Creature Feature - the "good" snail

At some point or another, nearly every gardener has done battle with snails and slugs. What many don't know is that some snails are beneficial and actually eat the snails and slugs that do damage. In Florida, there are five species of predatory snails. The most common of these is the Rosy Predator Snail (Euglandina rosea). This is a fairly large snail, growing up to 2 ½ inches in length. It is easily identified by the glossy, elongated shell and the rosy or brownish-pink coloration.

Hot on the trail of the bad guy that ate that hole in the leaf!

The Rosy Predator Snail (also known as the Rosy Wolf Snail) is widespread in Florida, but is also found in Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Southeastern Texas.

The snail lives for up to two years, and one study showed that a single individual can consume more than 350 damaging snails in its lifetime. The Rosy Predator follows the slime trails of its prey in order to find its next meal. Small snails are eaten whole and larger snails are eaten live, right in the shell. Here's an adult feeding on a bush snail.

When the predators reach sexual maturity they search out a mate. Snails are hermaphroditic so both partners of a successful mating will be pregnant.

Approximately thirty eggs are laid at a time in the soil and these hatch in about a month.

They immediately begin exploring their territory and looking for prey.

Here's a baby predator feeding on a bush snail.

Newborn rosy predators are usually pale, but the shells develop more coloration as the snail grows.

Young Rosy Predator

In 1955, Euglandina rosea was sent to Hawaii in an attempt to control the invasive Giant African Snail. The newest inhabitants reproduced quickly, and within three years 12,000 Rosy Predators were collected to send to other tropical regions, including New Guinea, Okinawa, and the Philippines. Like most attempts to introduce predatory species into a new environment, this one ended in disaster. The Rosy Predator preferred to feed on the colorful native Hawaiian tree snails, eventually eating several species to extinction.

In areas where the Rosy Predator snail is native, it is a very beneficial creature to have living in your landscape. Gardeners can often find empty shells of the destructive Bush Snail where the Rosy Predator has been feeding.

Gone but not forgotten!

Be on the lookout for this “good snail” and make it welcome in your garden!