# Our Garage Door is CoVeReD In... Snails!?!?



## nbp (Oct 4, 2013)

We have been noticing a strange phenomenon this summer on our detached garage in the woods behind the house. The white garage door is covered in tiny snails! :duh2:

We have no idea why they are there, or what they like about it, or even where they come from. (Stupid useless biology degree. :shakehead: ) They don't migrate to the other garage door on the attached garage, or anywhere else we can find on the house; only on the garage. Last week we cleaned all of them off, brushed them into the woods, and bleached the garage door to eliminate any substance or algae or fungi they may have been feeding on. In one week the door went from sparkly clean to what you see below - hundreds of snails!!! Every dark speck is a tiny snail, about 1/4 in. long. 

What the heck is going on? Why are they there and what do they want? Why only there on that door? Why only this year and never before over all the years we've lived here? Has anyone else seen such a thing? :huh:


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## raggie33 (Oct 4, 2013)

thats nuts. do any of em have a huge S painted on them?


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## dc38 (Oct 4, 2013)

please excuse me as i laugh obnoxiously at your predicament. seriously though, gonna do some google research. Did you recently do anything that involves a scent that you have never used or done before?

Also, they seem to be in pairs, or even in quadruples...maybe it's mating time? how is the air quality around you? do you taste anything funky that may end up collecting in deposits on your door? Final question: is your garage door warmer or cooler than the area you're in?


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## Jakeyb (Oct 4, 2013)

T​hats crazy. I've never heard of such a thing


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## nbp (Oct 4, 2013)

raggie33 said:


> thats nuts. do any of em have a huge S painted on them?




No, I don't believe any have super powers... at least none have demonstrated any as of yet. :laughing:




dc38 said:


> please excuse me as i laugh obnoxiously at your predicament. seriously though, gonna do some google research. Did you recently do anything that involves a scent that you have never used or done before?
> 
> Also, they seem to be in pairs, or even in quadruples...maybe it's mating time? how is the air quality around you? do you taste anything funky that may end up collecting in deposits on your door? Final question: is your garage door warmer or cooler than the area you're in?



That garage is where my dad keeps his old collector cars and parts. Some times he cleans things with solvents or spray paints stuff in front of the garage, but that is nothing new, the same drill for years, and I have never heard of mollusks that are attracted to paint thinner, haha. 

You are correct, some are grouped. They could be mating, but they have been traversing the door for some months. I would expect the "snail rut" to be a much briefer period of time. 

Air quality is good, we live in the suburbs and our whole subdivision is surrounded by trees. Pretty clean area. Also, they came back even after cleaning/bleaching the door; I would expect any tasty deposits to have been washed free. I know that fungi, mosses and other plants can subsist on minerals from rocks or cement they are adhered to but can snails feed on dissolving paint or aluminum or deposited pollution? I have no idea. 

The door should be essentially ambient air temperature but perhaps slightly cooler in the summer. The garage is in the shade and the door may stay a little cooler if it drops in temperature at night.


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## raggie33 (Oct 4, 2013)

i know beer atracts slugs i mean if ya spill a bit it will be covered in slugs in a hour or so


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## 880arm (Oct 4, 2013)

nbp said:


> You are correct, some are grouped. They could be mating, but they have been traversing the door for some months. I would expect the "snail rut" to be a much briefer period of time.



Well, you know snails are kind of slow . . . . :naughty:


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## dc38 (Oct 4, 2013)

maybe you could give the door a static charge? many creatures don't like the tingly feeling of electrical current running though stuff. Something unorthodox to try: lick the door! lol


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## jcr71 (Oct 5, 2013)

spray the bottom inch of the door with wd40. that should discourage them.


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## Cataract (Oct 5, 2013)

Maybe someone is using your garage door to zap into the 8th dimension and they're actually alien creatures? LOL, sorry but I had to.


Perhaps someone is playing a prank on you and sprays your door with something to attract them when you're not looking...?


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## nbp (Oct 5, 2013)

dc38 said:


> maybe you could give the door a static charge? many creatures don't like the tingly feeling of electrical current running though stuff. Something unorthodox to try: lick the door! lol



ZZZZap! Take that snails! haha



jcr71 said:


> spray the bottom inch of the door with wd40. that should discourage them.



Hmm, perhaps. Although I have known people to spray WD40 on fishing lures with great success as one of the main components of it is purported to be fish oil. Crazy right? Either way, they don't seem to be doing any damage - we are mostly interested in the WHY, more so than how to discourage them. They will undoubtedly perish over the winter anyways. 



Cataract said:


> Maybe someone is using your garage door to zap into the 8th dimension and they're actually alien creatures? LOL, sorry but I had to.
> 
> 
> Perhaps someone is playing a prank on you and sprays your door with something to attract them when you're not looking...?




Now the alien idea I believe! :hahaha:

I doubt it is a prank. It's not really the kind of joke any of my friends would play.


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## hkenawy (Oct 5, 2013)

clean them off then put salt at the bottom of the door to kill any new ones


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## Cataract (Oct 5, 2013)

hkenawy said:


> clean them off then put salt at the bottom of the door to kill any new ones



Should work for the snails and will definitely keep ghosts away for Halloween! That is, so long as it doesn't rain... You could always try the same method they use to salt bloody-Mary glass rims, although you'll need something that holds a little more than usual... how about a garlic butter base?


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## orbital (Oct 5, 2013)

+

Maybe something in the garage has a strong odor resemblance to *Snail'tang*


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## nbp (Oct 5, 2013)

As I think about it, the idea of an odor in or around the garage that is attracting them is not a bad theory. I'm sure it is not something someone would have put there on purpose, but it could be something done inadvertently. I have no idea what it could be, but it is something to ponder. I think the first order of business is for me to identify the species of snail and learn about their preferred habitat, food sources and life cycle. Then work out from there. :shrug:


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## Cataract (Oct 5, 2013)

You are probably on to something now, but the inadvertent stuff is the hardest to identify, especially when a newer habit has already taken root -truly detective's work... good luck and may the force be with you! 

The funny part is why mostly that particular area? wind direction? door is easier to cling to? Larger crack in the door for odors/heat? Trash can right behind there? No car exhaust on that part of the door ever? (already mentioned: warmer / cooler... ooh! warmth could be an indicator, but does it come from the fridge or freezer behind the door? IR imagery would answer all these questions) Try asking an exterminator what he thinks just for fun.

this is obsessing me:
"Some of the easiest ways to trap them is to place lids from jars with beer in them in the garden."

"Snails have to feed on foods that include large amounts of calcium. This is necessary to keep their shell hard and protective like it should be."

"Snails are nocturnal so they will be looking for sources of food during the night or during the very early morning hours. (2) They will consume more food at the colder months ahead come. This is so they can store up fat reserves to live on while some they hibernate during the winter."
"If you feed them anything containing salt or sugar they will die."

More here (and tons of possible leads): 
http://www.snail-world.com/What-do-Snails-Eat.html


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## dc38 (Oct 20, 2013)

Have you figured out what has attracted the snails to your door?


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## greenlight (Oct 20, 2013)

I was thinking that the garage must be near an area where a lot of snails are already using to reproduce themselves.


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## bshanahan14rulz (Oct 22, 2013)

Lately, a lot of snails been showing up around my place too. Just walking in the yard I feel several crunch underfoot. Wall under one window is covered in snails. They stay outside, so I don't mind. There's also a giant slug that comes to visit every few nights, and lotsa salamanders. Like, I move the trash can, there'll be like, 30 tiny salamanders.


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## Cataract (Oct 22, 2013)

Sounds like they're preparing an invasion :tinfoil:

I wonder if it can be bad for the mortar between the bricks... if they do climb brick walls.


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## markr6 (Oct 22, 2013)




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## nbp (Oct 22, 2013)

dc38 said:


> Have you figured out what has attracted the snails to your door?



No, not yet. :sigh:



greenlight said:


> I was thinking that the garage must be near an area where a lot of snails are already using to reproduce themselves.



Possibly...though I'm not sure why it would just start this year. I should see if I can find them in the woods around the garage, stuck on trees or something. 



bshanahan14rulz said:


> Lately, a lot of snails been showing up around my place too. Just walking in the yard I feel several crunch underfoot. Wall under one window is covered in snails. They stay outside, so I don't mind. There's also a giant slug that comes to visit every few nights, and lotsa salamanders. Like, I move the trash can, there'll be like, 30 tiny salamanders.



Interesting! What are the conditions where the snails are congregating? What color is the wall? What surrounds the area? Can you post a picture? I would be interested to see if they look like the ones on our garage. As to the giant slug, does he look like this guy I found recently? I discovered this is a giant garden slug. I think they come from Asia to consume our crops if I recall correctly. :sick2: 









Cataract said:


> Sounds like they're preparing an invasion :tinfoil:
> 
> I wonder if it can be bad for the mortar between the bricks... if they do climb brick walls.



Gastropod revolution! Ahhhhhh!

I think they can climb almost anything, but they don't seem to do any damage. :shrug:


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## orbital (Oct 22, 2013)

Cataract said:


> Sounds like they're preparing an invasion :tinfoil:
> 
> ...



+

the plausibility and deduction reduction concurs with a close encounter...






_______^ this is what nbp's garage looks like to the snails


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## 8steve88 (Oct 22, 2013)

When I read - 
[h=2]Our Garage Door is CoVeReD In... Snails!?!?[/h]- My first thought was - Stop Throwing Them Then.


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## Cataract (Oct 22, 2013)

orbital said:


> +
> 
> the plausibility and deduction reduction concurs with a close encounter...
> 
> ...



Maybe the garage door is symbolic of Devil's tower for the snails... or just too far to get there before the freeze



nbp said:


> [...]
> 
> 
> 
> ...



That's a big slug. I sincerely hope they don't latch onto brains!



A tiny light bulb just came up in my head; this year has seen the most rainy summer in a looong time in our part (east of the great lakes). Since you're surrounded by the great lakes, perhaps the humidity level allowed them to reproduce like never before, therefore explaining why they are overflowing all the way to your house. Still doesn't quite explain why the garage door, but that could be a lead. I don't know about Tennessee, though.


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## bshanahan14rulz (Oct 23, 2013)

We didn't have any dry or super hot spell like we usually get, so perhaps the abundance of water does play a key part.

My snails are the round ones, not the conical ones. They're all over around here, find a snail? It's almost always one of these. I haven't seen the giant crowd in a while, just random stragglers of about 10-15 snails. They climb up this one brick wall, but it is a very moist location, with an old wooden piece of furniture that is disintegrating and turning to mush. I've also seen smaller ones (maybe just babies?) on our back window, which overlooks a very shaded, wooded ravine. It is funny to see all the random trails they leave on the windows, you can see where each one had been. 

I don't have a picture, but they are very similar to these dark grey ones with thin, translucent shells. https://www.google.com/search?q=Oxychilus&tbm=isch Apparently called the glass garlic snail? Idunno, I just know that I crunch a lot of them just walking from my porch to the street.

The slug that hangs out around here is about half that size, with less striking dark spots than the one you posted earlier. He usually hangs out on the cement porch.


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