So what do snails eat? It's a question that does tend to baffle people. They seem not to have a mouth when you look at them, and they also sit on the leaves they are apparently trying to consume, so we're not sure how that works either!
Before we look at what they eat, it may be worth looking into how they actually eat. You might not be able to see it, by a snail does have a tiny mouth next to his smaller tentacles on the lower side of its head.
Just inside his mouth is the radula, a special eating muscle which is a little like a tongue. however it is covered with millions of tiny teeth. The snail uses his radula to rasp and scrape at whatever it is he is trying to eat slowly breaking it down into a mush which can easily be digested.
What do snail eat?
So enough about how, lets look at the question in hand. What do snails eat? Well they are hardly fussy eaters, they are vegetarians so steak will never be on the menu, however in the woodlands where they tend to graze, a snail will quite happily eat leaves, stems and roots, along with mushrooms fruit.
A snail will always prefer eating living vegetation, leaves like this tend to be fresher and more enjoyable. However they will also quite happily have a nibble on decaying vegetation. The complex bacteria in a snail’s innards keep him from getting ill and allow him to eat pretty much whatever he wants.
All these fresh leaves and grasses are fine when food is in abundance, which it often is for snails in woodland area, but when food is hard to find Mr snail will still manage to maintain a healthy appetite. They can survive quite happily on plant bark, flower petals and even on algae often found in ponds. In order to keep a healthy shell our snail will also enjoy eating limestone and chalk from rocks, they will even munch there way through cardboard and paper.
Many ask the question 'what do snails eat ?' without expecting the answer to include cardboard, paper, limestone and chalk. You see, and you thought the eating habits of snails would be boring!
The limestone and chalk are important supplements to a snails diet, these substances are high in calcium which will keep the snail’s shell strong and healthy, important incase of attack from a hungry bird. calcium is used very much like a human uses it to strenghten teeth and other bones.
General snail chat
The eating habits of our friendly snail can be better explained if you have a grounding in general snail science. Many people study what snails eat at school but often have fairly poor general knowledge about the creatures.
Snails are actually found in a number of different environments, from gardens to bogs and even deserts. Snails also live in ditches, in damp buildings, and even in the sea. In fact, the vast majority of snails live under the sea, many deep in the ocean under rocks and coral. Others are found in fresh water in ponds and streams.
Almost all snails are herbivorous (vegetarians) like mentioned before, and most are fairly placid creatures who happily gad about in their shells without saying boo to a goose. Snails move by gliding along the ground on their muscular foot, which is moist with mucus. This motion is very clever and interesting to watch. It is powered by successions of muscular waves.
So, in answer to the question what do snails eat, well the ones that live on the land will have a munch on pretty much anything, but favorites include mushrooms,flowers, bark, algae, limestone, chalk, fruit, leaves, and even paper and card!
- Snails how become irritating whilst munching on your plants and grass can be killed easily with beer or salt
- Snails will really have a munch on anything, they have been known to feast happily on damp paper, card and magazines.
- There are hundreds and hundreds of species of snail, many people keep larger sea snails in tanks or aquariums
- Snail are propelled along the ground using a single muscular foot lubricated with mucus
- In many countries, its not so much about what do snails eat, its more about humans eating snails
- A giraffe can easily clean its ears with a 20 inch long toungue
- Many people like snails but dislike slugs, the shells do make the creatures slightly easier on the eye.
the eating habits of the common garden snail and underwater sea snail
Copyright © August, 2008 Russet Moose Brian Horn - Cheshire, UK
