Feature:

You've got snail: why the best pet of 2020 is slow and slimy

"Snails are having a moment as the pandemic is making our worlds smaller, forcing us to slow down our speed.

'You would never imagine that you could connect with a snail,' says Nadia Giosia. But the evidence is inching slowly up her hand.

When the pandemic forced her into her Los Angeles apartment, her initial response was to bring the outdoors inside: she bought houseplants. Giosia did not anticipate a stowaway – but when her new ivy arrived, nestled within its leaves was a snail.

Giosia debated what to do...

At the start of 2020, Giosia – a comedian & television chef, & former host of the Food Network series Nadia G’s Bitchin’ Kitchen – had been gearing up to pitch a new show. When coronavirus struck, she was able to support herself with consulting work, but she had time to fill.

'And I’ve got to say,' she says, 'a mollusc is a nice companion.'

Giosia kept the snail & called him Leroy. 3 months later, Leroy is 3 times the size he was when he arrived, nourished by cuttlefish bone (for calcium) & cucumber (as a treat).

'What’s nice about snails,' Giosa says, holding up Leroy on her hand to her computer’s camera, 'is that they are very obvious creatures: if they don’t like something, they go into their shell.'

Leroy, antennae waggling, is plausibly upbeat. Now, after all, is his time to shine.

Snails are having a moment in 2020, their silvery trail stretching from TikTok, where the #snail hashtag has more than 100m views (& #snailmom, 10m); to the New York Times, which published a 'letter of recommendation' for snails as pets in July. That same month, The Snail Hospital joined Instagram, sharing stories of injured snails on the road to recovery.

This new appreciation seems to be an outcome of the pandemic making our worlds smaller, forcing us to slow down to their speed.

New Zealand pop singer Benee said she was 'fascinated' by snails while in lockdown in Auckland: 'There wasn’t really a lot to be doing, so I would spend a lot of time outside looking at snails.'

The molluscs were mobile where she was not. She started to imagine the pandemic from their perspective: did they wonder where the people had gone?

The result was a song called Snail – with the refrain “When it’s day, hide away / But come out, when it rains”... She called it her 'lockdown song'.

On Instagram, snails have emerged not just as a source of inspiration for artists, but their subjects. In September, artist Chloe Wise shared a photo of a tiny snail with the caption: 'Friend'.

Chicago-based creative duo Aleia Murawski & Sam Copeland have been shooting snails in elaborate miniature sets – a bowling alley, a diner, a mall – since about 2016, but their projects have become more ambitious in quarantine. In May, they started staging scenes from classic horror films featuring their snail Velveeta, starting with the bloody elevator from The Shining...

For Victoria Cottrell, a 21-year-old engineering student in Los Angeles, what began as a boredom-buster through quarantine sparked a surprisingly lucrative business.

About 6 months ago, she came upon some snails in her neighbor’s yard & thought them 'cute'...Cottrell saw a potential pet.

She took some home & put them in an empty tank. In the summer months, she would spend entire days outside with Gary, Turbo, & Maurice: 'They’d be hanging out on the grass, I’d take a book – it was fun.'

But Cottrell was not prepared for them to reproduce: all snails have both male & female reproductive organs. Within a month, she says, 'I had maybe 100, 200 baby snails that I did not know what to do with'.

She took a punt on listing them for sale on Etsy – & was flooded with interest. Today she has sold 57 garden snails at $8 a pop (excluding shipping).

Cottrell is somewhat bemused by her success: 'They’re not different from any other snail than you would find in the garden.' Nevertheless, her customers have been delighted.

...Last month, New York magazine’s cutting-edge consumer vertical The Strategist declared snails the perfect 'pandemic pet' – not least for their ease of disposal, should the novelty wear off.

Giosia...does not anticipate losing interest. 3 months ago she knew nothing about snails... Now she rattles off facts with enthusiasm...

Giosia has even acquired a 2nd snail from Cottrell: a 'partner in slime' for Leroy, which she named Edna. They share a 12 sq in tank, kitted out with organic coconut coir, sphagnum moss, filtered water, & a jade plant to climb on.

...One of them is now pregnant; & though Giosia has no desire to branch into snail breeding herself, it at least promises some excitement in the coming weeks.

Leroy’s arrival in her life was a 'slimy little blessing' – not only for adding interest to her days, but also showing her how to pass them. In lockdown, Giosia observes, we have all been forced into the slow lane: 'He really was a great teacher in that regard.'"