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LAND SNAILS
The land snail is one of nature’s marvels. But many of its
finer attributes go unrecognized because of its reputation as
a garden raider. Because it takes a toll on our spinach, cabbage,
and lettuce as it goes about its business of survival, we find
ourselves in a conflict relationship. In the classroom, however,
traditional animosities are put aside in the interest of learning
more about the diversity of life.
Land snails are gastropods, whose members also include aquatic
snails (including marine snails) and slugs. The name means stomach-foot.
This makes a degree of sense as the whole clan gets about by gliding
on a muscular structure on the bottom of the abdomen, called the
foot. The action that produces motion is a well-coordinated, wavelike
contraction of muscles on the bottom of the foot that propels
the gastropod smoothly forward over just about any surface. The
action is not fast by human mobility standards, but you and your
students will be amazed by how far snails can travel when your
back is turned for what you think is just a moment. A determined
snail can easily cover a meter in 5 minutes, so in the course
of an evening a snail can travel the length of a football field
and back. If the lid came off your terrarium in the evening, you
can figure out how far and wide those snails might range in your
classroom.
Land snails have several characteristics that make them easily
identifiable. They have a single shell, usually coiled, that is
a combination shield and humidor. The hard shell resists the efforts
of predators and provides a haven during dry times. Snails are
a moist gang, and if a snail cannot find a watering hole to renew
its water supply, it will retreat to a protected nook, withdraw
into its shell, and seal its shell to a solid surface. The snail
will lapse into dormancy until rain, dew, or a garden sprinkler
once again moistens the environment. This passive state, rather
like hibernation but initiated by dry rather than cold, is called
estivation.
One indication that snails have been active is the telltale slime
trail. Garden snails produce a layer of mucus on which they slide.
This makes it easy to track their movement, but also saddles them
with a reputation for being yucky. Students may find this fact
a bit repulsive at first, but will quickly forget it when they
become absorbed in observations of these fascinating creatures.
Most land snails have interesting projections on the fronts of
their heads. Students will identify them as feelers or antennae.
They will see two long ones on top of the head reaching up, and
two smaller ones reaching down. Technically they are tentacles,
but “feeler” is a pretty good description of their
function because they are touch sensitive. The two longer ones
have light-sensitive organs at their tips, making them the snail’s
version of eyes, although their function is limited to light perception
rather than image generation. The shorter tentacles feel, taste,
and smell the environment in the never-ending search for food
and water, and in constant vigilance against dangers.
The snail’s mouth is on the bottom of the head right up
by the short tentacles. Inside the mouth is a specialized eating
tool, the radula. The radula is a muscular structure covered by
thousands of tiny, sharp teeth. The snail eats by pressing the
radula against a leaf or other desirable bit of vegetation and
rasping it to scrape away small particles. This action can be
seen if students feed a hungry snail some lettuce or apple.
Most other interesting snail structures are hidden inside the
shell, but some can be observed with patience and perhaps a flashlight.
Snails breathe by taking air into a visceral cavity that is richly
supplied with blood vessels—the snail’s version of
a lung. When the snail extends from the shell, the access pore
can be seen opening and closing just below the margin of the shell
on one side. Also, the snail’s heart can be seen pumping
blood by placing a snail on the lens of a flashlight and carefully
looking through the translucent shell.
The shell itself is an excellent piece of work. The colors and
patterns are lovely, and the coil is a masterpiece of efficient
construction. Snails grow by laying down new material around the
edge of the roughly circular opening. By extending the length
and diameter of the living quarters, the snail can grow and still
retreat into its shell as needed. The shell is rich in calcium,
so snails need a continual supply in their diet. In the classroom
calcium is available from plain chalk or a piece of cuttlebone
in the snail terrarium.
Most land snails are hermaphroditic, holding under one shell
both male and female reproductive potential. However, snails must
mate in order to fertilize each other’s eggs. Eggs, the
size of BBs, deposited in soil, will hatch in a few weeks into
perfectly formed little snails, fully mobile, ready to ravage
your garden.
Order the land snails. The largest and friendliest
land snail for the classroom is the escargot snail that is naturalized
in the West, Helix aspersa. If you live in a region where
Helix has become established in local gardens, collect
them locally. If you cannot collect them locally, there are several
options listed below for getting land snails. If you encounter
any problems, skip Investigation 4 in Structures of Life
and go on to Investigation 5, Bess Beetles,
which has been added to the module as an alternative to the land-snail
investigation.
- Check with a biological supply company within your state
to see if they carry Helix or another large, active
land snail similar to Helix. Order the land snails
from the supplier within your state.
- If you cannot get Helix from within your own state,
you may be able to order them from a national supplier. At the
time of this printing, the only states that the U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA) will authorize to receive Helix
from another state are Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas,
Utah, and Washington. If you live in one of these states and
cannot find a supplier for Helix within your state,
you can get a USDA permit to purchase them from a national supplier
outside your state. See the information later in this document
called GETTING A USDA PERMIT FOR LAND SNAILS.
- At this time (April 2003), the FOSS project is working with
the USDA to develop information for teachers about native or
naturalized land snails appropriate for use in different regions
of the country. This information will be posted on our website,
as soon as it becomes available (anticipated date is September
2003).
What to do when they arrive. Land snails are
quite hardy and can survive for many days with little food or
water. In your classroom, they will live in two clear terrariums
with covers (the same type of basins as used for the hydroponic
plants). Once the snails arrive, place moist paper towels on the
floor of each terrarium and spray the interior walls with water.
Distribute the snails into the terrariums and provide a few small
pieces of carrot or other vegetable for them to eat. Snails are
strong! Secure the cover with two large rubber bands stretched
around the terrariums.
Maintenance. In a natural habitat, land snails
eat leaves, mushrooms, fruit, and many other kinds of plant material
they find. In the classroom, they must be fed and their habitat
must be cleaned. Here's the weekly care and feeding routine.
- Clean the habitat once or twice a week. Gently remove the
snails by sliding them off the walls of the terrarium. If they
look messy, rinse them quickly under cool water. Spray the walls
of the habitat and wipe them clean with paper towels. If you
are using paper on the floor of the habitat, replace it with
new paper towels.
- Feed the snails twice a week. Replace any old food with new
food. Snails eat fruits and vegetables. Place pieces of chalk
or cuttlebone in each habitat to provide calcium, which snails
need for shell growth and repair.
- Spray the walls of the habitat with water two or three times
a week.
- Always keep the cover on the habitat, with two rubber bands
(at least) holding it on.
- If you don’t keep the habitat moist or feed the snails,
they will estivate for days or weeks at a time. This is not
harmful to the snails and makes for a very low maintenance organism.
The question of what to do with the snails when the investigations
are complete is a sensitive one and in part is determined by where
and how you obtained the land snails. Potentially, the best solution
is to keep them in the classroom and institutionalize their care,
continually creating an ever more complex and interesting environment
for them to live in. Continue informal investigations, particularly
watching for life cycle. If you obtained the land snails from
a supplier out of state with a USDA permit process, you must comply
with the federal regulations on what to do with the snails. For
snails that are not collected locally, release into the environment
is never an option. If no other option is possible, the most humane
thing to do is euthanize the snails by collecting them in a bag
and placing them in the freezer. Then dispose of them in the trash.
GETTING A USDA PERMIT FOR LAND SNAILS
(Helix aspersa)
The Helix aspersa is currently on the USDA list of plant
pests. The transport of this snail across state lines is controlled
by the USDA working with the 50 State Departments of Agriculture.
At this time (April 2003), the only states that will be authorized
by the USDA to receive Helix from another state include
Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Washington.
If you live in other states or are having difficulty obtaining
snails, you should do Investigation 5 (Bess Beetles) in lieu of
Investigation 4 in Structures of Life Module.
USDA permit regulations may change. For updated information,
visit the USDA’s website at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/permits/organism/snails_slugs.shtml.
If your school is in one of the six states currently authorized
to receive Helix, a USDA snail permit is still required
in order to have the Helix shipped to your school from
outside the state and to maintain the snails in the classroom.
Plan an extra 3–4 weeks for USDA permit approval before
you can order your snails. The permits are only good for a semester
and must be renewed in order to maintain the snails in the classroom.
NOTE: If you need assistance with your USDA permit application,
please contact Delta Education at 1-800-258-1302 Monday through
Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Here’s what to do:
Go to the USDA website and apply for a permit online (PPQ 526). Here’s
some of the information you will be required to provide on the
application.
1. Applicant’s name, title, and address. (This is the
person whose name will be on the permit and will be responsible
for upholding the conditions on the permit, which includes safeguarding
the snails from being removed from the classroom.)
2. Applicant’s telephone number and fax
3. Type of pest to be moved. Check “other” and write
“Mollusk.”
4a. Scientific name of pest to be moved: Helix aspersa
4d. Number of specimens or units (put the number of snails your
school or district will be ordering over a 6-month period of
time for all the classes).
4e. Shipped from: You will need to know the state in which the
supplier is located to complete this information. Contact the
supplier before you apply for the permit to make sure they can
provide you with Helix aspersa.
12. Supplier. This is the name of the company from which you
are ordering the snails.
14. Intended use: “educational use in elementary classroom.”
15. Method to prevent escape: “keep in container with
secure lid.”
16. Method of final disposition: “freezing (rendered dead).”
The permit can be submitted online. By signing the form, the applicant agrees to
comply with the USDA “Standard Safeguards of Permit”
(see below for a listing of those safeguards). If approved, you
should receive the USDA permit by fax in a few weeks.
The permit number will be needed to order snails. The permit allows
you to place orders for snails for at least one semester.
TYPICAL USDA STANDARD SAFEGUARDS OF PERMIT
- All snails must be shipped in sturdy, escape-proof containers.
- Packing material, substrate, or soil that was shipped with
the snails can be used in the snail terrarium, but should be
destroyed when the snails are gone.
- Snails must be housed in closed containers. All necessary
precautions must be taken to prevent escape of snails. In the
event that a snail escapes, notify USDA.
- Without prior notice and during reasonable hours, authorized
USDA and State regulatory officials shall be allowed to inspect
the conditions under which snails are kept.
- All snails kept under this permit shall be euthanized at
the completion of intended use, and not later than the expiration
date, unless you renew the permit.
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