While we worked on Ningham Station, near Paynes Find, I had had to fend off the depredations of nice big healthy snails, so I figured that these, so far from anywhere, just had to be a good, pure, tough strain, to endure the high temperatures and dry conditions, so off we went, complete with a nicely prepared box, to find 30 - 40 good, big breeding snails. You guessed it - pressed by our hosts, who generously supplied us with another box, we came home with several hunderd gastropods, who all had to be safely housed.
With high hopes ( and not a little trepidation ) we put them into an enclosure prepared as directed in Sonia's book.
All seemed well, but we decided to have one last look before bed. Oh! OH! Disaster loomed! Snails disappearing over the edge in all directions! Didn't they know the copper capping, purchased at a great expense, was supposed to have given them a nasty reaction, and thus stop them escaping? How on earth were we going to contain them for the night?
At this time people were still in our house, so we were living in the caravan and the only available item large enough to cover the enclosure was a double bed sheet, fresh off the line that afternoon.
Picture this if you will, the 2 of us in the rain, by torchlight in a very confined space, trying to cover an area roughly 2 mt. x 1 1/2mt. with a bed sheet, at the same time trying to recapture errant snails! Who says they are slow? Eventually the job was done, the sheet held down in the only way possible -- lots and lots of clothes pegs off the line. Since then, clothes pegs have often been pressed into service to keep adventurous stock in check -- particularly those escape artist, the babies.
