snails

Your Pet: What To Do About Those Snails Having a nice garden can be very soothing. Flowers mixed in with lush greenery and maybe a lawn all combine to create a serene environment that invites relaxation and reflection. Of course, we may not be the only creatures that appreciate such a nice environment. It seems that a garden provides very attractive feeding grounds for many types of animals and one of the more common types and I might add ravenous to that description as well, is the snail. These little mollusks can munch through a plant reducing it to mere twigs in no time. Peggy writes in because she has a snail problem. For a while now Peggy has been watching parts of her garden disappear as snails eat away and she is to the point now where she wants to fight back. She realizes there are snail baits that can be used in the yard to kill the little beasts but she worries about hurting her companion Gizmo. Gizmo is a one and a half year old King Charles Spaniel and he loves spending time in Peggy's garden. Snail bait can indeed be highly toxic to dogs. The most common brands of snail bait contain a chemical called metaldehyde which, when ingested by a dog, initially causes nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain leading to severe retching and vomiting. These gastrointestinal signs are followed or occur concurrently with muscle rigidity and convulsions leading to coma and death in some cases. Obviously this is a compound we do not want our dogs to eat! So then, what do we do about the snails? There is another type of snail bait on the market which is far less potentially toxic to dogs. The active ingredient is iron phosphate. It works by desiccating the snails and is relatively safe for our companions unless of course they were to eat a large amount. That amount would be far more than one would need to put out in the yard. Unfortunately, when compared with metaldehyde based snail baits, the iron phosphate products do not seem to work quite as well. Personally, I do not use toxins for snail control in my yard. I have chosen a more natural route which I realize is not available for everyone. I use turtles. These fabulous little guys eat massive numbers of snails in fact in my own case the snail population decimated to the point where I seldom see any snails any more. Of course snail control via turtle predation is not something that everyone can do. You must have a yard that is escape proof for the turtle and depending on the species of turtle, they may not be able to handle our weather pattern year around. There are other predators. Ducks make fabulous snail eating machines but they carry with them some requirements of their own. They also produce a large amount of messy feces that may not be entirely complimentary to every yard. Unfortunately, there really is no best case scenario when it comes to eliminating snails in every yard. When you are lucky enough to care for a dog, you should avoid the metaldehyde based snail baits as discussed. I have heard of dogs that love to eat snails. Maybe Peggy can entice Gizmo into expanding his cuisine. Snails are actually quite nutritious. Talk about your win win situation!