Snail Tales

One night I sat next to my tank to watch the snails glide around enjoying their new habitat. Artemis and Gigi were on the same flight path and were due to intersect at any moment. I waited to see what would happen, and when they collided there was a pause.

The next thing I knew, Artemis and Gigi were face to face, and to my horror it looked like Artemis was trying to pull Gigi out of her shell. I was deeply concerned, but of course didn’t want to interfere with nature so I left well enough alone.

As the night progressed Gigi and Artemis became more intertwined, and it looked like Artemis was trying to decapitate Gigi with his head twisted around her neck, and her shell was starting to turn white. Artemis on the other hand, was blood red and seemed to be sucking the life out of her. Naturally I took it upon myself that I had done something wrong so I turned to the internet for help.

I scrolled for seemingly hours typing in questions: Had I not been feeding them enough? Did they have enough calcium in their diet? Had I poisoned them which ultimately made them underwater zombies who were turning on each other? While I had a plethora of looming questions, I was able to settle my tired brain and fall asleep, hoping for the best in the morning.

Once my head was off the pillow in the morning, I dashed to the tank. Both snails looked completely inconspicuous; like nothing had happened whatsoever. Gigi had returned to her normal cool grey color, while Artemis was a brown gold. My question had been answered: they were, in fact, mating.

A week later I noticed a tiny snail the size of a pinhead crawling up the side of the tank. Enter: Hermes.