Friend, foe, or escargot?

May 24, 2008 2:07 PM

Help me identify this garden snail, please? Most of the info I've found on garden snails is centered on the Pacific Northwest & California. I'm in Philly, and am unsure as to what varieties of snails are common on the east coast.

Photos of my critters here.

The shell is quite flat -- flatter than the photos of the brown garden snail (in the second photo, you can see an empty shell behind the snail.) They're not shy -- when I pick them up, they only retreat into their shell if tapped. Otherwise they unhesitatingly and lasciviously stretch out. The one modeling for photos was getting cuddly with my finger five seconds after I plucked him from his lair. They seem to be concentrated mostly around the concrete blocks, but I've found them throughout the planter.

In case this is relevant (as I'm a gardening n00b), these are in a cement-block planter which has contained tulips, daffodils, ivy, a rosebush, and many weeds, including a very healthy infestation of morning glory.

posted by desuetude to home & garden (3 comments total)

You might check the Land Snails of PA site.
posted by caroljean63 at 6:16 PM on May 24, 2008

i tried my google-fu and failed. i only found the site that caroljean pointed out. though, i have to say, it's a neat site and i find it very sad that your snails are not armed snaggletooths, because that would be awesome.

it looks kinda like this one, though that seems to be an oregon snail...

okay, i've spent too much time looking at snails now...
posted by misanthropicsarah at 10:33 PM on May 24, 2008

I think that is either a Mesodon or Neohelix, although I am not sure which species. There are a couple that have that paler lip (like Neohelix albolabris, whose name even means "white lip") but I can't tell which one you have.
posted by nekton at 3:18 PM on June 22, 2008