Roman snails

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Roman snails
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Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 05 2:37 pm Post subject: Roman snails

We often see the old shells from roman snails around here and yesterday I found a very large specimen where the council had cleared some shrubs. It was about the size of a small apple and very heavy and I would have thought you would only need a couple for a meal. Some people say that they are better than our snails to eat so has anyone tried them?

I also wonder about if it's ethical to eat them in this country as they are quite rare but an introduced species. As the one I found was in the open by a path I moved it into some undergrowth so it didn't get troden on or killed by the frost.

Some good pictures can be found here:

https://www.bioimages.org.uk/HTML/T37978.HTM

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Tue Feb 08, 05 9:49 am Post subject:
Generally, unless you want rid of a species you should leave it alone unless it's abundant. Ordinary garden snails are good eating, so I'd stick with those if I were you. They are in my opinion as good as 'edible' snails.

judyofthewoods

Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 804
Location: Pembrokeshire

Posted: Tue Feb 08, 05 11:24 am Post subject:

If you found some live specimen, might be worth breeding them?
I have only tried snails in a restaurant, and thought they were very nice. I think the ones they breed are the Roman type, and probably for their size rather than any other attribute, just lesss fiddly than the little ones. I note you are in Surrey, that is chalk country, isn't it? Read somewhere that snails are more prolific in chalk country, as they have the minerals to build their shells in abundance. They are certainly outnumbered by slugs in this area.
Here an anecdote about a very curious occurance around 1990, it was the night of the snale invasion. One night I walked out with some visitors as they left, and we noticed the ground coverred in the large snails, you could not put your foot down without crushing them, thousands everywhere. Perchance, when I spoke to my mother, who lives in Germany, some weeks later and mentioned it, she said the same happened over there one night. Also, per chance, in both cases there was another incident that made us note the exact date (I keep a diary, and could tell from the day my friends visited, she went somewhere important on that date), and it was the very same date. Now I know that ants take to the wing on the 18th of August, as long as the weather is right, or very shortly thereafter. Does anyone know what natural phenomenon would cause those huge numbers of snails to appear , at least partway across Europe? Does anyone else remember such an occurance?

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Tue Feb 08, 05 12:13 pm Post subject:

Yes, the Roman Snails are on solid chalk country. I've found a few live examples but either left them alone or moved them off a path to stop some people stamping on them. I've not heard of the snails doing much damage so I'd agree about leaving them alone.

I could be tempted to try a couple of our garden snails, if Bugs lets me. I can just see it, myself and our three hens eating the same dinner and Bugs having her own dish.

I don't remember much about snails in 1990 though.

deerstalker

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 589

Posted: Sat Feb 12, 05 9:13 pm Post subject:
Never stalked or shot one. what's the technique?

judyofthewoods

Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 804
Location: Pembrokeshire

Posted: Sat Feb 12, 05 9:56 pm Post subject:

Deerstalker wrote:

Never stalked or shot one. what's the technique?

I don't know a lot about shooting, but I would think an air gun would be best for such a small target. The trouble with snails is knowing which bit to shoot to make it instant, I don't think they have a brain as such, besides, you need to be a very good shot to hit their 'head'. As long as you keep down wind (snails have a very good sense of smell) you could probably get close enough to get a good shot. The downside to shooting snails over, say, snaring, is that the ratio of bullet to meat is quite high, but then you would remove it anyway, and you can find the bullet more easily, unlesss it bounced off their rubbery body. You can also hunt with ducks, but you must tie a rope around their neck or they will swallow the quarry. As far as I know ducks are not included in the new hunting bill (no pun intended).
Happy hunting

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Sat Feb 12, 05 9:57 pm Post subject:

Marigold123

Joined: 06 Feb 2005
Posts: 224

Posted: Sun Feb 13, 05 5:34 pm Post subject:

judyofthewoods wrote:

Here an anecdote about a very curious occurance around 1990, it was the night of the snale invasion. One night I walked out with some visitors as they left, and we noticed the ground coverred in the large snails, you could not put your foot down without crushing them, thousands everywhere.

I can't remember any instances in particular, at least not with dates, but I do know that when the weather has been dry for a long time, with no dew at night, and then the weather turns wet, they do seem to come out in their thousands. Maybe this is the cause of the phenomenon?

Pilsbury

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 5645
Location: East london/Essex

Posted: Sun Feb 13, 05 9:01 pm Post subject:
I dont think it really matters where you place the shot for a snail, and an air rifle is more than sufficent Sorry to say this but I have tried it as a pest control when I was younger for practice with my air rifle. It is a bit overkill but probably nicer than the salt mothod.

nettie

Joined: 02 Dec 2004
Posts: 5888
Location: Suffolk

Posted: Sun Feb 13, 05 9:34 pm Post subject:
oo er I never thought of dispatching them that way, I just assumed people gave them the lobster/crab treatment and put them in the pot alive.

Pilsbury

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 5645
Location: East london/Essex

Posted: Sun Feb 13, 05 9:39 pm Post subject:
Well yes but when I was 14 I didnt think of eating them, it was all done to stop them eating my tender seedlings

nettie

Joined: 02 Dec 2004
Posts: 5888
Location: Suffolk

Posted: Sun Feb 13, 05 9:42 pm Post subject:
My 78 year old friend squashes them with her walking stick. Every year when the potato vine is in flower the wall behind looks like a wall of snot Sometimes she asks me to do it. It's very therapeutic.

Marigold123

Joined: 06 Feb 2005
Posts: 224

Posted: Tue Feb 22, 05 7:20 pm Post subject:

Someone I met said they collected them in a lidded bucket and tipped them out in the park the next day for the crows to eat. I don't know if the crows ate them, though.

I also heard of someone who put hers down the toilet for some reason, They went down, but the next morning they were all back cuddled up in a ring just under the rim!

I lived in a house with an old outside loo, which we used when we were downstairs in the Summer. The snails used to get in under the door and eat the toilet paper. (It wasn't me in the flushing snails story, honest!!)

About the roman snails, and not eating them if they are rare, I suppose you might be able to collect some and see whether you could breed them in a tank with a gauze lid or something. They could eat up waste vegetation from the garden, and kitchen waste.

You could start with two random individuals, because snails are hermaphrodites and have one of each variety of parts. If you were worried about denting the wild population, you could put the two original ones back after you were certain you had baby snails to grow on, and even liberate a few extra ones for good measure when they'd grown up a bit.

Just a (slightly eccentric) thought.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sat Jun 11, 05 5:28 pm Post subject:
Here's a couple of pics I took last week. Note, I think Roman snails are protected so I don't think they can be collected for the pot any more. I've placed a new 50p next to the snail and I've placed an empty Roman snail shell next to the common garden snails so the size difference can be seen.

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Sat Jun 11, 05 5:54 pm Post subject:
They are still pretty rare in South Wales, I remember one being brought into the museum as an enquiry last year and the biologists thinking it was quite unusual in Cardiff. Havent seen them in my valley anyway.

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