@com @ubi I think the mantle collapse thing is overblown. I've heard it mentioned before by hobbyists as if snails will 100% die if they are yanked, and that is just false. I can't speak for all species, but the ones common in pet trade and most of the wild ones we encounter are adapted to deal with predators yanking them. They pull into their shell, retract their operculum if they have it, and wait for the predator to move on.

I myself just transferred 50 juvenile mystery snails (Pomacea bridgesii) I raised to new homes. I do think the advice to nudge them to get them to retract, rather than just yanking them up, is a good idea to reduce the stress for the animal, which can impact their growth and survival. That's what I did, just a tap with tweezers. Some were still adhered to tank glass so I nudged them a bit more to get them to retract. But I don't think yanking them leads to a sudden destruction of organs.

Something similar came up when I was raising giant clams (mostly Tridacna derasa) and some people were claiming exposing them to air is fatal, and you need to 'burp' the clams to protect them or they'll get an air embolism or something. This is just silly because in the wild, these clams are commonly in the intertidal and can handle being exposed to air for hours at a time. They burp themselves!

I appreciate being compassionate to these invertebrates and caring about their welfare. That's a beautiful thing to me. But let's not make stuff up about their biology and definitely not cite AI about their care!! The best way to ensure good care is to look back to the conditions that these creatures face in the wild and try to replicate those conditions as closely as possible!