I live in southern BC (Victoria). Pretty mild climate, which obviously allows snails to thrive. They're stuck to pretty much every shaded area in the immediate back yard (my backyard is quite large, especially for a suburban lot, but it's naturally divided into two sections, and the section farthest from the house is quite dry and devoid of structures, so no snails there). I have a shed surrounded by flower beds, and the snails cling to the siding when it's shaded by plants. They hang under my deck, on water cans, plant pots, trees, composts, bags of dirt, garbage cans, recycling bins, etc. It's rather disgusting. I even saw about half a dozen in my extension ladder once. They dropped out when I picked it up... Oddly my front yard is even more lush and shaded (relative to the back, anyway), but I've never seen a single snail out there.

I really want to get rid of these snails permanently. They died down a bit over winter, since it was an unusually cold one, but they're still here. Their shells are brownish gray, and they get to be about the size of a golf ball. I won't pretend like they are not extremely repulsive creatures to me.

I've heard a good way is to collect them at night and then bury them, but that would probably be very difficult as a lot of the areas where I believe they're breeding are inaccessible. I've also heard that copper deters them, but I would need to put copper strips around basically everything in my back yard. Not only would that be expensive, but they'd probably just migrate to the front. I was thinking about dumping a box of snail bait under my patio (which I think is the main place they hide during the day as it's obviously ideal), but how likely am I to get anything more than just the ones who are stuck under the patio during the day?

Also, why do I have snails in the first place? I know stuff like cockroaches (rare in Canada, but still) and rats are attracted to garbage, but I try very hard to keep my yard clean and tidy. Although I have seen snails in my garbage/recycling enclosure, I do not notice an abnormal amount there, and they don't seem to eat stuff. As I said, my front yard also seems like a better place for snails, but there has never been a snail there. I mow frequently, with a bag. There are lots of birds around (bigger ones, too), but they don't seem to eat snails... I wouldn't either lol.

Any help is appreciated.