Terrestrial snail ID

[Slaphppy7]

In the nearly 60 years I have lived in the same area, I have not seen this type of snail, up until the last few years...they weren't around when I was a kid....introduced, perhaps?...I've only encountered them a few times recently, always individuals, have never seen more than one at the same time.

Fairly decent size...the "foot", fully extended, is around 3" long...the shell, about 1 1/4" long

Any idea what kind of snail this is?...species name?

 

[Slaphppy7]

No snail experts here?

 

[solomongumball]

Hi! I made an account just to respond to this! That is a rosy wolf snail and they are a cannibalistic species. I have one and feed ramshorn and pond snails. Have you had land snails before? Their care is pretty much the same as other land snails besides the fact that they only eat snails.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Welcome to TFF, and thank you for the effort...I don't keep snails, this guy/gal came crawling across my garage floor the other day...I have found empty shells in the past, but never a live one.

I wonder why I am only seeing them recently?...as stated above, never encountered them where I live until the last few recent years.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Ahhh...and invasive species to Texas, indeed

details

 

[solomongumball]

Welcome to TFF, and thank you for the effort...I don't keep snails, this guy/gal came crawling across my garage floor the other day...I have found empty shells in the past, but never a live one.

I wonder why I am only seeing them recently?...as stated above, never encountered them where I live until the last few recent years.

Thank you! They were introduced to hawaii in the 50s i believe and can only be found in a handful of states. They are very invasive and harmful! They are the cause of at least 4 or 5 native snail species in hawaii. The goal of releasing them there was to reduce the population of giant african land snails which doesn’t make sense to me because of how much smaller they are than GALS. My rosy won’t even attempt to eat a snail the size of him. I’m not sure why you haven’t seen them sooner, I would guess that the times you would have noticed them was a time that they weren’t as active. Land snails are most active at night in especially humid or rainy environments. And like i mentioned before they are only native to a handful of states like hawaii, texas, and some other southern states. Even though they are evil little snails, i am very fond of mine. In captivity, they are very interesting pets and so much different than other land snails people typically keep. That being said, a lot of people really shouldn’t own land snails if they don’t know how to properly dispose of eggs/babies or get sick of them and release them. Any snail that can survive in captivity is going to be invasive. That is why GALS are illegal to keep in the US.

Welcome to TFF, and thank you for the effort...I don't keep snails, this guy/gal came crawling across my garage floor the other day...I have found empty shells in the past, but never a live one.

I wonder why I am only seeing them recently?...as stated above, never encountered them where I live until the last few recent years.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Yes, was reading about them here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euglandina_rosea

As a matter of fact, the day I spotted this one, it had been raining here ALOT, and the humidity was very high that day...the garage was a dripping mess.

I suppose it would be best to destroy any others I see....but I do not like killing living things...besides flies and mosquitos, of course

 

[solomongumball]

Yes, was reading about them here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euglandina_rosea

As a matter of fact, the day I spotted this one, it had been raining here ALOT, and the humidity was very high that day...the garage was a dripping mess.

I suppose it would be best to destroy any others I see....but I do not like killing living things...besides flies and mosquitos, of course

I personally wouldn’t kill them because i don’t think it would really make a difference unless every single person who came across them did too and even then it wouldn’t really effect the population. If you do, i recommend dipping the foot in beer first and then you can crush or freeze (the most humane way to euthanize large snails). I’m not judging if you do, just saying i’m not sure if it would even make a difference if you killed a few and already don’t want to kill things! I personally only kill mosquitoes, ticks and flies too!

 

[Slaphppy7]

I always have plenty of
on hand if it came to that...but I'll think I'll just leave them be

Again, thank you much for the info

 

[Colin_T]

You know my opinion on snails.
Step on them. Step on them. Step on them. But not with bare feet coz it feels gross

 

[Slaphppy7]

You know my opinion on snails.
Step on them. Step on them. Step on them. But not with bare feet coz it feels gross

"Step on them. Step on them. Step on them."

But wouldn't that make my escargot taste a bit crunchy?*

*Glad to see you back @Colin_T , we've missed you

​

 

[Colin_T]

But wouldn't that make my escargot taste a bit crunchy?*

LOL, probably

 

[Fishmanic]

What's a matter @Colin_T - you don't like Escargot?

 

[Colin_T]

What's a matter @Colin_T - you don't like Escargot?

nope, tastes like slimy salt & garlic flavoured boogas