What Do Snails Eat?

If you've ever had snails in your aquarium, you've probably wondered to yourself What do Snails Eat? It seems like they don't eat anything at all, just clinging along to the side walls and floor of the aquarium. But as you've probably guessed, water snails in your aquarium DO eat. So what do snails eat?

Land snails typically enjoy eating plants and other natural vegetation available to them where they live. They will eat plants and bark, mushrooms, fruits, leaves, and flowers. Snails also eat stems, roots, and grass.

Any avid gardener who has had snails in their garden will tell you that snails really enjoy those plants, but unfortunately the plant and the gardener do not enjoy the snails since the snail can cause a lot of damage to their garden! Snails can also eat a few things you wouldn't expect them to: limestone, chalk and even paper or cardboard! (Can you imagine eating a salad with those things? A snail would love eating all of these things!)

Water snails and aquarium snails typically eat algae. Algae is a kind of underwater organism similar to plants (minus the roots and few other plant parts!) but they are often microscopic, meaning you would most likely need a microscope to see what most forms of algae look like. Even though we can't see the algae, you don't have to worry, the snail can find it! Most people take advantage of what snails eat, since it keeps their fish tanks nice and clean!

Now that we know the answer to the question what do snails eat, it's kind of interesting to look at how snails eat. Snails have a thing in their mouth that is called a radula. A radula is sort of like a rough tongue that would resemble a nail file or sandpaper edge and helps snails grind their food together so they can eat it. This radula is why the snail is able to eat things most of us wouldn't think possible such as the limestone or paper! This gives snails calcium, which helps them have strong shells to protect themselves.

I've always wondered exactly what the answer is to the question of what do snails eat and now that I've learned all about snails I wish I had one for a pet! It sure would be interesting to watch it eat some of these unusual foods! A snail would also be pretty easy to care for, since most of the things snails eat are easily available to find just in my backyard.