Hmm is it illegal to have a garden snail?

[sluggishsnails137]

People keep saying its illegal to have certain snails, is a brown garden snail illegal too?

[Paul]

I think certain rare snails are protected and some slightly more common species are still being considered, such as Helix pomatia. The chances are however, that you can keep the snail you found.

[Ruth]

Even if it's not illegral its a little unkind, don't you think?, to take a wild snail and keep it as a pet in solitary comfinement fior the rest of it's days

You asked in another thread why he isn't coming out of his shell, well its probably because he doesn't enjoy/ isn't used to being handled.

Why don't you get some GALS, you'd probably find them much more enjoyable to look after as they can become extremely tame.

[deadmansfinger]

I would put the wild snail back outside. Let it enjoy the life it was used to and get some captive-bred GALS or similar for indoors. The best place you can watch an animal is in its natural habitat.
If you prefer smaller snails I will have some Chocolate Swirell snails for sale in a couple of months which are similar in size to our native species. (any excuse to turn a thread into a sales-pitch )

Brian.

[Deleted]

ruth said:

Even if it's not illegral its a little unkind, don't you think?, to take a wild snail and keep it as a pet in solitary comfinement fior the rest of it's days

Why don't you get some GALS, you'd probably find them much more enjoyable to look after as they can become extremely tame.

All of our GALS were taken from the wild once..

and if the snail is cared for well I don't see anything wrong with it. There's no bad weather, no predators, never a lack of food like there is in the wild.

why is keeping a wild-caught snail worse than a captive-bred snail?

[deadmansfinger]

cause it's like taking you from your home and sticking you in a cage and saying you now live in these conditions and will eat what I decide to feed you. I think you'd put up a hell of a fight.
With captive bred snails they essentially don't know any better.
I do admit to sometimes feeling guily about the lignus since they are wild caught but I kinda justify that by seeing that people are now getting eggs from them (including myself) so if we can get a strong captive bred population then there will be no need for wild caught specimens. I also feel if you can see these snails in there natural habitat ie by looking outside why is there a need to bring them indoors and keep them in tubs?

For me personally I keep the animals I do because they are not from this country. If all GALS etc were wild here I wouldn't keep them as pets, I would want to view them outside in a natural setting. I am not saying it's wrong to keep UK snail species indoors but I do wonder if it is necessary or fair on the snails?
Saying that, if you were breeding some of the rarer species then returning the young to the wild then this could be seen as acceptable but not sure if this applies to all the common varieties.
sure everyone will have there own opinion on this. but keeping lots of indigenous snail species just for the hell of having them I don't feel is right.

Brian.

[LisaLQ]

I feel the same about native species, although I dont about GALS. Many of our GALS were in the wild, plucked out of it to either be someone's pet or dinner. So I am a big hypocrite. But that's why I put back the garden snail Kathy kicked by accident, couldn't bear the thought of it being in my house when it's home was only outside my back door.

[sezzy5889]

I do feel guilty to an extent keeping wildcaught GALS but not a lot because it's not our fault and the only other future destined for them is death, if i could return them to the wild then i would, it's just the fact i can't and i just feel happy for rescuing them in the first place :-)

As for garden snails, i do feel they would be far better off in the garden and nearly all the garden snails i have kept even for a couple of years have eventually been returned to the wild :-)

[deadmansfinger]

8 of my margies are wild caught but they came to me via brixton (and anjie ) so it is better I have them than they get eaten so I can handle that.

I can't see any justification for taking wild snails from our gardens and keeping them in tubs in the house when we are able to go outside and see them in there natural surroundings.


Brian.

[Deleted]

You don't know that a snail can appreciate the freedom of being in the wild. They're probably happy with having food, warmth, moisture.

[deadmansfinger]

but for all we know it does.
why take an animal from its ecosystem just for your own pleasure?

[Deleted]

the whole idea of pets is them being for your own pleasure.

[deadmansfinger]

but you can see them in the wild, in there natural habitat, there behaviour there can't compare to in a tub in your room.
I keep the animals I do because I cannot see them in there natural habitat. If bearded dragons, giant millipedes and GALS were in my back garden I wouldn't take them and put them in a tank in my room. There are so many species of snails/slugs available why take native ones from your garden?

[Paul]

I think that regardless of where they are found you have to apply the same reasoning as to whether they can be successfully cared for in captivity. If we keep African snails successfully and we don't deem it to be cruel in any way, then surely that same logic can be applied to native ones, otherwise it comes down to a simple matter of convenience for the owner.

I don't see a problem with caring for native snails, in fact it can serve a very useful function because someone who is thinking of getting some snails can keep a native one to see if they like it, and if they don't they can be easily returned to the wild before they are sat with loads of tropical snails in front of them and no homes for them to go to.

The snails I took in from my yard for various reasons, usually injury, did fantastically well, laying loads of eggs and growing much, much faster than their wild counterparts and with much stronger, thicker shells. I returned them after a few months, with probably a better chance of surviving due to their nourishment. When I see so many smashed snails during summer I wish I could do the same for them all.

All I'm saying is that it makes sense for a first-time owner to pick something they can easily give up on to make sure they know it is what they want before they end up with a pet that can live for 10 years. Plus, because European snails are small, you can keep them in a much larger enclosure comparitively than giant snails, so it could be argued that it is, in fact, better to keep them.

[apple]

I agree entirely with Paul.
Actually,I´m keeping native species for an exposition here, on the malacology institut, some for people that are interested in keeping them ( foreign people), some because are very rare and I would love to breed and release them in suitable places.
If a person wants to keep a garden snail, that can be done, in good conditions, without any harm for the snail. It´s only a matter of conscience.
But if I had those snails in the garden I would rather prefer to see them free there, than on a tank, unless I have strong reasons to do it.

[deadmansfinger]

I guess everyone has there own reasons for keeping the pets that they do.

Brian.

[apple]

deadmansfinger said:

I guess everyone has there own reasons for keeping the pets that they do.

Brian.

I thought that was clear for all. Just seemed that not all liked the idea of a snail that you can find in your garden be kept in a tank, when you have them in the wild outside. For me it´s merely a question of conditions,conscience, likes and motivation, and why not, of your own reasons.

[incantrix]

I found a damaged wild snail and kept it for a while until its shell had recovered. It never stopped trying to escape though even though it had plenty of food and was thriving in its tank. I even introduced another snail of the same kind but they both seemed determined to escape the tank. Handling them in any way, or doing anything in the tank like cleaning it out seemed to stress them out a lot and they'd both retreat into their shells for quite a long time.

By contrast my GALs will happily sit on my hand and be fed and even touching their heads doesn't cause them to retract their eye stalks or show any sign of alarm. If I take the largest one out and handle it then put it back in its tank it climbs back up to the point where I took him out and rather than trying to escape seems to be trying to get picked up again by waving half its body around on the lid. I've seen it do it so many times now I'm convinced it likes being handled.

What I'm trying to say is that I respect the opinions of everyone on this forum especially as most people know much more about snails than I do but I think wild snails shouldn't be kept as pets. They seem to have a natural desire and need to roam further than a tank setup will allow while GALs seem to do well as pets. The other side of it is that GALs become so tame that they make better pets too.

As the original question was about the legality I'm sure it's perfectly ok.

[deadmansfinger]

legally there is no problem.

[Paul]

incantrix said:

What I'm trying to say is that I respect the opinions of everyone on this forum especially as most people know much more about snails than I do but I think wild snails shouldn't be kept as pets. They seem to have a natural desire and need to roam further than a tank setup will allow while GALs seem to do well as pets. The other side of it is that GALs become so tame that they make better pets too.

Whilst I agree that it depends on the snails, and possibly the species, the tamest snails I have ever had were some Helix aspersa from my garden. I find some GALS quite shy. I think they take time to get used to being handled like all animals, but I don't see any difference with GALS over other genera. My WC tigers are much more shy than my other snails, and whilst they have got a lot bolder, I wouldn't say they are tame in the sense you probably mean it.

Your point about roaming is possibly down to the fact that the European snails I have kept are far more active compared to GALS, perhaps GALS are simply lazier due to their size so if this was the case then your probably right that GALS make better pets. However this is negated slightly because of the massive difference in space afforded small snails in captive environments. There has also been studies on the homing abilities of snails, particularly Helix apsersa. It showed that after being moved 100 metres away, they were back within 2 days, so I don't think that they roam that far to be honest. Obviously their horizons are bigger than a tank, but they seem to stick around where they were born if food is plentiful. I never see any snails in my garden making a break for next door, coz they know they're onto a good thing with scraps and old cuttlefish ;D

As ever though, I'm sure it is horses for courses and down to individual snails and possibly species/genera.

[Moracai]

My Aspersa come out the moment I pick them up. They like to be stroked and will eat from my fingers. They are more affectionate than some of the GAL's are!
I only keep the 2, and thats since they are unusual, being albino. others that I have taken in, I have kept till it was warmer and put back outside. I found them outside on christmas eve, and felt they wouldn't mind spending the holiday season indoors.

[ainsophaur17]

well...what if you find the snail at work?
I am a florist and we get shipments of flowers from south america and florida (im in boston mass), and during the summer we get alot of snails in the boxes of flowers. Right now I have three which I rescued from the cooler. Two of them are small, but the one I keep at work is huge and I believe it is just a common garden snail. I keep him in a corsage box, with some moss and soil and feed him scraps from the flowers. So don't you think keeping him in captivity is better than leaving him stuck to a bunch of alstroemeria in a bucket of water in the cooler? I have had him for about a year now.

[deadmansfinger]

ainsophaur17 said:

So don't you think keeping him in captivity is better than leaving him stuck to a bunch of alstroemeria in a bucket of water in the cooler? I have had him for about a year now.

I stated that I think it's best for snails to remain in the wild but obviously I can't account for every circumstance.
you have basically rescued him so that's the best thing for him.

Brian

[apple]

ainsophaur17 said:

well...what if you find the snail at work?
I am a florist and we get shipments of flowers from south america and florida (im in boston mass), and during the summer we get alot of snails in the boxes of flowers. Right now I have three which I rescued from the cooler. Two of them are small, but the one I keep at work is huge and I believe it is just a common garden snail. I keep him in a corsage box, with some moss and soil and feed him scraps from the flowers. So don't you think keeping him in captivity is better than leaving him stuck to a bunch of alstroemeria in a bucket of water in the cooler? I have had him for about a year now.

Can you put some pictures of them here, please?

[manxminx]

Mmm . . old thread but it answers my question perfectly.

I've got quite attached to my aspersas in the garden, and of course, I'm now thinking of keeping some snails in the house, but am uncomfortable with it. I don't think it's right to keep wild snails in captivity, I'd rather enjoy them in the freedom of their native habitat.

I'd still like to keep some snails in the house (not aspersas). As it's been said, it's up to your conscience. And my conscience couldn't let me keep snails in captivity at this time, especially as the only space I have available is quite small.

Ali.