Snails are a widely diverse group worldwide, and depending on their habitat, the foods they consume can vary widely. Snails have different structures that enable them to thrive in multiple habitats in their diversity on earth.
Snails have a major anatomical structure part of their general digestion called the radula. This is a mouthpart that has thousands of teeth over their tongue and jaw.
In their lives, snails will lose and replace about 25,000 teeth. This is an evolutionay advantage (similar to sharks). Snails are unique from many other animals due to their anatomical features, and are important for many an habitats.
If you’d like to gain a greater understanding of snails, refer to my other thorough article titled “Everything You Need to Know About Snails”. This reference will provide information on their lifecycle, types of habitats, species of land and water snails, etc.
In this article we’ll cover the diets of different types of snails, what do snails eat, snail action in their impacts in the garden, methods for organic control of snails, as well as ways to reduce damage from snails to plants in the garden.
Snail Diet Overview
A Snail’s Primary Diet
What do snails eat? This is dependent on the species of snail and the environment it lives in. Most terrestrial snails are herbivores, eating only plant matter.
Because there are many different species of snails, with a wide range of diets, it is difficult to pin down specific diets for specific species of snails. There are omnivores, herbivores, and carnivores.
Some species of snails have specific snails diets but in general snails are generalist eaters. This means snails tend to enjoy food from a variety of sources. Snails can eat up to 10% of their body weight in a single day! In fact, a snail can outgrow its shell if it eats too much!
Specific Dietary Preferences
To explore further into the dietary groups of what a snail’s main food preferences is, we will look at three different types of snails with different diets.
Snails As Herbivores
The Brown-Lipped Snail can also be found in your backyard garden and is a distinct snail. It is bright in color and has a shell with stripes, it is one of the most colorful and showy backyard snails.
The brown-lipped snail doesn’t cause problems as a pest, as it prefers decaying plant matter or rotting fruit more than fresh new sprouting growth. Brown-lipped snails also feed on mosses and lichens, bark, and fungi.
Snails as Omnivores
The Common Garden snail is a species of snail that is omnivorous meaning that it eats many food items. This snail is most commonly seen in backyards and gardens. This species of snail has caused adverse effects to the agricultural industry.
The Garden snail has a diet including plant matter, moss, lichen, decomposing, decaying matter, bark, fungi and fruit. This snail is also consumers of garden vegetables and tender new plant growth.
This species of snail is known to also eat small insects, worms and decaying animal matter.
Snails as Carnivores
The Rosy Wolf snail is a predatory snail that eats slugs and snails. It has also been referred to as a cannibalistic snail because it will also eat snails of its own species.
This snail is detrimental to other snail species because it is invasive and has wiped out populations of native snails. For example, in Hawaii, it is responsible for the extinction of many native snail species.
Other prey of carnivorous snails are other small insects, centipedes, and worms.
Snail Habitat And How It Affects Diet Preferences
Snails live in many different places across the world (except Antarctica!). Snails have many habitats including:
- Terrestrial habitats
- Freshwater habitats
- Saltwater habitats
The environment the snail species live in affects their food source. Let’s further explore how land snails differ in diet from the snails in marine ecosystems.
Terrestrial Snails
Terrestrial snails live entirely on land, so they can be found in a garden, a forest, in fields, deserts, and more. Typically terrestrial snail diets consist of:
- Leaves
- Flowers
- Fungai
- Bark
- Lichen
- Fruits
- Veggies
- Grasses
Freshwater Snails
Freshwater snails live in lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands. Freshwater snails typically eat:
- Algae
- Aquatic plants- submerged and floating.
- Decomposing organic matter- plant and animal
Marine Snails
Depending on the species, marine snails eat a wide range of food. Some marine snails are herbivores, where others are carnivorous and omnivorous. Marine snails can be found in brackish water and oceans. Marine snails typically eat:
- Algae
- Aquatic plants
- Fish
- Other snails
- Dead organisms
Snail Diet In The Garden
Garden Plants That Snails Prefer
A snail’s dietary preference for tender leafy greens, young shoots, and plant roots of newly emerging seedlings has earned them the reputation as a garden pest.
Although snails play an important role in the ecosystem and are harmless in small quantities, they can have an adverse effect on your garden plants when huge swaths of them are introduced.
Snails play a bigger role in the spring-early summer when newly transplanted seedlings are left to fend for themselves in the garden.
Plants Snails like
Here is a list of a snails food source from the garden:
- Succulents
- Leafy crops like:
- Lettuce
- Chard
- Cabbage
- Spinach
- Veggies like:
- Peas
- Cucumber
- Pumpkin
- Melons
- Celery
- Zucchini
- Sunflower seedlings
Impact On Gardens
Snails contribute significantly in nutrient recycling. In other words, as it relates to decomposition, snails actually help the decomposition of plant material by a third, through increase of decomposition time. Snails enhance further decompose plant materials.
Snails also help with the show how snails contribute, once again by breaking down nitrogen compounds found inside plants, and they make nitrogen easier for plants to absorb.
Plants need nitrogen to grow; thus, the compounds being broken down by snails helps aid plant growth. Ding, ding, ding! Snails are essential for plant growth! The snails’ contributions in the nitrification cycle works for both terrestrial and aquatic environments.
Managing Snail Infestations
Although snails are an important part of their ecosystem, they can be pests in the garden and agricultural industry.
Since most terrestrial snails are herbivores, when their population starts to build up, they can have an adverse effect on your plant’s growth success. Their negative impact on crops is being able to consume as much as 40% of their weight in a single day.
Tips For Gardeners On Managing Snails And Protecting Plants
A lot of gardeners have posed the following question: how do you repel or control snails from the plants you have in your garden? Below we cover both preventative measures and control measures you can take if a population of snails begins to negatively impact your plants.
Preventive Measures
Snails have soft bodies and can’t handle sharp edges, so when you bring in rough materials you can deter snails. Here are a few excellent snail deterrents for gardeners that will help you to avoid infestations of snails:
- Mulch: Use wood chips as mulch to prevent slugs from getting to the delicate plants.
- Eggshells: Sprinkle crushed eggshells around the plants. Snails can not pass through this barrier because of the sharp edge of the egg shell material.
- Sheep Wool: This is an organic, earth friendly option and also provides mulch. Snails and slugs will not cross wool barriers because they do not like the feeling of wool on their soft bodys.
- Diatomaceous Earth: This is a destructive method so know what you are doing before using this method as a preventive option. Diatomaceous earth is a powder with very sharp microscopic edges. Slugs will be cut and die from dehydration. Again, do not put diatomaceous earth directly onto the plants, you can wear gloves to use and handle.
Control Strategies
If you find yourself dealing with snail and slug populations, an ecological remediation strategy and control method provides an easy answer for getting rid of snails on your land.
Deploying ducks onto your property is one of the best ways of eliminating snails and slugs. Ducks love a snail snack and are great foragers. Adding waterfowl to your property could be the most sustainable and regenerative solution for controlling snail populations!
Another method of controlling our snail and slug populations is using beer traps.
Note: This method kills snails and slugs so ensure you do your own research before trying this preventative method. Pour beer into a margarine container and sink. Place in various areas of the garden. Snails love beer and will be attracted to the trap, and then they will enter the beer pool to drown.
Impact On Agriculture
If they go unchecked, snails can be hugely detrimental to the agricultural industry in so many ways. Here are some ways that snails impact agriculture.
Economic And Environmental Impact
Plant Damage
Slugs feed on all varieties of plants, which can stop plant growth, pose stress to plants, and possibly cause death. Each of these occurrences disrupts economic value of agriculture.
Impact On Yield
Once plants are damaged and dying, the yields are greatly decreased. Once yields decrease, the economy and food security suffer as a result in agriculture.
Invasive Species
The giant African land snail is an invasive species can feed on over 500 varieties of plants. This snail does the worst damage to agricultural crops. This species also transmits a parasite, rat lungworm. This parasite can be transmitted to humans and cause meningitis.
Snails Are Unique Creatures
Snails are fascinating and unique creatures with a wide range of habitats and diets, which means snails represent a important organism type in their ecosystems as well, and should be respected in the garden.
If you do have population infestation, organic, regenerative methods ususally always are the best content option. Get curious about these creatures and their importance on the planet!