On Tue, 10 Jun 2003 15:37:57 -0700, (paghat)
wrote:

In article ,
wrote:

I spotted three empty curled shells...from snails I presumed. Bigger
than 1/2" diameter. I spotted another two in a row of tomato plants.

I'm guessing this is snails? I'm guess these guys cast off their
shells and grow new ones? I thought they just kept growing them
bigger. Is this a size of a healthy growing family or them dying.
Never noticed the casts offs on the lawn before...only a few short
feet from the vegetables.
DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

They do not shed shells. You're just seeing the remnant of the shells of
snails that died. When shells are hollowed out by beetles after being
poisoned or denydrated, they're usually in more discrete locations. But
shells may accumulate in exposed areas because is there are rodent-like
insectivores, large tiger, spotted, or mole salamanders, skink lizards,
hedgehogs, & some birds such as morning doves & pigeons that can get
snails out without damage to the shells. Possums & skunks eat them too
but usually crunch up the shells, though I could imagine an occasional
dainty eater who pulls the snails out whole.

Don't snails start out small and get bigger? Do they just continue to
add segments to their shells and retreat from the very small
beginnings?

Never mind. I finally figured out the proper Google query:

snail shell growth

They *do* appear to just keep adding on. And can repair some shell
damage along the way. I *love* this newsgroup. :-)