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From: rfc@calmasd.UUCP (Robert Clayton)
Newsgroups: net.pets,net.garden,net.cooks
Subject: Re: raising snails
Message-ID: <614@calmasd.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 14-Nov-85 19:46:39 EST
Article-I.D.: calmasd.614
Posted: Thu Nov 14 19:46:39 1985
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Organization: Calma Company, San Diego, CA
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> I saw a documentary once that showed how California fruit growers
> battled snails by releasing a species of snail about their fruit trees
> which preys on other snails.


Yes they sell them in the nurseries out here.  Killer snails, they call
them.  I guess my neighbor must have bought some, because I have
started to find them in my garden.  They seem to be effective.  Before
they arrived, no amount of snail bait seemed to stop the population
explosion.

It seems that snails are hermaphrodites.  Any snail can bear the young.
When two snails meet, they flip a coin so to speak and one plays the
male role while the other plays the female role.  In another encounter,
they might reverse the role.  This means if you have two snails in your
garden you are certain to have many and soon zillions.

Snail bait works for a while, but you soon breed a population with a
high tolerance for the poison.  I don't know if they are really immune,
maybe they just get bored with the stuff.  Anyway, it doesn't seem to
work for long.

Population reduction is the only effective method.  If you see a snail,
throw it in the trash.  This is where the killer snails come in handy.
They just keep feeding on the herd and prevent the population explosion.
So far, they seem to working pretty good.

Bob Clayton
GE Calma
San Diego