Snail Houses

HOUSING SHORTAGE? Learn a Lesson from the GARDEN SNAIL.

It is a fact that there are MANY varieties of Garden Snail. In this instance I am referring to the ones in our garden in Lindisfarne.

By natures choice, our garden snails wear their house and take it with them when ever they travel. Travel may be short, just to the nearest garden patch; or extensive as when they go dancing in the rain on the front porch. We know they dance, because they leave a distinctive intertwining trail. Some pretty fancy steps in fact. Which is not easy when you only have one foot.

But I digress, this is about housing.

A snail, given the opportunity and safety to grow, will need to move house on an irregular basis. How often? I have no idea. Ask some PHD student who has the time and need to know such things. But, I have observed closely, that when the snail moves house, it takes EVERYTHING WITH IT! Nothing is left behind, just empty hallways. No plumbing, appliances or floor coverings are to be seen.

Of course the snail house does not have windows, so curtains never have to be measured, put up, taken down, washed or cleaned. Just think of savings if we followed suit.

What about sunshine you ask? It never shines all day. Well, not in Lindisfarne. If the sun happens to be shining, do as the snail does. Go outside. Much healthier than sitting behind a window, and you will benefit from the fresh air. If it is raining then there is no sunshine, so stay indoors.

Then there is the question of the USED Snail house. I find many of them in the garden but have not witnessed any homeless snails trying to move into one. Obviously, some of those used shells are no longer suitable for habitation. It may be the case that the snail population has stricter building safety regulations than the local council. That would certainly seem to be the case in Sydney, where the high-rise slums start to fall down before anyone has even moved in.

Homelessness among snails? There are no doubt some that prefer NOT to live in a shell. They are commonly known as SLUGS. In my experience it would appear that most snails avoid any social interaction with common slugs. They are the drongos of the garden, lowly bred, too lazy to actually do anything, reliant on living under rocks and feeding on slimy rotting rubbish. Of course the Slug is blind, lacks feelers and should probably be treated as disadvantaged.

Anyone want to adopt a Slug? Didn’t think so. The next time you come across an empty snail house, consider all the advantages their way of living could provide.