Roman Snail

• Its radula, the rasping tongue it eats with, has between 20,000 and 40,000 teeth.
• It hibernates buried under moss 15-30 cm down and seals its shell with a porous epiphragm that lets it go on breathing all winter.
• In France it is protected: collecting it is banned during the breeding season, from 1 April to 30 June, and outside that period only individuals over 3 cm may be taken.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - gastropod mollusc

Habitat and environment

Limestone ground: fields, woodland, allotments, gardens and above all vineyards, which is where its other name comes from. It prefers places near rivers and reaches around 1,500 m in altitude

Litter / clutch size

Clutches of about 80 eggs. It is hermaphrodite but cannot self-fertilise: it needs to mate with another individual

Sources consulted: IUCN Red List (Neubert 2013, e.T156519A4957463) · Directiva Hábitats, Anexo V · Wikipedia (Helix pomatia) · Aquaportail · curso de helicicultura (fichas técnicas)

Best time: From April or May to autumn; it feeds mainly between dusk and midnight