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Post by rockpickerforever on Feb 7, 2014 12:25:09 GMT -5
Ha! Bet you thought I was talkin' about you, huh? No... Reptiles? C'mon, you know reptiles are not slimy...
Picked these up on my walk this morning. I'm sure the neighbors were wondering what the heck I was picking up with my bare hands and putting into a blue dog poop bag, lol.
This is what I'm talkin' about-
Decollate snails, aka "killer" snails. These little dudes are great to have in the yard/garden, as they eat the standard helix snails that attack your plants and veggies. If there are no regular snails around to eat, they will eat plants, however, only dead plants. I'm not sure if they eat slugs, but you'd think so. I just haven't witnessed that little miracle yet.
Just a few of them...
Size reference
These snails are not damaged, their shells just naturally truncate like that at the end. However, there was a lot of carnage out on the streets and sidewalks.
I see you!
You can buy these at probably most nurseries, but I prefer to "catch" my own (y'all know I'm frugal, lol). It's a lot like hunting rocks, but these are moving - albeit rather slowly. I much prefer non-chemical methods of pest management. In this area of Spring Valley (near the Swap Meet), there are a lot of them out and about whenever we get some rain.
My chunk of land is only about 1/5 of an acre, so this is more than I need. I'll probably take some to my parent's house in San Diego, my sister's in La Mesa, and maybe even chuck some over the fence in my neighbors yards - to help keep the riff-raff down. The helix snails, I mean.
Get some of these for your yard, you'll be glad you did. Now I better go and distribute them...
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Feb 7, 2014 13:21:12 GMT -5
Jean, I did a lot of research on decollates for an article I was writing a long time back. I had a terrible brown snail and slug problem when I lived in San Luis Obispo County but found it was illegal to release decollates there. I kept threatening to take in a bunch of French exchange students who would pay their rent by eating my Helix snails. That was after learning that Helixes now have to be imported by several western European countries (including France) because their popularity as food has practically eliminated them there. Lots of American Helixes now end up on European tables, which is where they originated. They were brought to the U.S. long ago as a food item but escaped to gourmandize the American landscape.
Anyhow, Californians should be aware that the only counties where decollates are legal are Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Madera, Orange, Riverside, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, San Diego, Ventura, and Tulare.
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Sabre52
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 7, 2014 13:32:16 GMT -5
Cool! We used to use decollates in our yard at the Ojai house where we had a lot of citrus trees and a lot of brown garden snails. Only drawback is they don't climb so once the EBGS's get up into the trees, the decollates don't do much good. Since EBGS's lay their eggs in soil though, the decollates do nail the eggs and babies real well. I liked them as a form of biological pest Control around our citrus. We don't have EBGS here in our part of Texas, only a couple of white hard shelled snails that looks like they belong in the ocean....Mel
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Feb 7, 2014 13:55:03 GMT -5
The orchards around here (Ventura County) put rings of thin copper sheet around the the tree trunks. They've learned the slime snails excrete is very acidic and reacts with copper in a way the snails find very uncomfortable. I've visited orchards where enormous numbers of brown snails were balled-up just below the copper.
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Post by Pat on Feb 7, 2014 14:00:12 GMT -5
I've never seen your killer snails around here. Too bad they are illegal here. Wonder why. I'll get the copper strips. We have lots of the regular brown snails.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2014 16:06:07 GMT -5
Pat, they are probably illegal there to protect the native banana slug.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2014 16:06:43 GMT -5
Jean, that is awesome you get free decollates! Maybe I need to go for a walk this evening!
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Post by Pat on Feb 7, 2014 16:49:27 GMT -5
@shotgunner, I've never seen a banana slug in San Jose, but they are in the Santa Cruz Mountains. UC Santa Cruz mascot! I've seen lot of them in western Washington.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2014 17:06:19 GMT -5
The state did the list by county. The banana slugs are likely found within your county. Certainly they will be found on Campus at Stanford.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Feb 7, 2014 17:26:48 GMT -5
Jean, that is awesome you get free decollates! Maybe I need to go for a walk this evening! Yes, Scott, free range decollates, can you imagine?! But it has to be wet/rainy out for them to go for a - a what? - ah, a glide, yes that's it! They dine on the succulent escargot, prized by the Europeans... Thanks little buddies!
Thanks, Rick gemfeller, for that location info. Good to know I'm not breaking any laws (read - "a criminal") for moving them into my yard, lol. It's kind of ironic that the decollates are banned from so many CA counties. Guess they're afraid they might wipeout the other introduced snail, the helix. Is that a Dept of Agriculture thing, or animal control (species protection), or ? Do you know whose law it is? And I had heard about the copper strip trick to foil the snails. Haven't had to employ that tactic in my citrus, the helix snails don't even venture into my yard, let alone climb the trees.
When we bought this house 22 years ago, the vegetation was totally overgrown, and full of the type of plants the helix snails are so fond of - geraniums for instance. The helix snails were everywhere! Many years ago, we found out about the decollate snails. We found some in the neighborhood, brought them home and put them in the yard. Over the years they have multiplied and done very well, I've also supplemented their number with other found ones (for genetic diversity - lol!). Don't think I've ever purchased any. Occasionally, I'll see small snails that have recently hatched, but I've not seen an adult helix snail in a very long time!
Since I have potted cacti, I do still have a lot of sluggos. Guess I need to tell these guys they're supposed to eat those as well. Because of pets (and the environment), I am loathe to put down snail bait. If I ever see one (decollate) out in a place where it might get stepped on, I always pick it up and gently relocate it to a safe location.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2014 18:28:01 GMT -5
Jean you should change your name to Schneckenliebhaber.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Feb 7, 2014 18:50:44 GMT -5
Is that the shocked face??? Schneckenliebhaber? Sounds like something they would have called Madeline Kahn's character in Blazing Saddles.
Why yes, you're right. I do love a good scrƏw...
Double lead acme
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Feb 7, 2014 19:07:04 GMT -5
Thanks, Rick gemfeller, for that location info. Good to know I'm not breaking any laws (read - "a criminal") for moving them into my yard, lol. It's kind of ironic that the decollates are banned from so many CA counties. Guess they're afraid they might wipeout the other introduced snail, the helix. Is that a Dept of Agriculture thing, or animal control (species protection), or ? Do you know whose law it is? [/quote] The info I originally posted came from a University of California agriculture bulletin but it doesn't say whose rule/law/edict it is. A seller of decollates writes this: "Because of the potential impact of the decollate snail on certain endangered mollusk species, they cannot be released in Northern California counties, north of the Tehachapi Mountains (north of Santa Barbara County)." They must be working in my yard because I don't see all that many Helix snails here. During rainstorms at my old place near SLO I used to pick hundreds of them from plants at night during wet weather. That was my only means of keeping them under control. The yard was overgrown, lots of English ivy, and keeping my big veggie garden from being devoured by the slugs, snails and birds was a major proposition. I used the copper sheet around my raised beds but it was only partly successful. Helixes are the worst pests I've ever battled. Along with rats and cockroaches, they're built for survival.
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snuffy
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Post by snuffy on Feb 7, 2014 19:28:21 GMT -5
I have a constant battle with those slimy rascals! All my pet wood piles are excellent habitat for them,always picking them in my garden. Guess I keep replenishing the population with all the bags of leaves I haul in every year!Oh well,could have bigger problems!Dont believe I'll be dining on them however.
snuffy
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Feb 7, 2014 19:44:05 GMT -5
Well Snuffy, if things get really bad it's nice to know you have an emergency food source People do eat Helixes but they should be put into a pen for a few days with cornmeal, I think, to purge them of any poisons they may have been exposed to. I guess I'd eat them if there was nothing else, but escargot are very near the bottom of my voluntary food choices.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2014 19:57:36 GMT -5
schnecken is the word for snails!! Snail lover. Sheesh, I wont post a dirty thing like that to a woman.
Your husband must be a lucky guy!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2014 20:05:52 GMT -5
Well Snuffy, if things get really bad it's nice to know you have an emergency food source People do eat Helixes but they should be put into a pen for a few days with cornmeal, I think, to purge them of any poisons they may have been exposed to. I guess I'd eat them if there was nothing else, but escargot are very near the bottom of my voluntary food choices. I also am a schneckenleibhaber (snail-lover). I have collected escargot from many yards for a free and delish meal. I feed cornmeal as required, it fills their alimentary canal and clears out the poo. I don't think it's digestible by snails so it doesn't become poo. I don't eat poo, de-vein your shrimps folks! boil quickly just to kill, cool, de-shell them, sautee in seasoned/spiced butter and eat with white rice. Yummy! Maybe I should plant some agapanthus and get my own farm going again!
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snuffy
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Post by snuffy on Feb 7, 2014 20:41:22 GMT -5
Well Snuffy, if things get really bad it's nice to know you have an emergency food source People do eat Helixes but they should be put into a pen for a few days with cornmeal, I think, to purge them of any poisons they may have been exposed to. I guess I'd eat them if there was nothing else, but escargot are very near the bottom of my voluntary food choices. I also am a schneckenleibhaber (snail-lover). I have collected escargot from many yards for a free and delish meal. I feed cornmeal as required, it fills their alimentary canal and clears out the poo. I don't think it's digestible by snails so it doesn't become poo. I don't eat poo, de-vein your shrimps folks! boil quickly just to kill, cool, de-shell them, sautee in seasoned/spiced butter and eat with white rice. Yummy! Maybe I should plant some agapanthus and get my own farm going again! If the snails I have were that big,wouldnt have a problem finding them! snuffy
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Feb 7, 2014 21:43:33 GMT -5
Scott, you'd probably need your shotgun and a snail dog to bag snails that big. You could get some nice steaks or roasts off them.
I've eaten escargot several times. Without garlic and butter they'd be nothing. I just watched an episode of "Survivorman" with Les Stroud where he was desperately eating termites because his hunt for food failed, as usual. When I get as starved as he does sometimes my agapanthus snail pasture will come in handy. On the other hand, with meat prices going up so fast, hmmmm...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2014 21:47:21 GMT -5
Rick those are African land snails! They taste the same but as you note they bring more to the table.
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