will ants attack my wild snail if I let him go???

[snaillover66]

Ok...I have a friend who had three garden snails for several years, then decided to set them free and they were almost instantly attacked and killed by ants. I have a snail who came from my garden, and I am worried...if I do decide to set him free, does this commonly happen? My friend thought that something about being kept as pets made her snails especially attractive food for ants. I am worried that my snail might be happier back in his wild home, but I do NOT want him to be eaten by ants!!! Does keeping wild snails as pets make them somehow more vulnerable when they are returned to the wild? Thanks!

[coyote]

I've never heard of this before. I've let native snails free in my yard, and the ants ignore them. The only time I've seen ants on a snail was after the snail had died. I don't know why the ants attacked your friend's snail.

[lee2211]

Same here, I usually see snails that have been stood on with ants around them,
did she deffinately see the ants attack her snails?

[snaillover66]

Thanks for the reassuring comments! It does seem a little weird that my friend's snails were attacked...I didn't see it, so who knows what happened, maybe the snails were already injured or something.

[lee2211]

I think they may have died of natural causes, and the ants were taking advantage of the food source.
It would be interesting, terrible but interesting if the ants did attack the snail. I mean, I really couldn't see them attacking something that big, especially if it's alive first.