Wolfsnail Sighting!

We have found two wolfsnails recently! My son found a dead one earlier in the week while he was walking in the neighborhood. You could still see the snail's body, but it was starting to dry up. I knew it was a wolfsnail because of the large rosy-brown shell and because the snail had a mustache-- just like Sarah Campbell described in her book, Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator, and during her visit to St. Therese in the fall. Because of her research and book, this was one creature I didn't have to look up on the Internet to find out more about it!

The second snail was alive, but it was resting deep inside its shell. Maybe it had just eaten another snail and was tucking in for the night. I found it on a dried maple leaf at the threshold of my front door when I called for my cat, looked down, and saw what I first thought was a crawfish body! The leaf and shell together looked like one, strange creature with legs-- a hermit crab? But on closer look, I was surprised to find the wonderful wolfsnail!

Even though I had already tucked the children into their beds for some bedtime reading, I got them up so that they could see it. "Wow! A live wolfsnail! Call Mrs. Campbell!" I told them I would put it on the blog in the morning. As the night darkened, we left it on some jasmine underneath a bush. When I went outside this morning, it was gone.