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[Liguus]

What is the blog address?

[Liguus]

I will give you a tip on what you are going to do: delete everything with location data.

[Liguus]

I did not interpret my comment as aggressive at all. It's just the smartest option so why even entertain other ideas?

Here's the problem: The population is not that large. It's a good idea to keep it as secret as possible, not advertise it to the whole world. I have had many inquiries about it from people trying to start an escargot business in the US. It would wipe them out in a very short time, trust me, I've been to the locations and seen the actual numbers. The thing with pomatia is that they are very slow at reproducing. much slower than other snails, so the populations do not grow very fast, and it is difficult for them to recover from collection. Same with people wanting to collect Liguus. They go out of their way to post GPS coordinates on my video for any lunatic to see. There also was a guy asking if tree snails could be used as food for reptiles, because he saw a new market opportunity.

The harder it is for people to find out where to find these snails the better. I would love to share snail location data with honest hobbyists who won't mess with the snails, but too many people have taken advantage of me so now I just tell people I found them "outside".

[Liguus]

I really don't know. I have many snail videos on my youtube page, but all of them are absent of location data. I made it a personal guideline that I absolutely will not tell anyone where I found any species. Sharing photos and videos is enough for me. I also wanted to share info, but people talk and I don't want to risk the info getting into the wrong hands.

I run a small snail store for distribution in the US. After just a few orders I saw people already copying the idea to run their own business. With caracolus I guess I don't care very much, but I know people would love to start selling Orthalicus since it's one of the only legal snails for distribution across the entire US. I haven't even sold ONE Orthalicus yet because I don't want to collect and sell on a mass scale just to make a profit. I rely on captive breeding. Many people don't share that view though and one of my fears is that if an Orthalicus hobby grows enough it will put the species on an Species of Special Concern list due to everybody going out to collect a bucket full. People told me they wish they could obtain over a 1000 to sell for profit.

The unfortunate truth is that obtaining location data is not super difficult, but I just don't want to make it any easier for anyone.

[Liguus]

Feb 11, 2017 0:07:20 GMT @indiggogirl said:

You said that you haven't sold ONE Orthalicus, yes that may be true but you are planning to. And you have sold H. Pomatia right? I don't see a problem with that but it seems like your protecting your business too?

I rely on captive breeding of the Orthalicus mainly, and responsible collection to start my own captive population. I trust myself with them, but like I said I could see someone going out and collecting 1000 to sell (since they literally told me their desire to do so).

I do not sell any Helix pomatia. They are illegal to mail across the US.

Yes, I have thought about replenishing the populations if there is a need to. I've been in contact with the FL FWS about the tree snails and they are interested in how my captive population does. But trying to replenish a pomatia pop'n is another story...they are not supposed to be there in the first place. It's just a nice remnant of an escape which I think could easily disapper.

If I really cared about being a businessman I would have had more than 3 sales in the past year. The first priority is the well being of the snail populations.

I'm not saying that I don't trust you, I just hate when info is out in the public for everyone to see. It's not that I'm against EVERYONE who wants to go see Helix, Liguus, or Orthalicus...But I had to wait ten years until I was able to get transportation and location info, so why not make it that hard for everyone?

[Cashell]

You guys are lucky to be quarreling over helix pomatia living in your country, LOL! Really wish we had them up here in Canada too. I know helix aspersa is here, but it's too bad helix pomatia isn't, and is one of the species that happens to be a prohibited importation.

[Liguus]

Feb 11, 2017 21:03:25 GMT @indiggogirl said:

I am almost 100% that you are lying about never selling H.Pomatia. You were selling them. This is from your FB page "Helix Pomatia available for Illinois residents. $10 each (adult) + $7 2-day priority shipping. I also do wholesale orders (7 days would be required to prepare a wholesale)." What the heck? You're not only selling them but you sell them wholesale? 

If you read the earlier posts I made I mentioned "capitive breeding"... Anyways, I ended up selling ZERO Helix since I decided the stock was too low. You can make a public post on my page asking anybody if they got a wholesale or even small order of H. pomatia from me. Nice job trying to "dig up dirt" on me...

[Cashell]

Feb 12, 2017 1:45:49 GMT @indiggogirl said:

Yes that it very true, it should have never gotten to this. You make a great point though we should just both be happy it's here. Thank you for that ! Btw what kind of snails do you keep? 

When they're in season, I keep cepaea nemoralis, neohelix albolabris, anguispira alternata and achatina varicosa😏.

There's supposed to be more living in my province, but I have yet to get my hands on them.