Garden Snails moving slowly through their world S

ometimes non-native creatures can become so familiar and expected in our surroundings that it seems like they must have always been there. This is true of a few birds species, like the common House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), and it’s also true of the Brown Garden Snail.

Also known as simply the Garden Snail (Cornu asperum), these small gastropods can be found in most parts of California where there are cultivated gardens. But they are actually native to the Mediterranean region, and were intentionally brought to our state in the 1850s.

So why would someone introduce Garden Snails to California? The answer is culinary: they were brought in as a source of food. The Brown Garden Snail is one of the main species used for escargot, the French delicacy.

In France, the Brown Garden Snail is often known as petit gris, or “small gray,” and they have been consumed there for centuries. The practice is a very old one — the Romans considered snails to be a food for elites, and Romans are believed to have introduced snails, including the Brown Garden Snail, into Great Britain more than two thousand years ago.

This process is known as anthropochory, which is the word used to describe the dispersal of plants and animals by humans. Often this is accidental, like the introduction of tumbleweeds in America when their seeds were unknowingly hidden in flax or wheat seeds brought from Europe.

In the case of Garden Snails, it has often been intentional, at least originally. The snails certainly couldn’t have made it very far, very fast on their own, since their top speed is about 50 yards an hour.

But they were brought to California about 170 years ago to be used in heliciculture, which is the technical term for snail farming. California’s Mediterranean climate (mild, wetter winters and dry summers) were very similar to that found in the Garden Snail’s native region, so it was thought to be an ideal location for them. Indeed it was.

And while heliciculture has yet to take off in California, the Garden Snails have thrived anyway. Once they gained a foothold, the snails began to spread primarily through the movement of plants and soil. Snails are mostly nocturnal, though they often emerge after a rain or a good soaking from an overhead sprinkler, and typically hide during the day on the undersides of plants.

So when people moved a potted plant from one area to another, they often unwittingly brought Garden Snails with them. The snails lay their eggs in soil, so the movement of soil itself has also been a common source of Garden Snail dispersal.

Once plant nurseries became an established part of California, with tens of thousands of plants in nursery pots being purchased and moved around every week, not to mention residents moving from place to place and bringing their patio plants with them, Garden Snails were being perpetually transported into new territory.

And they are here in the Tehachapi Mountains, and have been for more than one hundred years. Garden Snails weren’t here originally — there is no Nuwä (Kawaiisu or Southern Paiute) word for snail, since the traditional people never encountered them.

But they are well-established now, at least in areas with cultivated gardens. The snails still haven’t made it into every outlying area, and some residents in Stallion Springs, Bear Valley Springs, Golden Hills, Sand Canyon, etc. may not have them.

But they are definitely found within the City of Tehachapi and in the older settled areas. Garden Snails can be serious agriculture pests in some crops, particularly citrus orchards, but generally aren’t much of a concern in most yards. You can have both a healthy, robust garden and a population of Garden Snails for many years without seeing much of an effect.

When they are active, a Garden Snail emerges from both ends of its shell. In the front is the head, with four tentacles. The longer, upper two appendages are eyelike light sensors, though they are incapable of perceiving distinct images. The shorter, lower tentacles are for detecting scents and for tactile purposes.

The mucous produced by Garden Snails as they travel is used to assist in locomotion, to reduce friction. In dry conditions, this substance is also used to seal the entrance to the snail’s shell, or to “glue” them to a shady spot on a wall, fence, tree trunk, etc.

An adventuresome Tehachapi friend of mine, the late and loved John Squires, once collected a bunch of Garden Snails, put them in an enclosure and fed them corn meal for a month, and then turned them into escargot. He told me that they tasted fine in garlic and butter.

Garden Snails take about two years to mature in the wild, and typically live for three to five years, though they can live for 10 to 15 years. In captivity, there are reports of Brown Garden Snails living for as long as 25 years. And why would these snails be in captivity? Because some people appreciate them as gentle, quiet, low-maintenance pets, which reportedly will even come to their owner’s hand to be fed treats.

Whether liked or reviled, as some gardeners feel towards them, Garden Snails are firmly established in California and seem to have become part of the landscape. When compared to certain other non-natives, like yellow starthistle, tumbleweeds and cockroaches, for example, they seem pretty passive and benign.

Have a good week.

Jon Hammond has written for Tehachapi News for more than 40 years. Send email to tehachapimtnlover@gmail.com.