The brabybaenid land snail, Cathaica fasciola (Draparnaud, 1801) is widely distributed in China and causes significant damage to economic crops but there have been few ecological studies on this pest species. In the present study, the effects of availability of moisture and its interaction with live weight of dormant C. fasciola were examined in the laboratory for effects on the length of time that snails required to resume activity. Snail live weight increased with availability of water during transition of dormancy to activity. The amount of water uptake required to break dormancy, proportional to snail live weight, was less for larger snails than for smaller snails. The duration of dormancy breaking was much longer at a water temperature of 5 °C than at 10–30 °C. These results are discussed in relation to prospects for control of C. fasciola in crops by manipulating dormancy. © 2015 The Malacological Society of Australasia and the Society for the Study of Molluscan Diversity.