Came across this quartet of Garden Snails on March 13th.Thought that by this stage they would have awakened from their hibernation but three weeks on,despite some decent weather in the interim,they are still asleep.I found them in the corner of a shed in the grounds of the former nursing home Tall Trees in Askeaton.
Snails normally hibernate from October to April.They favour pots,walls,tree trunks and rock crevices.They empty their stomachs to remove all liquids from their gut.Failure to do this would result in the liquid freezing(in sub-zero temperatures)and this would kill them.They curl up in their shells and seal the shell with a thick mucus.They lower their heart rate,take slow shallow breaths and slow down their metabolism all designed to use less energy just like other hibernating creatures.
It is worth reading more about these thoroughly fascinating(and silent!)creatures that have been with us for 500 million years.
