December 18th, 2014

At Laurel Creek, we have these big snails in our pond called “Chinese Mystery Snails.” That’s their name. You can read about them here

This snail is from China, and is a common aquarium species that is sold in pet stores. You can buy one at Pet Smart for $2.79 (don’t). I assume that our population is a result of some well-meaning family dumping their aquarium in our pond when they were no longer willing to look after it. So because of aquarium-dumpers, Chinese Mystery Snails are now an invasive species across Canada. We have hundreds of these algae-eating, feces-producing machines at Laurel Creek. Some years we catch lots of snails, and some years all we find are crushed snail shells around the edges of the pond. I think video indicates who is crunching up our snails.
[wpvideo LpdPEyHu]

A lady from China once told me that when she was growing up, they had these snails in their rice fields, and that they often boiled them and then fried them in butter. Between us and the raccoons, perhaps we can just consume these invaders…