Living in the moist Pacific Northwest, snails and slugs are everywhere.  Though I consider slugs in my gardens a pest, finding snails in the wild is a treat.

These photos of two different snails of the same species, were taken on the Long Beach Peninsula – WA – USA.

 “…most native snails and slugs go unnoticed as they feed on plants, fungi, or an array of decaying organic material. A few are predators. Their alien nature can be fascinting — legless hermaphrodites, love darts, tails that can be lost like a lizard’s, and plenty of mucus.”

Cepaea nemoralis Common names: Banded wood snail, grove snail

Family: Helicidae

This is a highly variable snail. Shells range from brown to yellow to pink, with or without stripes.

Diet: Dead, usually dry, plant material.
Behavior: Good climber. Uses love darts to improve reproductive success. We’ve found that they really like eating paper.
Where in Oregon: Scattered from the Portland metro area to Canby.
Similar exotics to look for: Cepaea hortensis, the white lipped snail, which is smaller. When mature, C. hortensis typically has a pale lip while C. nemoralis has a brown lip. Suspected C. hortensis should be reported to ODA.

Click to access ODAGuideMolluscs2016ForWeb.pdf

Silence