The other day as I was pulling weeds (it sometimes happens!) I found this little fellow (well, fellow may be insulting as, "...in case of the terrestrial pulmonates, generally are hermaphrodites, it may also happen in some species that the sex changes during the lifetime.") on some decaying plant material.
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Slugs chew ugly holes in my hostas, brugmansias, etc. and I have no problem dispatching them with haste. However, there's something beautiful about the shells of snails that won't allow me to hurt them. (No satisfying crunch underfoot.) It probably helps that I see very few snails in my garden while armies of slugs have drawn battle lines along with a horrible infestation of weevils (I've sprayed expensive nematodes several times a year for the last three and they don't seem to be cutting the population back at all. Any suggestions?
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Slugs chew ugly holes in my hostas, brugmansias, etc. and I have no problem dispatching them with haste. However, there's something beautiful about the shells of snails that won't allow me to hurt them. (No satisfying crunch underfoot.) It probably helps that I see very few snails in my garden while armies of slugs have drawn battle lines along with a horrible infestation of weevils (I've sprayed expensive nematodes several times a year for the last three and they don't seem to be cutting the population back at all. Any suggestions?
The strange part of this wildlife encounter is that I've never seen a snail with this yellow and black striping before. The interweb says that these are banded snails and they come in a few colors. I am more familiar with flora than fauna so I'm not sure about the identification of this one but am hoping that it's not a Mediterranean white snail that is an invasive and harmful species here as after it's time on the patio table for it's photo op. it was set free where I found it.
Neither as interesting or scary as Loree's visitor, but hers probably wouldn't take so kindly to being put on a table for a photo shoot. Just guessing.