Pretty Little Pink Cannibal!

  I was looking back through a few of my older photographs and came across one of a snail.  Ever since I was a tyke, I had been told that the pretty pinks shells I would find were from a "garden snail".  Maybe?  But not exactly.  The empty shells were the remains of a quite different snail with a much darker side.  Garden snails munch on plants and plant matter.  They are the bane of gardeners everywhere.  The snails, along with slugs, have been the driving force behind many methods of eradication.  Home remedies, chemicals, salts...everything imaginable has come forth as a "cure" of the snail curse.  Well...there is no need for that at all.  Those methods are doing nothing more than killing the very savior of your plants.  The eradication methods also kill the snail with the pretty pink shells.  Not good if you are a gardener.

  You see, the pink shells are from the Rosy Wolfsnail.  While alive, the shell and snail look more rosy brown than pink but once the shell is empty and dry, it is rather lovely.  The reputation of the snail?  Not so lovely among other snails.  A Rosy Wolfsnail actually dines upon other snails.  It follows the slime trail of snails and slugs and chows down on them.  It is indiscriminate in its choice of dinner as it will even cannibalize its own type given a half of chance.  The Rosy Wolfsnail eats smaller snails whole but will rip a larger one from its shell.  By putting out "snail/slug" bait or poison, you also kill the Rosy Wolfsnail and it is doing its best to help you.  

  The next time you find a Rosy Wolfsnail make sure to leave it in the garden and make sure to thank it for a job well done!  I am pondering if, once the old dog is well, we should go on a great snail search and rehome those babies right in the veggie garden!