple snails can stay out of the water for days to weeks without problems (they are air-breathers with a shell door), this method is easy and safe."

Many other snails have only gills so can't live out of water for very long.

[garfieldnfish]

Mine has totally recovered and it's moving around as always. I hope he has learned his lesson.

[ijedic]

I shipped some to CA last year, and they got held up in the post. They were out of water for 6 days and arrived alive. Glad you found your snail!

[Lexus]

Yup many are shipped dry or moist....