Dont Know What To Do..., Snails.. how to get them out of the shel

[sccrmom38]

My family and I went to Florida and just got home on December 24. We went to a beach in Tampa Bay and picked up some shells. They are pretty cool. BUT when we got home and I started to wash them my daughter noticed that there are snails still in the shells. I dont think they are still alive because of the plane rides they were on. So my question is what do I do to get the snails out? None of them are moving and they all have some part of them sticking out of their shells. Please help... I need my sink back.

[Robyn]

I assume that they are marine snails since you were in a Bay near the ocean? If they were still alive, you'd need to match the salinity from whence they came. If their little bodies aren't moving but just sort of flapping there, it sounds like they probably died. If they were out of water for more than a few hours, that should have killed them. You can use something like a screw driver or any little pole or something to try to scrape them out of there. Once you get out most of the flesh, you can soak the remainder in some dilute bleach (a quarter cup per few gallons). That will get rid of the bad smell and organics. Don't soak too long or the shell will degrade too. Rinse that and soak the shells in fresh water with some aquarium dechlorinator. That will deactivate the bleach and get rid of the bleach smell.

[sccrmom38]

Thank you. And you are right we picked them up on a beach next to a bay. But the only thing that I question is that if they are dead then will they move when I touch the body?

[Robyn]

If they are dead, when you touch them, there bodies will only move in response to how you push them (like how a tomato squishes in when you push on it) and not in a different direction or at a speed other than your speed. You can buy some marine salt and create some salt water and put the snails in there. I doubt they are alive at this point but, if they were alive and strong enough, they would come out and move around at some point if put into saltwater.