Apr 17, 2011 – Driving Ms. Slimey
QUESTION:
A customer called us about slugs/snails covering her truck. While we were out to service her home we noticed about 50 snails in the truck bed. What causes this? She asked me why they were there and I didn't have a answer. I told her I would have info for her soon. Can you help?
ANSWER:
I really have to ask this question. Any chance this person has some neighbors who either don't like her or are prone to playing practical jokes? Snails will travel pretty good distances to find either food or places to hide, but the bed of a truck wouldn't be a great choice for hiding places unless it is covered with a shell that darkens the interior. Of course, that might also keep out the snails, so that isn't my first option. They also are highly attracted to grain based products such as dog food, and we see snails and slugs getting into pet food bowls that are left outside at night if the raccoons don't eat it all first. PMP's have a problem with snails entering outdoor rodent stations, partly for the shelter and likely also an attraction to the bait inside. If she had spilled pet food or some other food product in the bed this could have been an attraction.
But, finding their own way into the bed of a truck just really seems suspicious to me, and if we think of the route those snails would have had to take to get into the bed it seems all the more likely that someone tossed them in. The only thing touching the ground is the tires, so we would have to picture the snails crawling up the tires and onto the drive shaft, then inward to find a way to get up onto the chassis and then back outward to the wheel wells, then up that metal and then down the outside of it and then outward and up again to finally make it into the bed. This seems terribly ambitious of a snail that could just hide in so many other more convenient places.
I don't mean to start a neighborhood feud, but stand quietly and see if you can hear laughter coming from next door.
A customer called us about slugs/snails covering her truck. While we were out to service her home we noticed about 50 snails in the truck bed. What causes this? She asked me why they were there and I didn't have a answer. I told her I would have info for her soon. Can you help?
ANSWER:
I really have to ask this question. Any chance this person has some neighbors who either don't like her or are prone to playing practical jokes? Snails will travel pretty good distances to find either food or places to hide, but the bed of a truck wouldn't be a great choice for hiding places unless it is covered with a shell that darkens the interior. Of course, that might also keep out the snails, so that isn't my first option. They also are highly attracted to grain based products such as dog food, and we see snails and slugs getting into pet food bowls that are left outside at night if the raccoons don't eat it all first. PMP's have a problem with snails entering outdoor rodent stations, partly for the shelter and likely also an attraction to the bait inside. If she had spilled pet food or some other food product in the bed this could have been an attraction.
But, finding their own way into the bed of a truck just really seems suspicious to me, and if we think of the route those snails would have had to take to get into the bed it seems all the more likely that someone tossed them in. The only thing touching the ground is the tires, so we would have to picture the snails crawling up the tires and onto the drive shaft, then inward to find a way to get up onto the chassis and then back outward to the wheel wells, then up that metal and then down the outside of it and then outward and up again to finally make it into the bed. This seems terribly ambitious of a snail that could just hide in so many other more convenient places.
I don't mean to start a neighborhood feud, but stand quietly and see if you can hear laughter coming from next door.
