The Snail Lover's Society

Lyn

My daughter has just acquired another 2 African Land Snails.  Wonder if I’ll inherit those in a couple of years. Brian used to be hers. 

pbff

Good to "see" you too @philippa smith2 👋😊
Few snails about here, but mostly slugs.

@Lyn, how exciting! Maybe your daughter will share a couple of photos of her new snails for the forum? Would be lovely to see them! 🐌🐌

wild edges

I'm glad to say my oldest boy's favourite toy right now is his cuddly snail.

wild edges

Hide and seek

wild edges

It's hard to find people who understand the excitement of finding hairy snails in your garden. Hopefully the SLS will get it   Either way I've found a small colony of silky snails living in a patch of ivy and I'm very pleased. The FSC key book and the laminated field guide that were recommended by @pbff have been really helpful so thanks for getting the details of those for us.

I like this photo of one peeping out from under its shell

GemmaJF

wild edges said:

It's hard to find people who understand the excitement of finding hairy snails in your garden. 

I'm excited for you, they are brilliant, have to see if I can get a copy of that field guide.

philippasmith2

Those are really quite stunning @wild edges - no wonder you are excited - lucky you

Hope @pbff looks in !!

wild edges

pbff said:

'Laminated Field Guide to Land Snails' by The Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland https://www.conchsoc.org/node/6281
This looks really good and is only £2. 
Imogen did say that stock is low at the moment, but more are coming in soon.

Land Snails of the British Isles FSC identification key
https://www.field-studies-council.org/shop/publications/land-snails-in-the-british-isles-2nd-edition/

Imogen says that this is the best ID key available and is complemented really well by the 'Laminated Field Guide to Land Snails' by The Conchological Society mentioned above.

This is the combo I went for. The laminated sheet is mostly just pictures with very few notes so you need the key to check things in more detail. I try and take a series of photos for the trickier ones like this trochulus striolatus Strawberry Snail. There's probably 3 or 4 identical looking snails in the laminated guide but habitat helps narrow them down using the key.

Obelixx

I have been teaching snails to swim or do long distance hiking.   We are finding dozens a day at the mo in among my treasures.  Depending on where they are I take them for a walk to the pond to entertain the frogs or I toss them in the hedgerow across the road and let them take their chances negotiating the ditch on either side and the road between and then the gravelled drive.

GemmaJF

wild edges said:

pbff said:

'Laminated Field Guide to Land Snails' by The Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland https://www.conchsoc.org/node/6281
This looks really good and is only £2. 
Imogen did say that stock is low at the moment, but more are coming in soon.

Land Snails of the British Isles FSC identification key
https://www.field-studies-council.org/shop/publications/land-snails-in-the-british-isles-2nd-edition/

Imogen says that this is the best ID key available and is complemented really well by the 'Laminated Field Guide to Land Snails' by The Conchological Society mentioned above.

This is the combo I went for. The laminated sheet is mostly just pictures with very few notes so you need the key to check things in more detail. I try and take a series of photos for the trickier ones like this trochulus striolatus Strawberry Snail. There's probably 3 or 4 identical looking snails in the laminated guide but habitat helps narrow them down using the key.

Thanks for the links and the explanation the guide is best used in conjunction with the key. I've always been a slug fan, but time to take more notice of snails. There are few common land species I know and the various native pond species, but generally it is just big ones, medium ones and small ones to me when it comes to snails.