I have just posted accurate scientific information about the hibernation - more correctly winter dormancy - of Cornu aspersum but I am slightly less confident about what exactly is going on in my 3 outdoor vivariums now that it is mid-October.
For a couple of weeks my snails have been sluggish (pun intended), reclusive and eating little. Their desire for a spot of rumpty-tumpty has plummeted and they no longer emerge from their shells, waving their feelers for a conversation when I talk to them. Their book group meets no more, even though they are only half way through Slime and Punishment. I feel strangely bereft.
 |
I do worry about that tiny one. |
I suppose they are preparing for winter and so I have added an extra layer of sphagnum moss with leaves on top to keep them snug. They have to be hardwood leaves so that they do not go soggy. (No-one wants a soggy snail). I did wonder about bringing a few indoors in a smaller hotel but was advised that, since they are a colony, they would become confused if some had hibernated and some had not. (No-one wants confused snails).
 |
Winter quarters in a mini-shed. |
From my local charity shop I bought 3 blankets to drape loosely over the vivariums for extra protection, when they are in their specially dedicated mini-shed. I will post a photo of the final arrangement before we say a long goodnight to my companions. The snail soap opera will be ongoing, however, as an everyday story of snail folk does not sleep after 60 years on air.
