Snails can be detrimental to gardens as they eat away every plant going, leaving small holes behind. Getting rid of the snails becomes essential before they cause serious damage. But is drowning them an option? Can snails drown or not?
Yes, snails can drown in water. Garden snails cannot swim nor can they hold their breath underwater.
One of the things which people may be unaware of is that snails can drown in water. However, this is only restricted to land snails. Of course, sea snails and freshwater snails do not drown in water.
One of the best ways to drown snails is by setting baits and traps usually containing beer or grapefruit juice.
Do Snails Drown in the Rain?
If snails can drown in water, it means they do not do well in situations if it rains. Usually, rain is known to attract snails because of a snail’s love of moisture. You must have noticed snails out when it rains?
But snails can only deal with rain when it is light or drizzling. On the other hand, if it rains heavily, water can collect and therefore cause problems for snails as they struggle to move through puddles.
The fact is that your regular garden snails are not good swimmers. Snails cannot swim so they will fall into the water. Snails will hold onto rocks and other surfaces to escape to avoid this situation.
Snails have been equipped with features that would help them deal with such a situation. Snails have a cavity on their side, which they can seal if they wish to hold their breath.
Therefore, if snails ever need to stay underwater, they can hold their breath for a few hours.
Can Snails Drown Themselves?
One of the reasons why snails may drown in a pool of water is that they cannot turn themselves over. Despite all the years of evolution, snails have trouble turning their backs, and many have died this way.
So, yes, snails can drown themselves.
Do Snails Live Underwater?
There are many different species of snails, and while some can be found on land, others live underwater. Some sea snails which survive underwater include magic cone, abalone and common whelk.
Whether a snail is suitable to live underwater or not depends on its ability to breathe. As aforementioned, there are various kinds of snails present, each with lungs, gills or both.
But your common garden snail cannot and will not live underway, obviously.
Do Snails Walk on Water?
Your garden snails may not have the capability to walk on water, but some water snails do. It can be surprising to know that snails can walk on water. The reason is that snails use the water’s surface tension to their advantage.
In addition, snails are buoyant as they trap air inside their shells. Snails can find the balance and maintain it between the surface tension and their drag. The snail can distort the water to get a grip.
Land snails cannot do the same in water because it oozes slime to move. This does not work in water.
How to Drown Snails in Your Garden
If you have snails in your garden which are bothering you, you can adopt certain methods to get rid of them. You have learned that snails cannot swim or live underway and you can use this to your advantage.
The first thing you can do is drown the snails in some salty water. This is an effective treatment against snails as the salt will dehydrate them and drown them.
Other than salty water, the most effective way to drown snails is by setting beer traps. You can get commercially available beer traps, or you can make your own. It is easy to create beer traps, and you only require a plastic container and some beer to put inside.
However, you need to ensure that the opening is big enough for snails to get through. The snails will be attracted to the trap and then drown.
Trap up to 50 slugs at a time in these reusable slug traps. All you need to do is add beer and wait for the slugs to find their way in (and not back out!)
Summary
One of the prevalent problems you will have to deal with as a gardener is snails. The best way to deal with such pests is to know as much about them as possible. For instance, garden snails can easily drown in water as they cannot swim.
You can use a saltwater solution to drown the snails. Garlic water also works well against snails. You can even pour soapy water on them. In addition, you can also make beer traps or use commercially available ones.
Ryan is a keen gardener from the UK who’s spent years dealing with countless, common pests over the years so knows the ins and outs of how to deal with pests in the garden
