He was tiny. His shell no bigger than a penny. If I hadn't sat down on the porch for a breather and he hadn't been trekking his way across this bit of wood, I wouldn't have seen him.
Matt and I watched him for a while, but lost him once he hit the mulch of the flower beds.
I surfed the web to see if I could identify him beyond "snail." But quickly realized there are lots of snails that to the uneducated eye look exactly like this one.
I did, however, learn some cool snail facts:
- there are more fresh and salt water snails than land snails.
- snail shells are part of their anatomy. They aren't like hermit crabs.
- land snails are usually herbivores and eat things like leaves, fungi and algae.
- one can easily and accidentally commit mass snail murder if one keeps them in an aquarium.
Sources and Further Reading
"Snails and Slugs," BBC Nature
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Gastropoda
"Snails and Slugs," UC IPM Online Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7427.html
Snail's Tales,
http://snailstales.blogspot.com/
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