Ileane Cooper, age 12, of Allentown., Penn.
How long does a snail live?
The ordinary garden snail is an old timer at the age of four. There are almost fifty thousand different snails and slugs living around the world and alb, of them are fragile creatures, Their lives are haunted with hazards and they are too helpless to defend themselves, Their soft bodies are at the mercy of the weather, for they need warmth and moisture, They are surrounded by hungry enemies from babyhood. There are countless birds and four‑footed creatures, fishes and hungry insects who hunt snail meat. And many snails are attacked by bacteria and worm parasites. Few snails die from old age.
Some of the large snails of the tropics are nine inches long and have shells as big as oranges. These whoppers often have a better chance against their natural enemies. But many of them feed on garden vegetables and drawrdown the wrath of man upon themselves. Naturally, these fellows do not live long. Sometimes an ordinary garden snail is found by some young person and adopted as a pet. If he is properly tended, this pampered pet may live out his full life span of five years or so.
Every snail hatches from an egg, though certain snails seem to give birth to live babies, The tiny eggs need moisture and in most places the eggs of the land snail are left to hatch safely on the damp ground. But in desert regions, eggs left on the ground would shrivel up and perish. Certain snails of our southwestern deserts protect their eggs from such a fate, They are kept under the shell of the parent snail, often until they are as big as peas. These desert snails seem to give birth to live babies,
The fishbowl snail and other water snails lay their eggs in the water. Perhaps 20 to 40 eggs are launched to float around in a small bag of Jelly. The parent snail
The parent snail produces maybe five or six of these precious packages throughout the summer season. Like the land snails, these newly hatched babies are tiny, transparent copies of their parents. Each one has a small,, glassy flake which will soon grow into a shell. A baby snail goes off at once to find food, for he is on his own from the moment he hatches.
He copse with life, feeds and protects himself from the weather by instinct. His main diet is fungus which is too small for our eyes to see. It grows in fine threads among the foliage in damp, shady places. The snail eats and grows, adding whorl after whorl to the shell on his back. He will be fully grown and able to have babies of his own when he is two years old.
The snail is very sensitive to sounds and shadows. His eyes are at the tops of the long pair of horns on his head. When threatened, he pulls these tentacles down into his body. He may even curl up and retreat inside his shell. He also goes indoors to shelter from the cold winter or from a hot, dry spell in the summer. He then spreads a papery door over the opening of his shell house, sealing himself inside. He dozes inside until he is awakened by warm raindrops pattering on the roof of his little house