Friday, May 10, 2013

How to Create Your Own Rout of Snails


  • Buy a tarp at your local hardware store-- blue is pretty standard, but any color will do.
  • Take the tarp home.
  • Go to the backyard and put a bunch of stuff that you want to keep dry on the patio or next to the back porch.
  • Put the tarp over the items that need to stay dry.
  • When you are ready to use the things stored under the tarp, drop the tarp on the ground.
  • Use your items.
  • Ignore the tarp.  
  • A windy day will blow the tarp to the fence, where you will forget about it.
  • A few weeks later, notice the tarp near the fence; make a mental note to get it "later."
  • Leave the tarp by the fence for about two months. Be sure to notice it every so often, promising yourself that you'll get it "in a while."
  • After a really rainy day, decide that it is time to get the tarp.
  • Grab one corner of the tarp and gently lift the tarp (remember, it's wet).
  • Let out a yelp in surprise at the round things attached to the bottom of the tarp.
  • Laugh as you realize that it is not dog poop.
  • Pull the tarp across the yard to the clothes line.
  • Hang your tarp on the clothes line to dry.
  • Step back and count. You should now have between 25 and 30 snails of varying sizes speckling your new snail habitat.
  • Watch as your snails slither up and down the tarp, clinging expertly to the blue surface.
  • If, when you go out later to check on your rout, you notice a few snails are missing, check the other side. They may have gone up and over.
  • If your tarp falls down from another pelting rain storm, many of the snails will escape. If you hang the tarp again, as soon as the storm lets up, you will still have about a dozen snails left.
  • Also note, that these critters are wild, the tarp is not a permanent habitat, and they will all eventually (within a day or two) escape if left unattended.
  • Caution: if your snails are as big as your hands do not touch them, as they may be deadly.





3 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Eew.

And double eew for the giant snails.

xo -E

Jill said...

My kids thought they were pretty cool.

mom said...

Oh how funny! They are pretty cool.