Are snails Poisenous?? (sp)

DS has gotten very fond of snails, just teh general garden variety, they are his "friends"..

My mum stayed with us for a week and was disgusted at the idea of him playing with them with the goo and gunky stiff, so while she was here i looked up a site that said they were quite safe and the goo-ey stuff was not poisenous... i still make him wash his hands after playign with them and everything, but now my mum has been home and spoke to a friend of hers who has told her that they ARE poisenous and you can die from the goo-ey stuff!! Apparently only if you injest it (which DS is safe from, but if he brings one inside and DD finds it, it will go straight to her mouth)

So now i dont know, he loves his snails and yes i dont particularly like them, but he does, so now i dont know whether to keep him away from his "friends" or let him play with them. And they are everywhere at the moment, so keeping him away from them is going to be tough!!!

Does anyone know for sure?

Hi

They are not poisonous as such but playing with them can be fatal. They transmit rat lung worm - a parasite which can be deadly, especially to small children.

Dont let him play with them - especially lick or eat them. If he does, make sure he has a thorough wash.

Hope this helps!

n2l

PS Get him into weeding instead!!

Can dogs catch this parasite? My dog eats snails with great abandon!

Apparently all mammals can Kazbah. I guess it's down to luck whether or not whether or not pooch gets one that is a carrier. It's a toughie knowing how to stop it though!!

Info below....

Angiostrongylus cantonensis is the scientific name for the rat lung worm. It cycles between snails and rats, spending time in rats’ brains and lungs. Other hosts can be affected by accidentally eating snails or eating plant matter (including vegetables and fruit) over which heavily infected snails have crawled. This makes organic produce particularly risky and these should always be washed thoroughly before being eaten. The worms migrate to the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) where they can cause meningitis or meningo-encephalitis (e.g. in dogs). The worm may migrate along the spinal cord causing paralysis. Many mammalian and bird species can be affected, including humans, but I don’t know of any cases where reptiles have been affected. The species most obviously affected are tawny frogmouths and brushtail possums. Signs associated with larval damage include neurological dysfunctions (e.g., paresis, paralysis, ataxia, blindness) depending on which parts of the central nervous system are affected and how severe the damage is. Humans are affected if they eat raw contaminated vegetables or fruit, infested snails or slugs, or infested intermediate hosts. So don’t eat raw snails or slugs and don’t eat other uncooked animals.

A little boy my sister worked with at a Special school in Brisbane, ate a snail and he suffered very severe brain damage and then eventually died. It was very sad as she became very close to him.
So I would say No, don't let him play with them. It is just so hard to watch their EVERY move.

Thanks!! No more snails it is!!! Its going to be hard though, he loves the darn things!!! But i would rather know!! Thanks!!! I knew BB would know!!

ewwww, I never heard that before. I ate a few when I was little. :sick:

I agree - don't let him play with them. I work with wildlife and have seen a few devils die from rat lungworm. There was a man who got sick from it last year in Australia. He ate one as a dare. A good reason to wash your vegetables well.

rat lung worm is extremely rare, however there has been a recent (in the last 10yrs) emergence of it, particluarly in the Sydney area. I remember reading an artical about it in that's life. Chances are if he plays with them he will be fine, but rat lung worm is a very real concern even if rare. I encourage my kids to 'look but not touch', not because of the risk of rat lung worm as such, but more because they need to leave little creepy crawlies alone in general. I guess it is a bit like everything, it all have the potiential to be harmful (potting mix is much more likely to be harmful then snails for example) but you just have to weigh up the risks, teach good hygeine and hope that you and your children will be with the majority of the rest of the population who have no ill effects.

I remember playing with slugs and snails all the time as a kid, and picking them off the vege garden with mum. My brother used to eat them. yuck.