Snails are very unsuspecting creatures, especially as pets. In my experience when revealing to friends and strangers that I own pet land snails, I almost always observe about 6 stages of thought:
Stage one: Disbelief. It always begins with a nervous giggle and an eyeroll due to the assumption that I'm lying and trying to stir up some laughs because, well, to most people a pet snail is a laughable quirk only occupied by friendly sea sponges. Once I buckle down and say, "No, seriously, I have three pet snails." They try to rationalize it and draw reference to a friend from college who had some small aquatic snails in their aquarium. I buckle down harder: "These are land snails. The slimy sweet kind you see outside -- they actually make fantastic pets!"
Stage two: Concern. Do you just go outside, grab them, and throw them in a tank? Don't they carry disease? Could you or your cats get sick? Do they even love you? There are a LOT of questions -- First, you can grab them from the outdoors and this is typically recommended in the US due to several laws that severely limit land snail ownership. Those taken in from outdoors have a propensity to carry disease and parasites, but only the kind that would get other snails sick. You will want to quarantine them for a while before mingling with any other snails you own. For this reason, I stick with ordering my snails via Ebay from a source that breeds them in a healthy, clean environment free of disease and parasites. Regardless, I will still quarantine for a short period for security's sake. There is no harm as long as I wash my hands before and after handling and bonding with the snails, which takes us to the topic of love and bonding: yes!!!!! Snails are actually very, very sweet and loving pets. I can't speak much toward their capacity to love on a neurological plane but they definitely grow to trust you and come out of their shells when they sense you are nearby to say hello. When being held by someone they trust, they will nibble at your hand and cuddle right up on you. Honestly, it's incredibly fulfilling!
Stage three: Curiosity. With all that being said, what's so great about snails? They can't possibly do that much. While you can't necessarily play fetch and take a nap with your pet snails, they are still incredibly loving, interactive, and entertaining pets to have! They lower my blood pressure and remind me to take things slow and appreciate a stem of broccoli or three. They love to explore around my hands and nothing has ever been quite as heart warming as watching a snail wiggle its little slimy body around under a sprinkle of mist before bedtime.
Stage four: Bewilderment. This is where people truly start to lean into the conversation. Typically, people don't know that a snail's shell shell is a part of their body! They aren't like hermit crabs where you can just place different shells down for them to try out -- in fact, they will die if their shell is damaged badly enough. Snails are also hermaphrodites, meaning they have both a male and female reproductive organ, and they can also breed asexually! When their environment isn't suitable for survival, they huddle away in their shell where they can hibernate up to 2 years (sometimes more in other species) until conditions improve. For this reason, they are super easy to travel with and are an amazing pet for folks who suffer from depression. They are extremely resilient and this is part of why most land snail species are so incredibly illegal to own in the US. While you can own a few like the famed Giant African Land Snail in places like the United Kingdom, the US does not get cold enough to kill off invasive species in the winter so there would be nothing stopping these snails from overpopulating and putting our local environment at risk. They've also been known to be able to eat through a concrete wall and they are especially known for loving stucco houses. Watch out, Florida.
Stage five: Acceptance. Once they have been held hostage to my spiel, much like you are right now, the next stage is typically almost always acceptance. So they can be pets! Cool.
Stage six: Conversion. This last stage is optional, but also still fairly common among younger folk and especially children. They want to know how they can get a pet snail and how to properly take care of one. There is a lot of information and detail that goes into this one, so I will need to make an entirely new post within the next week or two highlighting these steps. But don't worry - I will!
The one stage that myself and many other people always find ourselves going back to is bewilderment. Somehow, snails just keep getting cooler and cooler the more I learn about them. There are so many different species with so many different characteristics that are out of this world! Let's take a look at one in particular: The Moon Snail.
Moon Snails, scientifically known as Naticidae or colloquially known as Necklace Snails, are typically found in tropical regions along beaches but they have also been spotted within arctic and Antarctic waters. There are two main bewildering facts about this snail but I'm going to start with the most familiar: sand collars! In breeding, moon snails will begin to lay their eggs by creating what looks like a plastic, curled structure consisting of sand granules and secreted mucus. Next, the snail will secrete the eggs between themselves and the sand collar followed by a second layer of mucus-sand to protect the eggs between the two layers. Once the babies hatch, this collar is what is left on the beach for passerby's to locate: 
Once this is done, the parent does not remain with their offspring. Rather, they move on to live their best life -- which can go up to 14 years!
The next extreme about these slimy guys is their predatory skill, which is a lot less cute. Unlike the herbivore milk snails that I own, moon snails are carnivores and prey primarily on mollusks. They will attack pretty much anything with a shell and that even includes other snails! When it's time for dinner, a moon snail will drag its prey deeper into the sand and then envelope it within their slimy "foot" and almost literally drill into its shell with their radula which is like a set of very sharp teeth. Seven rows of very sharp teeth, at that. While drilling, they will also secrete hydrochloric acid and enzymes from a gland in their probiscus into the shell of their prey which helps to dissolve the shell and liquefy the body for a big slorp time. Moon snails can typically drill a hole of about 1/2mm each day and will suck their prey's body tissue out of its shell over several days. For a quicker meal, though, there have been documented incidences of moon snails wrapping their foot around the shells of clams in order to suffocate them out. Anyway, I think they'd make great landlords! 
What do you think? Are you someone who ends at the stage of acceptance or are you a snail convert?
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