# Snails and Heaters



## bettacrazygirl86 (Jan 21, 2013)

Can heaters hurt snails? I just watched my snail climbing up the heater, then suddenly slipped off the side. Did she get burnt? Can bettas get burnt by it too?


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Usually the water cools them so rapidly that burns are impossible. My fish cuddle the heater sometimes! I have a snail who cleaned all of the algae off a heater with no issues so I think him falling may have just been a coincidence.


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## Chevko (Nov 15, 2012)

My Honey liked to hang out on the heater when she was smaller. She would even reach out as far as she could to land on it, like a game. See how far she could reach either to or from it x3


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## bettacrazygirl86 (Jan 21, 2013)

MattsBettas said:


> Usually the water cools them so rapidly that burns are impossible. My fish cuddle the heater sometimes! I have a snail who cleaned all of the algae off a heater with no issues so I think him falling may have just been a coincidence.


That's a relief. It was the first time I saw it happen, and she just kind of laid on the gravel, as if she was stunned, before she started moving again. She has eggs all over the heater though, so I don't know how she could manage that if it burnt her. She seems fine now.



Chevko said:


> My Honey liked to hang out on the heater when she was smaller. She would even reach out as far as she could to land on it, like a game. See how far she could reach either to or from it x3


My betta likes to hang out around the heater too, sometimes. I just don't want it to wind up hurting any of them.


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## Chevko (Nov 15, 2012)

Me, too. I'd occasionally worry that I'd wake to a cooked snail but when I got her in a bigger container she was just fine about it. Occasionally she still gets on it but not nearly as often.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

For them to just fall off the surface of something is pretty normal.


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## tekkguy (Jan 28, 2013)

Heaters (unless malfunctioning) won't get hot enough to burn anything. Think about it this way - your skin is 98 degrees, and you are heating your water to somewhere around 80 degrees ... you could touch that heater, and it would feel cool to your touch. It's unlikely the snail got burned, and more likely that it just slipped on the super slick glass.


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Heaters do get REALLY hot when out of the water...


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## CHARLi3 (Apr 13, 2012)

MattsBettas said:


> Heaters do get REALLY hot when out of the water...


VERY hot! Made the mistake of not unplugging it or turning off the power strip when I was cleaning the tank once and touched it -.-


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