Why does my snail roll up his poop?

[jembolina]

After my snail poops he often pulls it underneath himself and rolls it up into a little package. Do all species of snail do this? He often sleeps on it too just after he's rolled it up.

[tsrebel]

I think I've seen this behavior in all my snail species. I think it is quite common. Don't know why.

[pinkunicorn]

The normal defecation method for snails (some, but not all slugs do it differently I've observed) is to guide the fecal string from the anus next to the pneumostome with their lips and the funny wavy thing they use for moving around, foot muscles pulling the string underneath the foot as it comes out. You might see the snail reach with its head to the right underside of the shell (left if sinistral snail) and appear to do something when it's pooping. Then they often fall asleep with the poop rolled up under the foot. I assume this is because they poop after a good day's sleep but before they start their nightly activities, so instead moving off the poop they just continue sleeping. I've seen a snail poop "on the run" as well, they would appear to do this when stressed. Whenever I pick new snails and put them in a box for carrying them home, they've either pooped by the time I open the box or start pooping when I'm handling them for cleaning etc before putting them into their new homes. Then they just slime about and the poop kinda... slowly falls out in a long string.

Slugs also sleep on their poop but I've noticed they direct the strings under the foot with the help of the mantle alone. Stealth pooping, the slug can appear to be sleeping but its pneumostome is closed and there's something moving under the lower part of the mantle lol. At least Arions do it like that. Limax slugs poop out not long strings but mouse-like soft pellets, often several at once (I still wonder exactly how they do it) and somehow pull these under the foot. Deroceras slugs use their lips kind of like snails do, pulling a very funny face as if they got slug constipation lol!

Ah all the odd things one observes while taking care of molluscs... I clean out so much slug and snail poop every day, I wish I could teach them to poop in specific locations. Slugs are kind enough to poo on the substrate or on lettuce leaves which is easy to clean, but my native snails poo on the walls mostly. And all my GALS poo at the bottom of the tank underneath the substrate which is quite a pain to clean up. If I don't it gets moldy too. But I think slug poop is a happy thing in any case. If there's no poop it means the animal is sick and not eating. Checking that the snail/slug still poops is sometimes the only way to know if it's eating anything.

[jembolina]

Thanks so much!

I love my snail's pooping face He looks so serious.

It's also funny when he's sleepily peering around being cute then you notice a big ball of poop poking out from under him