GAL Snail Love
LOVE your website! When I saw the loving Leopard Slugs I remembered these two photos I took near Wahiawa, Ohau, Hawaii, November 2005. I believe they are Giant African Landsnails, an introduced species. I found the second couple a few feet away from the first and they look like they are just getting started. For your mollusk fan – I think that is a small snail of another type on the leaf to the left of flirting pair. Thanks for providing all the great bug info. I’ve used your website several times to identify bugs since recently moving here.
Aloha, Chrissie

Hi Chrissie,
Thank you for the wonderful letter and fascinating photographs.

Wpdate: WARNING!!!!
(02/25/2006) Those Giant African Land Snails
Hello again nice bug people,
It was nice to see more snail pictures, but: I wanted to let your readers know that these Giant African Snails (Achatina species) are rapidly becoming an extremely problematic pest in many tropical areas, all over the world, including Hawaii, and they are a pest that is very difficult and costly to eliminate once they are well-established. Florida for example struggled for 10 years and spent a million dollars in order to bring a large infestation under control. For more information see:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/ep/emerging_pests/gas.html
Although unfortunately these snails are still being sold in many pet stores, is now actually illegal to own them in the continental USA, and people who have one or more in their possession are being asked to contact their state department of agriculture. For a list of contacts see:
http://www.ceris.purdue.edu/napis/names/sphdXstate.html
You see, when people keep them as pets, the snails often get accidentally introduced to an area, either by letting snails go, or even just by the eggs being accidentally thrown out with soil from the vivarium. These snails can be amazingly destructive to the agriculture and the horticulture of an area, and they tend to trigger the disappearance or even extinction of many interesting local snail species too. In addition (if all that was not enough! ) these problematic pest species can also carry human parasites and pathogens. If by any chance you are reading this and you have one or several of these snails as pets, please do not give your snail(s) to someone else, or throw it (them) out, and please also be very careful not to throw the soil out either, especially if you live in a warm climate area.
Thanks everyone,
Susan J. Hewitt

Thank you for the Public Service announcement Susan.

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What kind of slug is this?
Hi-
I found this slug in my garden in Northern Colorado (on the front range). I’ve never seen a slug this big in this state. Or with those "tiger" markings. What kind is it? Thanks…
Amy

Hi Amy,
Awesome image of a Leopard Slug, Limax maximus. It is commonly found in western gardens. Here is a wonderful site with more information.

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Also, I dont know how much you might know about snails, But I have these really pretty ones living on pieces of scrap wood at the base of my tree. I did move them so I could take pictues, But no worries, I put them back If you could tell me what kind these lovely snails are, It would be much appreciated.
Thank you much for all your help
Mikie

We don’t recognize this snail, but are working on it.

Update (02/07/2006)
Mystery Snail
I was checking out your site and think its a great resource. I noticed on your slug section someone submitted a picture of a snail on 7-17-05. If this was taken in the USA it is an exotic snail. Most likely the brown lipped snail Family Helicidae-Cepaea nemoralis. There is many color variations of this species. This snail is well established in the Eastern United States. It is hard to give a final ID without pictures of the under side. There is also other Cepaea spp. that are not known to occur in the US and are of interest to the USDA. My job involves exotic pests and I am on the constant look out for them. Keep up the great wor.
k Brian Sullivan
Plant Health Safeguarding Specialist
Attached is a picture I took of Emerald Ash Borer in Michigan I hope your readers are on the look out for this pest.

Update (02/26/2006)
Yes, I agree with Brian Sullivan that this is a Cepaea, almost certainly Cepaea nemoralis, the brown-lipped garden snail. As Brian says, in the US it is introduced from Europe, and tends to be spread in soil with plantings from nurseries. In this very attractive-looking species, the shell can be yellow, or a pretty reddish-brown, and the shell can have no bands, or up to 5 bands. The one pictured seems to be sub-adult, and so it does not have the thickened lip. When they reach adult size, the lip of the shell thickens, and is almost always brown in this species.
Best to you,
Susan J. Hewitt

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