I am going to start the first blog post with some personal strangeness. About 3 years ago, my wife and I started walking in the morning for health and sanity reasons. We try to fit in 8,000 steps every morning. I am limited to this number because of a bum knee as any more the knee will protest and throb. So, to entertain ourselves we feed birds (Tom, Emily and their 2 children), admire big trees, inspect the moss on the ground and on the trees and say hello to all the other friendly walkers (especially dog walkers), admire stray big clouds and we say hello to our snail buddies. While we haven't named them yet, we do recognize many, but most think our snail obsession is a little on the odd side.
We count sails. By counting snails, we have learned their habits, and we are pretty accurate on how many we will see. If we start our walk late ( 20 minutes after sunrise, we will see less. If we get out right at sunrise we will see more. Also, if it is really dry, there won't be many sails. if there was a rain the day before or the there has been rain the last several days, many more sails will be out and about. So, we know sails aren't active in the day time, the hide and go to sleep, and snails thrive on wet conditions. Heat and heat waves will wipe out a large snail population.
Snails are old. They are more than 500 million years old! That makes snails about twice as old as us. But, in the wild they only live for 3 to 7 years. In captivity, they can live up to 25 years. Life in the wild is rough, as the snail is hunted by many animals including us. We love to eat snails as they are remarkedly good for us. High in protein content but low in calories and fat. Ideal for weight loss. But, many animals love to eat snails. A bird, the Thrush, just loves snails and they eat a lot of snails.
Did you know they are over 60,000 species of snails. And, I bet you didn't know that snails
have a lot of medical value. One example, is that let a snail run around on your face and you will lose your pimples and blackheads as well as your wrinkles and crows feet.
Everyone asks me: "how fast are snails?" Good question and the answer is obviously not very fast. They can move about 3 inches or 8 centimeters in a minute. This allows them to travel (without a rest) 16 feet or 4.8 meters in an hour. They don't set any records.
Snails can really sleep. They require water to survive, so no water they can easily die. They have a unique solution to this water problem: sleep. A snail can just go to sleep for up to 3 years! They will sleep until the rain comes.
You can tell by now, I am really into snails. Although I don't let them crawl on my wrinkly face, I do watch and observe them. I love their antennae, and while I know they can't really see me (their eyesight is very limited as they have no lens or ability to focus), I think some of my snail friends recognize me. At least, I hope so.
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