November 29, 2004

Garden Snails Can Bite


Snapshots In My Time, Of My Time.....Hauntings.
Middle School most likely 6th grade

I was always one to be picking up bugs, frogs and all sorts of other animals I
could find outside. Remember Summer Science Projects and my post about the Shadow Boxes?

Well, we had lots of garden snails around along with frogs, toads and lots of lizards. I was forever picking up frogs and having them urinate on me from fear. I also picked up lots of garden snails. I was in search of snails with pretty shells.

One summer day while on the back patio, I lifted a patio brick and found a pretty large garden snail. I had a prize. I picked him up and sat down on the back steps to let im crawl in the palm of my hand. Snails crawl so slowly that it would take quite some time for it to get over its' fear, come out of its' shell and begin to crawl around in my hand.

I waited. I waited about 10 minutes and it came out and began to crawl. It was soft and velvety. It was also just a little slimey but I was used to it. This was a common past time of mine and one I engaged in several times a week. In my open palm the snail crawled out to the tips of my fingers held outstretched. When the snail got to my index finger, I felt a sharb jab like a needle.

I dropped the snail. It has stung me or bit me with something. Who knew? I have never been stung by any sort of snail before. I rubbed my fingertip. It had a little puncture wound in the tip. I went in the house and watched my hands. I felt fine but I had just a naggin itch in my fingertip. I rubbed it.

I later came in the house and had dinner and took a bath. This was about 30-45 minutes after the snail stung me. I did not mention it to anyone as I really did not think any thing much would become of it. I began to itch . All over. I broke out in hives and whelphs all over my entire body.

I told my mother and she make me take a vinegar bath. She told me not to scratch but it was impossible. That itch was an itch of 10,000 itches all over my body. I thought I needed to go to the doctor. She did not. She continued to bathe me in vinegar and said that I had broke out in hives from the bite or was having an allergic reaction. I thought I might die becasue I was being poisoned by the snail bite.

She set up a fan and told me to sit in front and not to scratch. Finally in about 3 hours the itching subsided and the whelphs that broke out all over my body began to subside. I finally was able to go to bed and the next morning I was fine.

Since that day, I have never picked up another garden snail. The only snail type things, I still pick up today are at the end of a fork...escargôt. I love escargôt.

19 comments:

  1. Is that really a true story? I have never heard of a snail bite. Dunno but I think I'll be more careful when touching a snail next time.

    Jano

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  2. Yes..it is a true story....everything in this blog is true. I will never forget that sting...i do not know what sort of snail it was...i just know i got a bite or a sting ..a sharp one right in the tip of my finger.

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  3. Hi there :)

    No, I had no idea that snails bite, but won't give the little beggars a chance in the future. You definitely described it well. I could almost feel it!

    A Touch of Style :)

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  4. that is true my lil sis got bit by a snail when we were kids. in fact it made here bleed

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  5. i let my snails bite me all the time they dont sting you. when they bite me it tickles!

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  6. well my little girl has a very itchy rash on her palms which i am presuming that it's from her pet snails from the backyard... as this is the only thing that she has let crawl all over her hands.. i have been looking on net and googled they have a parasite in them that causes the allergic reaction like hives....

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  7. i have a garden snail as a pet and he has bittin me several times i think it tickles!

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  8. i have a garden snail as a pet and he has bittin me several times i think it tickles!

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  9. I have pet snails and none of them sting when they bite, maybe its because you didn't make sure you and the snail was clean before you let it crawl along your hand?

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  10. when my daughter was 3 she thought it would be cute to find as many snails as she could to crawl on her because it tickled... then she started screaming bloody murder, "They're biting, it burns!" I was completely confused because I didn't think they could do anything like that at all... and when I tell that story no one believes me, and says she must have been confused! Clearly my baby girl is not mistaken... they bit her.

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  11. Snails do not have "teeth" to bite with. They have a rough tongue that they use to scrape at food, it feels a little like a tiny cat's tongue, which is why people say it tickles.
    I would be more worried that there was some kind of parasite that could have caused this? I'm not an expert but I have kept snails for years, I suppose there could be some maneating snail that I don't know about! Some snails' slime makes my skin itch a little after contact, so I suppose it's possible for some snails to maybe secrete an irritant, or that people can be allergic to certain snails? At a guess, anyway.

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  12. It seems a common thing that people do not know that snails can bite.They can. I think that it is a rare thing that many people do not know about it.

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  13. snails have a sharp tongue-like structure called a radula. it's used for scraping and "chewing" algae. i'm certain they could bite.

    also, snails are common (at least in countries other than the U.S.) intermediary hosts of certain nasty parasites called "flukes" that can produce a host of nasty diseases such as shistosomiasis.

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  14. I was out in the garden taking macro photos of some flowers (wearing capri pants) with my SLR camera when I felt something biting my leg--I looked down to see a SLUG on my calf!!!! Yuck, yuck, YUCK! I took it off, but it was attached to my leg, when I did get it off, I saw that my leg was bleeding and hurt. I washed it and put some Bactine on it. I had no idea that they would bite a human. I think it must have been on a plant that I brushed up against, as I didn't feel it crawling up my leg at all.

    When I Googled "Do slugs bite humans?" I found a LOT of naysayers, but if a person has never been bitten themselves I can see why they don't believe that slugs bite people given the oppoertunity.

    Thank you for sharing your experience in your blog, it made me see that I wasn't crazy...the dang slug did actually BITE me!!

    May

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  15. I had been bit on my foot by a slug, the bugger was hard to pull off as well :-(

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  16. I got bitten by a snail as child, was beginning to think I was either crazy or just completely fail - thank you for posting this so I know I'm not alone in this!

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  17. A biting slug is known as a "leech" and they bite you to suck your blood. The best way to remove a leech is to sprinkle salt on it which will cause it to let go and dissolve like a slug.

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  18. Snails have those stinger like tentacle which they use to poke other snails while they are mating. Maybe that can penetrate human skin? Dunno.

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  19. I'm guessing the snail jabbed you with its "love dart", as that is the only thing sharp enough on a snail to puncture your skin. (Why a snail would do this outside of the mating ritual, I don't know. It's not a defensive weapon) Maybe it was an accident... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_dart

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