UKC

OK, I posted a free ad in the for sale/wanted section a few days ago saying my brothers snails had mated and there were 34 babies which wanted homes.

There are now over 100 babies and several more hundred eggs have been found.

Help!

Celia won't kill them, although has put the unhatched eggs in the compost.

I have explained it's a really, really bad idea to do this or otherwise release them because they are an invasive species and (as they've discovered) prolific breeders.

Paul is hoping the eggs will get eaten by birds before they hatch and Syston is overrun by giant snails.

What do you do with hundreds of baby snails?

This is probably why they are banned in America.

In reply to Jaffacake:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/snailporridge_74858.shtml

In reply to JLS: lol brilliant

In reply to JLS:

Hahaha!

I don't think Celia would be too happy if Paul cooked them. I think she may struggle finding a not-killing-the-snails way of disposing of them though. She might be able to keep them now but once they are big I think they'll struggle with room, not to mention they'll start making more babies...

I wonder if there are any posh restaurants that need a snail supplier.

In reply to Jaffacake:

Qu. 1: Who's Celia?

Qu. 2: Who's Paul?

In reply to Fraser:

Celia is the secretary of the Giant African Land Snail Liberation front and Paul is a neo facist Norfolk poulterer whose only interest is in fattening up his birds.

...anyway the chances of any snails being eaten by unhatched birds is pretty slim.

S

In reply to Jaffacake: I have a hermit crab who would be more than happy to have a few (for dinner) I had two crabs until recently when one was moulting and got eaten by the other

I expect he'd love some snails, would Celia approve of that?!

Cx

In reply to Clears:

I doubt it, but it seems much nicer to me than just killing them (lets be honest, she can't keep over 100 snails!).

I strongly suspect many will become food. I wonder if the eggs are small enough for my terrapin to eat. Another friend wants to feed them to his snake.

In reply to someone else:

Oops, sorry, Paul is my brother, Celia is his girlfriend he lives with, who owns the snails (originally owned because her friend had some that had lots of babies and she took some away to save them), and is reluctant to let them die.

In reply to Jaffacake: Well there you go, problem sorted!

Let's face it humans eat other animals for food, other animals eat other animals for food so it would be the most natural thing for your terrapin, an others snake and my hermit crab to have a lovely slap up snail meal!

Cx

In reply to Jaffacake:

My friends have them and I'm afraid the only way is to crush the eggs as they are produced - which seems to be an endless process!...

Putting them in the compost sounds like a really bad and irresponsible idea, and I'd try and salvage them as dispose of them before they start proliferating in the wild...

Good luck!

In reply to Clears:

My brother is all for you having as many as you like for your crab, he's just gonna check with Celia (and explain that keeping them means in a year they have to have a house completely full of tanks (rather than keep them together so they don't make more babies), which they don't really have the space for)

Assuming she approves I can probably drop some off to you this weekend (or any other) I live in Maypole, which I don't think is too far from Solihull (well, we seem to drive there often enough anyway), if you're actually interested?

In reply to Jaffacake:
My snail getting it on knowledge isn't great but why dont they keep the girls seperate from the lads? wouldn't that solve problems.

In reply to johnSD:

Yes, this is what I'll be suggesting he does!

A compost heap sounds like a nice place the eggs would quite like to be and would probably hatch well in.

In reply to Hannah S:

They are heamophrodites, while they can't mate with themselves any two can make babies.

In reply to Jaffacake: Ooh yes please! Seriously I think my crab would love it, it was very sad when I found it eating it's tank mate but then that's nature for you!

Cx

And yes, Maypole is just down the road

In reply to Jaffacake:
Ah the problem makes sense now.

In reply to Clears:

Excellent, well I'm going up there this afternoon and will be there till Tuesday, so whenever's good for you really.

How many would you like? You really can have as many as you want! Celia has accepted she can't keep them and agrees that them being food for something else is better than just killing them.

In reply to Jaffacake:
snail caviar anyone?

In reply to Jaffacake:

seems to remember being told that some people feed the eggs to their goldfish (and they really love them)

In reply to Jaffacake: Where in the Midlands are you based?

I love snails and would be willing to try to home 1 or 2... (Not much help when there are hundreds I know, but I mean well!!)

In reply to Jaffacake:
Eat them. They are quite good, though not quite as tender as our own garden snails. At least you're getting millions of the randy feckers for free.

In reply to Jaffacake: I guess the question that no one has asked so far is. Why do they have snails as pets?

In reply to Bingly Bong:

At the moment I'm living in Leicester during the week, and Birmingham at the weekends.

Even just taking one or two would still be great, besides I'm sure Celia would be happy for some to escape becoming something else's dinner!

In reply to Frank4short:

yeah....i also thought they were considered a pest in some countries.

In reply to Frank4short:

Good question that I've never quite understood. They just kinda sit there being slimy really.

She got them because her friend had some which had lots of babies and so she re-homed some.

In reply to Jaffacake: YHM

Cx

In reply to Jaffacake: Cool, I'm Leicester too. Will email you!

In reply to Jaffacake: I think you need to tell Celia she could be on the brink of her very own ecological disaster if she doent kill them, or lets any get away.

In reply to Al Evans:

That is a very good point.

OP: Google Cane Toads, and see the eponymous film if possible, to see what you might be brewing up. Eat them, asap.

In reply to Jaffacake: Before Celia decides to dump any more eggs into the compost, you may want to point her in the direction of this site, which outlines the legislation involved with releasing non-native species in the UK.
She may change her mind about allowing the snails to become food for other animals when faced with the possibility of a large fine and/or imprisonment.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/wildlife-manage/non-native/leg...

In reply to Al Evans:

Don't worry, she says she dumped the soil on the compost without realising it was full of eggs, has since collected up what she could and has poured boiling water on the pile just in case some remain.

I'm hoping the eggs make good Terry-food