Where did my snails go?

[Purpleshrimp]

Hi Everyone!

So I've had my tank set up for a few months now and had the shrimp in for about a month. The shrimp seem to be doing fine, but I'm starting to question whether my snails are doing ok. Recently I have only been able to spot one adult(I think) snail, and one baby snail at any given time in my tank. I'm also convinced that this is the same snail that I see each time and that the others are hiding (or possibly dead?). I'm wondering if it's normal for Mustafa's snails to disappear into the sand for weeks on end? I know that there should be about 12 snails in that tank, but I have only seen the one for weeks. Should I go looking for the snails in the sand with my net to see if they are alive? Or should I just assume that since I can see an adult and a baby snail that the rest are probably fine?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

[Varanus]

The trumpet snails do burrow quite a lot, but I would expect you to see more than two at a time at least sometimes (try checking at different times of day, the snails seem to get more active in late evening). Searching the tank may just make a mess, but you can always check next time you feed the shrimp as in my tank a feeding will "awaken" a lot of the snails that are normally under the sand.

[minishrimps]

I don't see my snails much, i don't even know how many are in there anymore. I see an occasional baby here or there and various sized snails infrequently. Recently, i discovered i have snail that is about an inch long. I saw it emerge from the substrate one evening and was blown away by how big it was. I never saw it as it grew to this size. it hid in the substrate for probably six or seven months and then all of sudden appeared as this behemoth of a snail!

[Purpleshrimp]

Thanks for the advice. I did try feeding since it was probably coming up on time to feed the shrimp anyway and a couple more snails showed themselves. I guess I will just have to assume that they are burrowing for extended periods of time going forward. It would be really cool if one emerged later as a behemoth of a snail, great story!