Is It Actually Dead?

I had an old coworker come into the store today, bringing back a snail that they'd purchased the day before. Stating that 'it was dead.'

Which...this coworker had dabbled a bit in helping out in my department.
But not enough to know that the Mystery Snails....tend to hide out in their shells. Like...if it was moving when you bought it...it is very very very unlikely that it would have died within 24 hours.
As they can hide in their shells for at least 5 days before you should consider them dead.
They also have the tendency to like...be active at night, and can appear to 'not move' by returning to their original spots.

So. Taking the snail out of the baggy. I prodded the hard bit that protects the tender soft area of the snail when it's closed up.
It was still firm.
I lifted the snail up and smelled it.
Smelt like normal.
Aka not like rotten eggs which is how they actually smell when they're dead. 

But still.
Considering that the snail was a mystery, and the tank my coworker was putting the snail into was a betta tank.
I still suggested exchanging for a nerite snail instead.
As I'd learned in the recent past that mystery snails don't often do well with bettas because of the bettas like to pick on the tube like arm that the snails send out of their shells.
Sooo we went with a nerite instead.

Hopefully that snail works well in that tank.

As for the mystery snail, 
I placed him back in the snail tank with his buddies.
And the next time I looked....
He wasn't where I left him.
So.
Alive. 

Which is pretty good considering I don't know how long he was out of water for. :S 

-Sarnic Dirchi