How Do Snails Eat? (And What Do They Eat?)

Have you ever wondered how a snail eats and digests its food? Here is what you need to know about the eating habits of snails.

Snails find food mostly by smell. They eat with a jaw and a radula, a ribbon covered in thousands of microscopic teeth. The jaw cuts larger food, like a leaf, into pieces, and the radula scrapes or rasps up small particles.

That is the short version. Below, we cover how snails eat and digest food, what they eat, and which animals eat snails.

Related Article: How do jellyfish eat?

How Does A Snail Eat?

Snails use their sense of smell to find food. Here are the steps, from finding food to getting rid of waste.

First, How Snails Find Food

Unlike jellyfish, which mostly wait for food to drift into their tentacles, snails go looking for it.

Snails smell and feel their way to food using their tentacles. Most land snails are active at night or after rain, when it's cool and damp, because dry air and sun can dry them out.

Snails Will Use Their Radula And Jaw

First of all, what is the radula?

The radula is a flexible, tongue-like band covered with rows of tiny teeth. According to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, it holds thousands of microscopic teeth.

The radula moves back and forth to scrape or rasp food. The snail's single jaw cuts off larger pieces of food, which the radula then rasps up.

Teeth on the radula wear down over time, and new rows keep forming to replace them.

The Digestive System Of The Snails

After the radula rasps up food, it passes into the esophagus.

Saliva from the salivary glands moistens the food and begins breaking down starches and sugars. The food then moves to the crop and stomach, where most digestion takes place.

A large digestive gland absorbs nutrients. Microbes in the gut help many snails break down tough plant material such as cellulose.

How Do Snails Release Their Waste?

After digestion, the remaining food moves through the intestine, where water and nutrients are absorbed. Undigested waste leaves through the anus, which in land snails opens near the head, close to the breathing pore.

How Long Do Snails Eat?

Snails feed on and off, mostly at night or in damp weather. How much and how long they eat depends on the species, the temperature and moisture, and the food available.

What Do Snails Eat?

Most land snails are herbivores that eat plants. But some snails are omnivores, and some are carnivores. There are thousands of snail species, and their diets vary by species, size, age and habitat.

Plant-eating snails feed on leaves, stems, crops, bark and fruits. Many also eat fungi, and many freshwater snails graze on algae.

Some snails are detritivores. They eat decaying plants and other dead matter.

There are also carnivorous snails. Some eat other snails, slugs and earthworms. One example is the genus Powelliphanta, giant land snails from New Zealand that eat earthworms.

Some snails are omnivores that eat both plants and animals. Rumina decollata, the decollate snail, eats other snails and slugs as well as plant material.

Snails need calcium to build and keep their shells strong. They get it from their food and by eating soil, rock or old shells.

In cold weather, many land snails hibernate. In hot, dry weather, they estivate, sealing their shell opening with a dried mucus layer to keep moisture in until conditions improve.

Animals That Eat Snails

Many animals eat snails, including:

• Ground beetles
• Snakes
• Toads
• Turtles
• Birds
• Carnivorous snails
• Wild turkey
• Grouse
• Salamanders
• Shrews
• Mice
• Humans

People have eaten land snails for thousands of years. Snails such as escargot are still served in many countries, especially in Europe and parts of Asia and Africa.

Many snail species are common, but some are endangered, such as Hawaii's tree snails. Never collect protected snails.

If you eat snails, cook them thoroughly. Raw or undercooked snails and slugs can carry rat lungworm, a parasite that can cause a rare form of meningitis. Symptoms can include headache, stiff neck, fever, nausea and vomiting.

The CDC also advises washing fresh produce well, since a tiny snail or slug hidden on lettuce can spread the parasite.

Raising edible land snails is called heliciculture. Snails from a snail farm or store are a safer choice than wild snails from your backyard, which may carry parasites or pesticides.

FAQs On Snails

Can a snail bite you?

Not in a harmful way. A snail may rasp your skin with its radula, which feels like a light scraping, but it can't hurt you. Cone snails, a group of marine snails, are different: they have venomous stingers that can be dangerous or even deadly, so never handle them.

Is it dangerous to touch a snail?

Touching a common garden snail is not usually dangerous, but snails and slugs can carry parasites such as rat lungworm. The CDC advises wearing gloves when handling them and washing your hands afterward.

How long does a snail live?

It depends on the species. Many garden snails live a few years, and some larger species can live much longer.

Summary

Snails eat using a jaw and a radula. The jaw cuts off pieces of larger food, and the radula rasps them up.

Food is digested mainly in the crop, stomach and digestive gland, and waste leaves through the anus. If you eat snails, always cook them thoroughly.

Source: nhm.org, petshoods.com, snail-world.com

Sources

• A Microscopic Look at Snail Jaws, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
• About Rat Lungworm Disease, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention