I’m sure we have developed the largest population of snails per square centimeter within Australia over the past 18 months! They love our Passionfruit Vine, Mat Rush, and Aloe Vera.
It’s interesting when you consider that nature does indeed balance all within her sphere. You see, the snail population previously was kept under control by a pair of wild Stone Curlews that would slip through our gate palings most nights and spend sometime in our back yard, whistling to each other in our garden as they no doubt shared notes on the delicious fare of snails.
Unfortunately, we lost one of our resident Curlews to a car hit, like so many of these precious birds are in our ever growing suburbs. When Curlews are threatened their natural defence is to lay flat and attempt to camouflage themselves. On the road, this often means they are simply run over. The other Curlew then moved on to another part of the territory (often several kilometres which they walk most nights), eventually finding another Curlew to share his life with. And now we don’t see him much anymore. Although we do hear their calls as they pass by on their way to the park and creek at end of our street.
If you haven’t seen a Stone Curlew (aka. Thick Knee) before, they grow to about an adult’s knee-height, have long thin legs and are a stripey grey and black, sometimes with brown flecking. They are truly ancient and very Australian – often talked about in the Aboriginal Dreamtime Myths as companions to the Aboriginals. They are truly a beautiful bird, and their calls at night can be a little unnerving if you haven’t heard them before.
Now getting back to the snails…
I do know we have resident wild Tawny Frogmouths, a Bearded Dragon, one very fat Blue Tongue Lizard, and a couple of frogs – which all eat snails – frequent our little garden. I’m looking forward to the Frog Population increasing now that we have new neighbours on one side who don’t spray pesticide like the people before them did. So I expect our snail population will naturally decrease over time. Plus I do feed some snails to our rehabilitating Tawny Frogmouths in care.
I would never, ever use snail bait. And I suggest that you steer clear of it too. And the snail baits that are now available on the market that are supposedly “wildlife friendly” because they use “natural” ingredients to kill snails can still poison birds, frogs, and lizards. ‘Natural’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘safe’. Some of the products use Phosphate (a ‘natural’ product). But just as Arsenic is ‘natural’, I still wouldn’t run out and take a teaspoon of it for fear of poisoning. Similarly, Phosphate Poisoning is dangerous to our wildlife.
Here’s what happens: the snail ingests the poison, and then our wildlife eats the snail… and then another snail… The poison stores in say, the bird’s fat tissues, and then as the fat is burned to create energy (often during lean times when food is not plentiful) the poison is released into the bird’s bloodstream. Next thing, the bird feels unwell and experiences great trauma, from convulsions and muscle spasms to dihorrea and vometing, often leading to a painful death.
So, if you are so freaked out about snails gobbling on your garden – and I admit, they can do alot of damage – then here are some alternatives to snail bait:
My favourite: Companion Planting.
Loulou Houbein of the “One Magic Square” fame, says that when she planted Parsley around her Silverbeet it went snail-free. Sounds good to me!
Avoid a mulch that snails find easy to glide over. For example, stones are a smooth gliding surfaces. Whereas fresh sawdust, ‘sharp’ sand, soot, cinders or ash are not as preferred surfaces by snails and slugs.
Rig up a mosquito net over your plants – keeping it low and taught, so no birds get entangled. I put some over my Bok Choy and it has worked perfectly. The only draw-back of this is that it excludes other insects – the type you want to pollinate your plant.
Ground Coffee Beans sprinkled around your snail-susceptible plants is effective. Apparently snails don’t like the old ‘caffeine boost’. LTSH (Long Term Suffering Husband) says maybe that’s why they’re so slow. (sigh)
Here are two baby Stone Curlews I had in care a couple of weeks back. We used to go for a walk around my garden looking for snails and other critters to munch on. They’ve now gone to another carer who had three in care, so they can all be brought up together and released as a group. Gorgeous! They are like little mobile carpet strips with fluffy bottoms!
So please, use the alternatives above rather than pesticides. We want to give wildlife like these little guys as much of a chance of survival as we can. And if you know of any ‘natural’ and ‘safe’ snail repellent ideas for plant protection please share them.