All Hail the Mighty Snail
August 06, 2025 at 11:18PMFrom Dina Gachman at Texas Monthly comes the snail appreciation piece you didn’t know you needed. Meet Gary, a once-doomed milk snail who spawned an undying love of all things gastropod in Jorjana Gietl, and learn about a community of enthusiasts who share tips and tricks on how to keep their snails happy and healthy.
Snails are easy to breed because they’re hermaphroditic, so males and females possess both ova and spermatozoa, doubling the rate of conception. If breeders like Gietl and Belkin find a clutch, which is a cluster of eggs, it’s like a little surprise in the terrarium. You don’t have to do anything fancy to care for snail eggs. There are no delivery instructions or special care. Just wait and watch until the teeny babies appear and start adorably sipping water and nibbling on a cuttlebone.
Not long after I meet Gary, I head back over to my favorite online snail-appreciation page for a little mood boost. Sure enough, mere seconds after I start scrolling, my spirits lift and I’m giggling at a post in which people are sharing their pet snails’ names: Grover, Gwen, Raspberry, Rosa Diaz, and Doug Judy. And then I remember something Gietl told me. “If you’re quiet enough, you can hear them eating.”
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2025/08/06/all-hail-the-mighty-snail/
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