freaky garden snail

by Caro
(Cape Town)

this morning it was drizzling and I went outside and caught some naughty snails in my nursery
for snails have been targeting my tamarillos and that makes them public enemy no one !
I found two medium and one small

I was feeding them to the fish when I heard a sharp thud
all I could see was a big snail lying on the wooden bench, it must have fallen down off the high branches of the thorn tree overshadowing the roof
I put it in the pond
wow, and it also floated, they normally sink
first time ever, the fish avoided it.. swam up and then swam away
it floated half way around the pond in the stream
then I plucked it out through a hole in the net
it was very black... most snails are pale whitey grey
i put it in a pot, it just lay there, barely moving.
its like the fish know its got some virus or other !

then I went back ten minutes later to my nursery to see if I could spot any other molluscs
and caught three humungous fat snails lurking in corners
I put them in the pond, they were frilly and pale as snails usually are
the fish slurped them up like iskeem in contrast to the black snail

fancy that... I've never seen such a thing as fish snail avoidance in 25 years of doing this

I've just been back to photograph it, its scarcely moving, but it is still alive. It doesn't even put out its horns fully, and see how blackish it is !

Tried to download my pictures and saw I'd forgotten the memory card in the card reader. Went out again to photograph it for the second time, and it was sitting in exactly the same spot with only its left feeler out !
Snails have a bad rap for slowness... but this is sloooooow

Unheimlich !