Hi Marti, all round brown snails are pests in the garden
There are several patterned snails

That's too bad, they are really neat looking. I'll have to see if she has something in her shed.

I don't think I've ever seen snails this big. All I ever see at my house are slugs, and these look just like it except for the shell.

When I was very little and still living with my Mom in Houston one of my brothers used to get a whole bunch of them and put them in my bed, YUCK
There were so many there and they were huge

LOL jolana, and I bet you never got even, right? *snicker*

Hey fellow DFWers, just to make you jealous, the temperature is 88 here at 5:00. The humidity is only 33% & my hair isn't frizzy!

Hehehe, I'm sure I did something, lol
You don't have to be a DFWer to be jealous of that.

If I have killed one, I've killed a thousand this year.

I've found them eating about everything I grow. Dead wisteria blooms, grape vine blooms, petunia blooms, hostas (when I had some left for them to eat), iris, salvia, potted plants, daylilies, clematis, on roses, dead nettles, you name it. My wife says there is no kind of plant they won't try to eat.

KILL --- KILL THEM ALL! ;)

They have certainly been a plague here this year also. They are eating everything. Snail bait does no good, when they don't leave the plants. They are even 15 feet up in my vines.
Jim

I put out snail bait, should I also pick them & put them in salt water or clorox? Don't tell them to step on them, I can't stand to do that.

Marti, I pick them off by the dozens every morning. I step on them or crush them between my fingers, but It would give me great pleasure, to watch them dissolve in salt.
Jim

Marti, they also don't get along well with a diluted mixture of ammonia. You can buy it on the cleaning isle at Walmart for 99 cents. Mix it up about 3 to one with water. Give them a squirt of that and, as Shakespeare might put it, they dissolve in to a dew.

No need to touch them or tromp them (unless you just found them destroying a prized plant and feel the urge.)

We moved back to our hometown in 2003 and I discovered these large snails had invaded! These crazy things crawl up the wall of the house and dry up and die there.

Doesn't bother me one bit to step on them! I give them a 'take that' while I'm doing it! LOL

Peggy

Unfortunately, I've had problems with these snails in Amarillo since 1978, the year of the Memorial weekend flood. My DW's family has the same problem in Pampa. The snails hide under large plants and moist areas during the day, then come out at night to feast on (and kill) newly bedded plants, like marigolds, verbena, snapdragons, green beans.

The only way I know to control them is to mix the mild ammonia solution and spray them before sun-up or after a rain in the evening. I have chives in several areas of my gardens and that has not deterred them any.

Good luck,
Gary

Picture this... backpack sprayer with mild ammonia solution, Mosquito Repellent applied.... 6:00 AM snail "hunts" are a daily tradition in my garden.
I do not step or squish them as their are way too many to count. (I think stepping on them must be seeding the next "crop") They have made it to the top of my 8 foot grape vines over the course of an evening several times. Whomever coined the phrase "at a snail's pace" could not be from Texas!

What about white snails? I tried googling for them but all the ones I came up with have a cone shaped shell > (like that, but sort of rounded) but mine are circular O, the ones I did find with a white circular shell had brown snails but mine are flesh colored/white.

Wow, I shouldn't quit my job to write descriptive blurbs.

Here is a link to snails
It didn't originate in TX but applies

Here is a link that might be useful: snails

So Richard, the ammonia won't hurt plants?
Jim

I've never seen it hurt any plants. And, farmers put ammonia gas out as a fertilzer. Of course, they plough it into the soil. But, most of it probably evaporates anyway.

Bottom, line, never had any problems with my plants, real sensitive ones you might want to test it on.

Good luck hunting!

New in Texas, I've seen those little white round snails too, but not many of them any more. We used to string them (when we'd find the dead ones) and make necklaces out of the shells when I was a kid. I guess the big brown ones are out competing them.

Here's a link to beneficial snails that will eat the big brown ones. You can even buy them!

Here is a link that might be useful: Decollate Snails -- the good guys

Jolana's link says the decollate snails are not native. They have been around so long I thought they were ...

"Decollate snails, Rumina decollata, have been reared and released as biological control agents to control brown garden and other snails. They are native to the Mediterranean and have been in the US since the 1820's and in southern California since the 1950s. They are commercially available and have been used rather commonly in citrus orchards in California. They can harm native snails and are also plant feeders themselves. Decollate snails are prohibited from shipment to the Pacific Northwest but have managed to slip in at times."

Well, I'm just picking them off & dropping them in a pail of salt water (mom has dogs). Escargot!