You Know You're Snail-Obsessed When...

[malacophile]

I thought this would be a fun thread to start after my boyfriend brought up the idea. You know you're snail-obsessed when...

- You go grocery shopping, look at an item and say, "I wonder if the snails would like this?" and toss it in the cart.
- You describe snails as charming.
- Other people talk about the funny thing their kid did last night-- You talk about the funny thing your snail did last night.
- You're so full from dinner and can't finish the leftovers, so you give them to your snails.
- Half of your garden is dedicated to feeding them.

[tsrebel]

- you always keep a small box with air holes with you in case you stumble across an interesting snail.
- your home decorating consists of making new places (stands, shelves) for your snailariums.
- you think about getting a larger apartment just because you've run out of space for more snails.
- you judge a plant by it's ability to tolerate constant wet roots, low light and their general suitability for a snailarium.
- you see any box/container of any material as a potential snailarium.
- your storage space has a substantial amount of "has been" and "could become" snailariums.
- you envy people in southern parts of the world - not for the climate, but for the amount of interesting snails.

Great thread! I think I might have reached quite a high level of snail obsession

[shivles]

You have regular arguments with your boyfriend about having the snailairum in the living room

You watch them roam about the tank for hours

You have an album on Facebook dedicated to snail pictures and viciously defend them when people say they're gross

You stroke their heads like they're dogs, then get excited when they seem to be enjoying it

You think about putting the heating on on the 4th September because the temp has dropped a couple of degrees in the tanks

You wonder if you could sneak another tank into the cupboard under the TV

[muddydragon]

Love this! (especially the facebook album and people saying they're gross!)

You move snails off the pavement/road to stop them being squished/ yell snail at people as they are walking along to tell them to watch out and not crush it

You obsessively search local ads/ebay/freecycle for more glass tanks.

You spend far too much time on a certain forum and comment on this thread

You give up on buying small amounts of limestone flour and just go for the full 25kg for horses

You make your food choices on what would make good leftovers for snails.

Your snails get better food than you do

you actually loose count of the number of thermostats and heatmats you own and spare ones start turning up in random locations where you couldn't possibly have left them

You have a million "spare" containers

You have a large cupboard and large percentage of the garage dedicated to snail equipment (dried foods, coir blocks, dried sphagnum, calcium sources etc)

You're always on the lookout for other foods for your snails

You spend hours trying to persuade your snails they want their photos taken.

you use the following excuse "well i want to keep some of the babies from my snails, but i don't want to inbreed them, therefore i HAVE to buy some unrelated snails to breed them with oh and whilst i'm getting those i should get..."

every single snail has a name and you can tell them all apart whilst everyone else hasn't a clue, and when you introduce your snails to someone you tell them every single name in one huge list

You decide floor space is unnecessary and extravagant and fill it with tanks instead

If you breed your snails you always want to keep ALL the babies rather than just some

people introduce you as "this is X, she/he has snails"

you can't help but look at all the lovely other snails available on websites such as landsnails.org and wish you could keep that many

When away you panic that you can't hear the random snail noises as you go to sleep

you can't help but peruse the classifieds despite the fact you currently can't really keep more... well maybe a few...

[vickyholt13]

Haha love all these it describes us all perfectly I was giggling away reading going that's me hehe.

- You watch the snails instead of the tv
- constantly plan space for more snail tanks ( I'm full to bursting)
- you go to the garden centre for a plant for a family or friend and come back with plant pot bases for food and water and a new spray bottle for the snails
- you spend you evenings grinding various seeds and other animal food because you can wait to see the snails faces at you new concoction
- constantly comment on how cute you snails have been.
- tell random people the species of snail you spot on the path or in the garden ( found myself telling a fence builder the other day he looked at me as though I was a freak)

[malacophile]

These are great, guys!

- All the lights are out and you're about to go to bed, but you still have your face plastered to the side of the snailarium and...
- You can actually tell what they're doing just from the vague silhouettes.
- The sounds of munching, popping and other weird snail noises puts you to sleep at night.
- You peer fascinatedly into their breathing hole whenever the opportunity presents itself.
- You just love it when they chow on your fingers, and it somehow manages to be cute even when they draw blood and...
- You feel flattered that they think you're delicious enough to do so.

[johananv]

People that you don't know bring you snails and slugs because they heard that you like mollusks....

Your mother refers to your newly-hatched snails/slugs as her grandchildren.

You assume that it is perfectly natural to prepare food for your snails with the same utensils that your human housemates use, much to their dismay.

Places are remembered as 'the place where I found that snail' ......

[Cashell]

Sept 4, 2013 19:34:23 GMT johananv said:

People that you don't know bring you snails and slugs because they heard that you like mollusks....

Your mother refers to your newly-hatched snails/slugs as her grandchildren.

You assume that it is perfectly natural to prepare food for your snails with the same utensils that your human housemates use, much to their dismay.

Places are remembered as 'the place where I found that snail' ......

The moment I saw that line... I just knew... That I had to do... what I had to do!

[vallery]

Ha! Ha! Those are all so great.

You know when your snail obsessed when you can't wait for it to rain., and you actually like going out in the rain snailing.
Or when you take more photographs of your snails then your family, and even hang them on your wall with your family photos.
You start journaling about your snails instead of your life.
You talk baby talk to them even though they can't hear you, unfortunately your family can.

vallery

[shivles]

Sept 4, 2013 19:34:23 GMT johananv said:

People that you don't know bring you snails and slugs because they heard that you like mollusks....

Your mother refers to your newly-hatched snails/slugs as her grandchildren.

You assume that it is perfectly natural to prepare food for your snails with the same utensils that your human housemates use, much to their dismay.

Places are remembered as 'the place where I found that snail' ......

FPMSL! 

[latebloomer]

All the above plus my son looking through my grocery shopping bag and saying "that's for the snails, that's for the dogs, that's for the snails - oh finally something for the humans"

[malacophile]

- You take an empty suitcase and containers with you on vacation just so you can bring back snails, slugs and moss.
- You consider smuggling your pet snails onto Amtrak because you don't want to be away from them for two weeks (but change your mind once you realize it's a bad idea).

[moon]

You spend money you can't really afford, on organic fruit & veg, because you are worried about pesticides.

You keep seeing tiny baby snails everywhere, then, when you put your glasses on, you realise it's a piece of grit or small stone!

You check the tanks constantly to make sure they are ok, and panic if you can't see one, incase it has escaped, even though you know there is no way it can get out.

You dream about snails at night!

[malacophile]

Sept 10, 2013 21:15:01 GMT moon said:

You dream about snails at night!

This was me last night! I was at some college frathouse (??!) and kept finding them everywhere. I even found some GALS, and one was horribly retracted. I wanted to bring him home and take care of him, but I lost him and couldn't find him before I woke up.

[vallery]

Oh No I hope you have happy dreams about snailies from now on.

[Cashell]

Here are my top ten (No order)

#1 "You go grocery shopping, look at an item and say, "I wonder if the snails would like this?" and toss it in the cart."
Yep, I like to experiment with new vegetables and fruits for both myself and my snails.

#2 "You describe snails as charming."
There are many words and adjectives I use to describe snails, so "charming" definitely sums it up!

#3 "you think about getting a larger apartment just because you've run out of space for more snails."
Even though I haven't run out of space, I still include this one because I still would like to have a nice, larger home to house many things including snails.

#4 "you can't help but look at all the lovely other snails available on websites such as landsnails.org and wish you could keep that many"
Heck yes!

#5 "You stroke their heads like they're dogs, then get excited when they seem to be enjoying it"
I don't really stroke mine per se, but I do enjoy poking at their tentacles and sides during cleaning.

#6 "You have a million "spare" containers"
Yes.

#7 "You peer fascinatedly into their breathing hole whenever the opportunity presents itself"
Yes, I'm curious about what lies deep within my snails.

#8 "You know when your snail obsessed when you can't wait for it to rain., and you actually like going out in the rain snailing"
This line really speaks to me.... From elementary school up until now!

#9 "You watch them roam about the tank for hours"
Not quite hours, but many minutes onward!

#10 "you envy people in southern parts of the world - not for the climate, but for the amount of interesting snails"
Oh yes! I envy those Europeans too, for their freedom to own Giant African Land Snails and all the other "serious threatening pests" .

[latebloomer]

You know you cant have any more real ones so you start collecting snail ornaments and they are everywhere

[shivles]

You launch into a full 20 minute explanation of your snail breeding program to anyone who will listen

[slinky]

You include them when signing cards!
You REALLY want to kiss them and describe them as beautiful!
They eat a more varied diet than you.
You cant help but hand pic 5 special dog biscuits and dont care when they sales assistant looks at you like you are mad, whenever you go to pets at home.

[elina]

Hahaha,I totally am obsessed

[ultrapoi]

you know you are obsessed when cooking sunday dinner, you have a separate pan boiling up their own snailmash. and they get served first.

[Cashell]

Nov 10, 2013 18:48:13 GMT ultrapoi said:

you know you are obsessed when cooking sunday dinner, you have a separate pan boiling up their own snailmash. and they get served first.

Lol It sounds like your snails must live like celebrities!

[greyphoenix]

You know you're obsessed when your first snail hasn't even arrived yet and you spend hours each day reading about them anyway, and have a deep urge to kiss your snails the moment they arrive...

[ultrapoi]

also, you think 'rainbow poo's' are hilarious and point them out to people visiting - and wonder why they look horrifed....

[kb.trekkie]

Lol!