# Are there fewer snails nowadays than there used to be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 27, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fewer-snails-nowadays-than-there-used-to-be/494464 "2009-04-27T03:32:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fewer-snails-nowadays-than-there-used-to-be/494464/1 "2009-04-27T03:32:56Z")
I remember as a kid, of 9 or 10, there would always be snails after it rained. After it stopped raining I would always go outside and there would be snails everywhere, especially on the sidewalk or on the stone walls around peoples’ yards. Anything that was stone or concrete seemed to particularly attract snails after a rainfall. But I can’t remember seeing snails in the past 8 years or so. I mean, part of me wants to say that it’s because I don’t “play outside” anymore but I still spend plenty of time walking around outdoors, and I’d think I would see snails, but I never do. I’m in southern Indiana, by the way. Has the snail population decreased? ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fewer-snails-nowadays-than-there-used-to-be/494464/2 "2009-04-27T04:14:04Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > I remember as a kid, of 9 or 10, there would always be snails after it rained. After it stopped raining I would always go outside and there would be snails everywhere, especially on the sidewalk or on the stone walls around peoples’ yards. Anything that was stone or concrete seemed to particularly attract snails after a rainfall. > > But I can’t remember seeing snails in the past 8 years or so. I mean, part of me wants to say that it’s because I don’t “play outside” anymore but I still spend plenty of time walking around outdoors, and I’d think I would see snails, but I never do. > > I’m in southern Indiana, by the way. > > Has the snail population decreased? There are a ton of snails outside my workplace every time it rains. I’m in the Bay Area, California. Ed ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fewer-snails-nowadays-than-there-used-to-be/494464/3 "2009-04-27T06:02:27Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > I remember as a kid, of 9 or 10, there would always be snails after it rained. After it stopped raining I would always go outside and there would be snails everywhere, especially on the sidewalk or on the stone walls around peoples’ yards. Anything that was stone or concrete seemed to particularly attract snails after a rainfall. And worms. They used to be all over, after a heavy rain. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fewer-snails-nowadays-than-there-used-to-be/494464/4 "2009-04-27T06:27:25Z")
Yes, you’re right, and now that you mention it, I see FAR fewer worms also. At least I’ve _seen_ a few worms on the sidewalks over the past few years; I can’t recall seeing a single snail. What the fuck is going on here? ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fewer-snails-nowadays-than-there-used-to-be/494464/5 "2009-04-27T11:36:47Z")
Anybody currently living in Ann Arbor? 'Cuz that’s where I grew up. (IIRC, no worms emerged blinking from the earth in Florida. Just ants, ants, and more ants, and the occasional ants-devouring-a-caterpillar.) ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fewer-snails-nowadays-than-there-used-to-be/494464/6 "2009-04-27T12:59:11Z")
We went through a period of years and years without fireflies and with very few surfaced earthworms after rain (Northern Virginia, by the way). Suddenly last year or so the worms returned with a vengeance and some fireflies reappeared. My guess would be some change in what pesticides the county and the community spray, but I don’t know. In general I find it quite chilling that animals as visible as fireflies could disappear _en masse_ and no one says anything. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fewer-snails-nowadays-than-there-used-to-be/494464/7 "2009-04-27T14:19:01Z")
I haven’t seen a snail in ages - I saw a shell a few weeks ago, but it was empty. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fewer-snails-nowadays-than-there-used-to-be/494464/8 "2009-04-27T15:30:52Z")
This is fuuuuuuucked up. I’m trying to figure out what has caused it. OK, there’s the fact that when I was a kid, I was playing outside all the time, and I was significantly closer to the ground than I am now. These things would both lead to me discovering more snails, since I would be in a position where they would be easily visible, and be in that position often. Nowadays, I’m higher above the ground, I don’t “play outside” very much unless I’m specifically in an area to do so (like hiking, fishing or camping) as opposed to just playing around in the neighborhood around my childhood house, where there were sidewalks everywhere and where snails would be more apparent. So those two factors might be what’s going on here. BUT - I’m a pretty perceptive guy. I’ve always got my eyes open. I look around myself all the time, and that includes the ground. And I swear I would have noticed snails or worms if there were any. If nothing else, I would have thought to myself, “hey, I haven’t seen many of these around lately.” I’m now seriously unnerved by all of this. My childhood was a happy time of snails and worms. And “Japanese Beetles,” which used to swarm our town every summer (we had traps for them in our yard.) What the fruck ever became of all these bugs? Now I’m facing a cold, hard world with nothing but non-bug creatures. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fewer-snails-nowadays-than-there-used-to-be/494464/9 "2009-04-27T15:40:36Z")
WRT Japanese beetles, large scale use of [milky spore](http://www.milkyspore.com/milkyspore.htm) may be one reason for their decline. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fewer-snails-nowadays-than-there-used-to-be/494464/10 "2009-04-27T15:42:09Z")
Along the same lines, I can’t recall when I last saw a walking stick. But I spend almost zero amount of time in situations where I would see a snail or a walking stick. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-fewer-snails-nowadays-than-there-used-to-be/494464/11 "2009-04-27T17:03:19Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > We went through a period of years and years without fireflies and with very few surfaced earthworms after rain (Northern Virginia, by the way). Suddenly last year or so the worms returned with a vengeance and some fireflies reappeared. My guess would be some change in what pesticides the county and the community spray, but I don’t know. > > In general I find it quite chilling that animals as visible as fireflies could disappear _en masse_ and no one says anything. Tsk. Tsk. No one indeed. > **[Where have all the fireflies gone?](https://www.straightdope.com/21343399/where-have-all-the-fireflies-gone)** > > A STAFF REPORT FROM THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD