how many types of comon garden snails

[donut]

ok like the title says - how many types of common garden snails are they
today after taking my LO to nursery me & my elder LO went on a snail hunt & found a lot of the garden snails i have seen photos of on here
BUT there were at least 4 different ones how do i find out what they are all called as my LO is asking me & i cant keep saying garden snail as she already recognises the common one from nanna's garden

thanks guys ill try & take photo's tomorrow as im SURE my Lo will want another hunt

[Kevin]

Theres around 90 species of Snails found in the UK apparantly, not many are usually found in gardens though, usually just Helix aspersa, Cepaea nemoralis, Cepaea hortensis, Oxychilus alliarius and Helix pomatia in some parts of the UK.

[Rachel]

The one thats called common garden snailis helix asperita, but people just dump the title on any they see.

[Deleted]

donut said:

ok like the title says - how many types of common garden snails are they
today after taking my LO to nursery me & my elder LO went on a snail hunt & found a lot of the garden snails i have seen photos of on here
BUT there were at least 4 different ones how do i find out what they are all called as my LO is asking me & i cant keep saying garden snail as she already recognises the common one from nanna's garden

thanks guys ill try & take photo's tomorrow as im SURE my Lo will want another hunt

did you get around to taking the pictures?

Cepaea nemoralis comes in many different colours so it might seem like there's lots of different species when it's only one.

[donut]

i DID & forgot LOL - they were SO small they werent very clear (ill post them any how) but some are HUGE now im shocked at the speed of growth lol

ill try to take pick of the bigger ones again











now ALL the snails except 2 now look the same (like the big 4) BUT one looks like a pale all over brown (tan) & one looks like a grey slate/purple colour these 2 are too small for my camera phone to zoom in on without being blurred they are about little finger thumb nail size

how OLD are these when they can mate - i feel bad letting them out now in this cold weather so am thinking i should keep them indoor til fab/mar ?? is this cruel im not sure what to do with them now but 2 of them are now of a similar size to the "adult" ones we still see around outside

btw there are now 40 of the little things LOL

[jodie181]

donut your defo getting into this whole snail thing the baby aspersa in bottom left of last pic is so cute.

[griffey]

Hi donut, I am keeping a whole bunch of aspersa in a really cold region of the U.S., and we can't afford to turn on our heat, but mine seem to be doing OK anyway. They are fairly active and they aren't sealing up. Admittedly they are still inside a building, and I wrap them in a towel at night, but at the same time that species is from a cold-ish area, so they should be OK if you want to let them go.

Not that you SHOULD, just that they should survive fairly well if you did. I wouldn't want to part with those adorable babies