Seen a glistening slimy trail? Well, a snail’s not gone far ahead. According to Aravind Madhyastha N.A., a fellow at ATree who specialises in terrestrial and fresh water molluscs, “Of late there have been reports of an increase in the snail population in the IISc campus, Hessarghatta, Bannarghatta and the GKVK campus. With continuous rains these snails have proliferated in thousands. These are the African giant snail (Achatina fulica) which are an invasive species.”
A paper by M. Jayashankar claims, the African giant snail was introduced to India in 1847 by British conchologist William Henry Benson. He gave two snails to his neighbour before he left the country, who let them out in garden in Chowringhee in Calcutta. The snails lay two to three dozen eggs and have no predators and so spread rapidly. An urban legend says if you put salt on a snail or a slug it will dissolve. Aravind explans, “As they require high moisture to survive, salt dehydrates them and kills them. They don’t dissolve.”
These snails feed on dead and decaying matter and 500 different species of plants. So they damage crops such as brinjal and spinach. People who own nurseries say that they destroy all young saplings and plants!
Mallesh Tigali who runs The Organic.life, a terrace garden outfit says, he has not faced any problems from the snails. “However in large gardens with a big tree and less sunlight, the rain water accumulates and is a conducive environment for snails to increase and multiply,” he says.
“The best way to get rid of snails is by using a general pesticide. Or collect them, dig a pit, put in some salt and cover the pit,” suggests Aravind. “When crushed they make good fish feed for Tilapia and Carp,”
These long and conical shaped snails differ from the smaller round-shaped native variety. They multiply only with the rains, and are active only for a few months in the year. Once the rains dry up, they go into hibernation.
