Oftentimes snails get a bad rap, especially when they are found in gardens. Many types of snails can damage plants, but some, like the manatee tree snail, are good for plants. I have a bunch of these snails on my property and we have quite a few of them at my office, too. These guys eat algae and fungus, which except during droughts, we have plenty of here in central Florida. More specifically, they eat algae and fungus off of the bark of smooth barked trees. At my house they also like the algae that grows (no matter what you do) on the smooth plastic surface of my front gate and in the fairly smooth surfaces of my dog house and my house. At work they love our smooth, painted concrete block walls.

These snails are quite attractive as well as being beneficial, so I certainly don’t mind having them around. Their shells tend to be a shiny off white with brown or tan bands. Most of mine have very distinct markings, but markings can be almost nonexistent to quite dark. There is another very similar looking tree snail, the master tree snail, that also can be found in this area. The manatee tree snail tends to have a slightly less rounded shell, and it has a slight flare around the edges of the opening whereas the master tree snail does not have a flare (easiest way to tell the difference in my opinion). Both of these snails spend the majority of their time in trees (or on other algae covered surfaces) except when laying their eggs. The eggs are laid in a small cavern or tunnel at the foot of the home tree. When the baby snails hatch out, they climb up the tree to begin feeding on algae. Interestingly, these snails are hermaphroditic, but they do require two individuals in order to reproduce.

Manatee tree snails can live to be seven to eight years of age in captivity. In the wild, they rarely live this long since they have many predators including raccoons, possums, crows, jays (and other predatory birds), rats, and even another predatory type of snail! Due to over harvesting by people and their high number of predators, these snails have become a species of concern in some parts of Florida. Snails that live several seasons, though, do so by hibernating (called aestirvation in snails) during cooler and drier weather. They do this by secreting a bunch of mucus around the opening of the shell and sealing themselves to some sheltered surface. So if you run across a snail that looks dead stuck to a wall or tree branch, let it be. When conditions get better, it will re-emerge and resume eating algae.

If you find snails in your garden please make sure that you get a proper identification on them before considering “getting rid of them”. The manatee tree snail and many other snails are actually friends to your plants and trees. In fact, some citrus farmers actually buy these snails to help keep the algae and a particularly harmful soot fungus off the orange and grapefruit trees! Nature really is pretty amazing, isn’t she?