101 uses for a Vibrating Snail
Created | Updated Aug 25, 2004
This entry came from the following experience.... *cue X-Files music*
F19585?thread=469211
"Last night, I espied a rather large snail on our patio. Wanting to get rid of it rather than tread on it accidentally, I gave it a couple of taps as usual, so it would go back inside it's shell, ready for lobbing into the hedgerows, as one does. However, when I picked this one up, it vibrated! I squealed! And dropped it!
Completely grossed out but curious, I decided to give it another go... tap tap, pick up with thumb and forefinger, *vibrate*, Squeal, drop snail and wave hands about going "EAUWEAUWEAUW!", again.
This is obviously a defence mechanism (or coincidentally I picked up the snail at the same time it's mobile phone went off), but I've never experienced it before, neither has anybody I've spoken to about it as yet. A brief look on google has not availed me to any information, but I'd like to know more! Any ideas?
If it helps, it was a particularly slimey snail"
<geek> The following represents a cross section of comments from the community...
Possible reasons:
<huh>Maybe the snail was phoning the police saying:
__@_'-' - {HELP, HELP, there's some crazy woman taping on my shell!!}
<huh>Snail's packing a chainsaw. Don't take any crap from it, Q - tell it straight. 'I know where you live.'
<huh>Well, either, I'd guess, it was a coincidence and its mobile (on vibrate) happened to be going off, or the washing machine was on spin, or the tumble dryer was full out
<huh>Maybe the poor little snail is alone......so has bought itself a toy!
<huh>That does sound very odd. And I do certainly hope the use of mobile phones hasn´t spread to the animal kingdom
<huh>¦---{as for using mobiles, snails like me aint got the money mate, what with the rise in
¦property prices you gotta look after the shell}
<huh>Maybe he was dancing around in his pants at his joy of having such cheap mobile accommodation when his mobile went off and shocked him so much he started shaking just when I picked him up.....
<huh>maybe the snail was itching at the time becausue the dustbunnies were inside its shell
But apparently...
Land snails have two forms of defense: pulling themselves into their shells, and blowing bubbles. If they are really taken by surprise, they'll do both at the same time, for good measure. As a result, the bubbles hit the inside of the shell before oozing out, causing a vibrating sound and sensation. Depending on how far inside its shell the surprised snail has managed to pull itself, the sound can resemble anything from a mobile phone to a wet fart.
101 uses!
<star> Eat it – very chewy!
<star> You could probably track vibrating snails by putting one of those nodding woodpecker on a spring things on their back to constantly tap the shell and then look for the zig-zag slime trail
Or put one in a noisy tin box and hook an electromagnetic tapper device (technical term) up to an alarm clock to when it goes off it activates the electronic tapper, the snails vibrates in the noisy tin box and wakes you up! (Mind you, if, like me, you tend to thump your alarm in the morning you'll have to get a new snail each day)
<star> You could put a lot of vibrating snails into the tin box, and put some sandpaper around it. Then you could use it for polishing wood or removing paint.
<star> Perhaps attached to a key-ring? If ya lose 'em, just listen for the occassional 'jingling'
<star> put em in a bucket, put your cocktail in with them, then tap the bucket sides. Instant cocktail shaker!
<star> If each snail vibrates slightly differently, you could use them to create a musical instrument... A snailello or something.
<star> Wired appropriately, an interesting electric snailtar. *wipe frequently...*
<star> Maybe we could use the vibrating snails to massage his feet
<star> Put a vibrating snail in the controler of your PS2/Xbox/Nintendo for that arcade effect...
Use a cordon of vibrating snails to keep burglars away from your front door...
Sit a vibrating snail on your keyboard to make typing noises while you have a kip under the desk...
<star> They could add that extra frisson of excitement to French cuisine...
<star> *imagines a vibrating snail powered terrorist bomb*
2legs personal list
.Use it to terrify passers in the street.
. count it.
. eat it.
. love it.
. contemplate it.
. wash it.
. eat it.
. spin it on a turntable.
. let it write a top selling murder mystery.
. Make it do a parachute jump for charity.
. Sell it.
. Buy it.
. digest it.
. use it as a body massager.
. use it as a 'bug'.
. show it your 101 uses for a lettuce list.
. sellotape it to your forehead.
. use it as an embelum for your new company that sells marmalade.
. use it as biological warefare.
. manage it.
. let it form a rock group..
. magnify it.
. explode it.
. Use it in animal experiments.
. sequence its genome.
. tell it to get lost.
. make it eat cheese.
. put it on top of your car as a guard to protect the car from theft.
. Train it to be a guard-snail.
. send it shop lifting.
. enter it in the olympics
Random commments
Could we get all our vibrating snail based instruments together, for a rendition of 'Good Vibrations' by the Beach Boys? http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/F19585?thread=469211&post=5721546#p5722781
Anyway,as a good leftie all snails should be squished since they are persecuting all the slugs by keeping them homeless!
...It will get to you…..
"Oh, and just to say, was moving the shed in the garden today. Lots of slugs (eew, squishy, slimy! and decididdely yuk) and snails. I was just about to ping a snail of the wood I was moving when I thought. I wonder if it will vibrate and have baby wasps coming out of its bottom.
Argh, h2g2 is impacting my real life! Must log off.....”
F19585?thread=469211
"Last night, I espied a rather large snail on our patio. Wanting to get rid of it rather than tread on it accidentally, I gave it a couple of taps as usual, so it would go back inside it's shell, ready for lobbing into the hedgerows, as one does. However, when I picked this one up, it vibrated! I squealed! And dropped it!
Completely grossed out but curious, I decided to give it another go... tap tap, pick up with thumb and forefinger, *vibrate*, Squeal, drop snail and wave hands about going "EAUWEAUWEAUW!", again.
This is obviously a defence mechanism (or coincidentally I picked up the snail at the same time it's mobile phone went off), but I've never experienced it before, neither has anybody I've spoken to about it as yet. A brief look on google has not availed me to any information, but I'd like to know more! Any ideas?
If it helps, it was a particularly slimey snail"
<geek> The following represents a cross section of comments from the community...
Possible reasons:
<huh>Maybe the snail was phoning the police saying:
__@_'-' - {HELP, HELP, there's some crazy woman taping on my shell!!}
<huh>Snail's packing a chainsaw. Don't take any crap from it, Q - tell it straight. 'I know where you live.'
<huh>Well, either, I'd guess, it was a coincidence and its mobile (on vibrate) happened to be going off, or the washing machine was on spin, or the tumble dryer was full out
<huh>Maybe the poor little snail is alone......so has bought itself a toy!
<huh>That does sound very odd. And I do certainly hope the use of mobile phones hasn´t spread to the animal kingdom
<huh>¦---{as for using mobiles, snails like me aint got the money mate, what with the rise in
¦property prices you gotta look after the shell}
<huh>Maybe he was dancing around in his pants at his joy of having such cheap mobile accommodation when his mobile went off and shocked him so much he started shaking just when I picked him up.....
<huh>maybe the snail was itching at the time becausue the dustbunnies were inside its shell
But apparently...
Land snails have two forms of defense: pulling themselves into their shells, and blowing bubbles. If they are really taken by surprise, they'll do both at the same time, for good measure. As a result, the bubbles hit the inside of the shell before oozing out, causing a vibrating sound and sensation. Depending on how far inside its shell the surprised snail has managed to pull itself, the sound can resemble anything from a mobile phone to a wet fart.
101 uses!
<star> Eat it – very chewy!
<star> You could probably track vibrating snails by putting one of those nodding woodpecker on a spring things on their back to constantly tap the shell and then look for the zig-zag slime trail
Or put one in a noisy tin box and hook an electromagnetic tapper device (technical term) up to an alarm clock to when it goes off it activates the electronic tapper, the snails vibrates in the noisy tin box and wakes you up! (Mind you, if, like me, you tend to thump your alarm in the morning you'll have to get a new snail each day)
<star> You could put a lot of vibrating snails into the tin box, and put some sandpaper around it. Then you could use it for polishing wood or removing paint.
<star> Perhaps attached to a key-ring? If ya lose 'em, just listen for the occassional 'jingling'
<star> put em in a bucket, put your cocktail in with them, then tap the bucket sides. Instant cocktail shaker!
<star> If each snail vibrates slightly differently, you could use them to create a musical instrument... A snailello or something.
<star> Wired appropriately, an interesting electric snailtar. *wipe frequently...*
<star> Maybe we could use the vibrating snails to massage his feet
<star> Put a vibrating snail in the controler of your PS2/Xbox/Nintendo for that arcade effect...
Use a cordon of vibrating snails to keep burglars away from your front door...
Sit a vibrating snail on your keyboard to make typing noises while you have a kip under the desk...
<star> They could add that extra frisson of excitement to French cuisine...
<star> *imagines a vibrating snail powered terrorist bomb*
2legs personal list
.Use it to terrify passers in the street.
. count it.
. eat it.
. love it.
. contemplate it.
. wash it.
. eat it.
. spin it on a turntable.
. let it write a top selling murder mystery.
. Make it do a parachute jump for charity.
. Sell it.
. Buy it.
. digest it.
. use it as a body massager.
. use it as a 'bug'.
. show it your 101 uses for a lettuce list.
. sellotape it to your forehead.
. use it as an embelum for your new company that sells marmalade.
. use it as biological warefare.
. manage it.
. let it form a rock group..
. magnify it.
. explode it.
. Use it in animal experiments.
. sequence its genome.
. tell it to get lost.
. make it eat cheese.
. put it on top of your car as a guard to protect the car from theft.
. Train it to be a guard-snail.
. send it shop lifting.
. enter it in the olympics
Random commments
Could we get all our vibrating snail based instruments together, for a rendition of 'Good Vibrations' by the Beach Boys? http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/F19585?thread=469211&post=5721546#p5722781
Anyway,as a good leftie all snails should be squished since they are persecuting all the slugs by keeping them homeless!
...It will get to you…..
"Oh, and just to say, was moving the shed in the garden today. Lots of slugs (eew, squishy, slimy! and decididdely yuk) and snails. I was just about to ping a snail of the wood I was moving when I thought. I wonder if it will vibrate and have baby wasps coming out of its bottom.
Argh, h2g2 is impacting my real life! Must log off.....”
