After the rain, we found quite a number of snails appeared in our garden. This type of snail is the largest species (in size) and the largest population in our garden.
Its shell can be as big as 3 inches (max, usually is about 1 or 2 inches). The unique and artistic patterns on their shell in brown and yellow stripes or dots are actually their camouflages when they hide themselves among the soil and branches.
I invited some of them to visit my light box so that I could take their photos.
From what I have learned, they are under the category of land snail (as opposed to sea snails and freshwater snails). Their scientific name must be close to one of the following species which are either Helix pomatia and Helix aspersa.
The snail looked shy in my light box.
I was also worrying about their comfort in my light box. They may feel not comfortable there because it might be too bright or too hot in the light box. Therefore, I quickly took their photos, and released them back to the garden.
In our garden, we have tried to communicate with the snail so that they won’t hurt our plants. They were following the rules, and we give them a section where we plant vegetable as their source of food. They are our pets instead of pests. Sometimes, we hardly find them in a hot day.
Snail is always considered as a “slow” animals, but do not look down on them. It can destroy a plant by biting the main trunk or leaving many holes on the leaves.
In the computer world, we called traditional mail - snail mail in contrast of email which reach the recipient mailbox almost instantly.
The snail wants to tell the world, “Although I am slow, I can reached my destination no matter how far it is, and eat up the whole plants no matter how big it is.”
1Malaysia
