Pet Snails? <3

[Bowyn Aerrow]

We have the Northern California garden snails:



They are actually not native to the area, they were imported for snail farms for food - escargot. Some how they managed to escape their pens and they pretty much are every where. I imagine the Snail Riots of the 1890's, hordes of imprisoned snails slowly over coming the human guards and warden, slowly killing them one slimy inch at a time, then running as fast as they could from the towers and bright lights to find hiding places here and there, slowly taking over the whole state as the breed and ran at 0.00758 miles (40 feet [12.2 meters]) per hour. :biggrin:

They are considered a pest.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7427.html

These little critters climb up the wall of the house and onto the roof, they have even climbed through the open windows at night - if it weren't for the screens we would have snails inside.

To walk through the garden paths at night I take a large flashlight, slowly tip-toeing around dozens of these speedy creatures.

Now I do not keep them as pets, but I do 'fight' them to keep the out of the garden. Unlike most gardeners I do not pick them and kill them, I collect them in a bucket and take them to the back of the property to set them out on the edge. It takes a few days for them to roam back to the garden.

Thankfully I have friends in high places, the crows. They tend to love escargot, so I let the crows have their place here. They do less damage in the garden than the snails.