Examples of animals that eat snails are badgers, blackbirds, turtles, crows and foxes.
Snails are a delicacy that has been eaten for centuries.
So it’s no wonder that many animals have developed a fondness for snails.
They have no natural predators, can travel up to 25 meters per day and are edible.
Snails are also perfect food for some animals that don’t normally eat meat.
Examples of animals that eat snails
Examples of animals that eat snails
Scientific nameMeles melesSpeciesMammalDistributionGreat Plains region of North AmericaDietOmnivore
Badgers eat snails.
Snails are molluscs, meaning they have a soft body and no bones.
They also produce slime to evade predators like badgers.
Badgers dig holes in the ground, called setts, for their families of up to 13 members.
The female gives birth to one child every spring, usually four to five at a time.
Badgers are omnivores, which means they eat both meat and plants.
They mainly eat insects, earthworms, fruits and vegetables, but also prey on small mammals such as rabbits and birds.
Snails make up a very small portion of their diet.
Scientific nameTurdus merulaSpeciesBirdLocationEurope, North Africa, India and Southern ChinaDietOmnivore
Blackbirds are harmful to snails.
Examples include blackbird, red-winged blackbird, and song thrush, which are known to eat or feed on terrestrial mollusks, particularly nudibranchs.
Snail shells are crushed between their powerful beaks and then the soft body is pulled out.
The birds often hunt snails by feeling the ground with their beaks until they find a snail hiding under leaves or in the ground.
Scientific nameAnguis fragilisSpeciesannelidsDistributionWestern EuropeDietCarnivore
Blindworms are among the animals that eat snails.
Snails provide these animals with an excellent source of protein and minerals.
Blindworms in particular eat large amounts of snails, which helps keep snail populations under control.
By eating snails, these animals help maintain balance in their ecosystems.
4. Box turtle
Scientific nameTerrapeSpeciesReptileRangeUnited StatesDietOmnivore
The box turtle is a land dweller that feeds primarily on snails and other small invertebrates.
They have a hard shell that protects them from predators and can live up to 100 years.
Box turtles are found in the eastern United States and southeastern Canada.
Scientific nameChilopodaSpeciesChilopodaRangeWorldwideDietCarnivore
Centipedes are carnivores that eat other animals to survive.
These creatures have a long body, typically up to 12 inches, with many segments, and move very quickly, using a pair of legs for each segment.
The head is equipped with powerful fangs that inject venom into the prey’s body, causing paralysis and death within minutes (since their digestive system is very acidic).
Centipedes generally eat insects, but have also been known to feed on earthworms, lizards, and other small animals.
Scientific nameCorvusSpeciesBirdRangeWorldwideNutritionOmnivore
For example, crows are very good at spotting snails.
In the tropical rainforest there is a bird called Bananaquit that eats insects and fruits, but also likes to eat terrestrial snails.
They usually find their prey by picking leaf litter on the forest floor.
Scientific name LampyridaeSpeciesInsectDistributionWorldwideNutritionOmnivore
Fireflies eat snails, which is good because they help control the snail population.
Scientific nameVulpesSpeciesMammalDistributionWorldwideNutritionOmnivore
Foxes eat snails and other invertebrates.
Scientific nameAnuraSpeciesReptileRangeWorldwideDietCarnivore
Frogs are known to be among the most common animals that eat snails.
They are also able to use their sticky tongues for other things, like catching flies or even ripping snail shells out of a plant.
ground beetle
ground beetle
Scientific name CarabidaeSpeciesInsectDistributionWorldwideNutritionOmnivore
Ground beetles are predators that eat snails and other small invertebrates.
They are often found near bodies of water where they can easily catch their prey.
Ground beetles come in many different colors, but most are black or brown.
These insects have a tough exoskeleton that protects them from predators.
Ground beetles are beneficial to gardeners as they help keep other pests under control.
Scientific nameOpilionesSpeciesArachnidDistributionWorldwideNutritionCarnivore
Harvestmen are not true spiders, but they are arachnids.
They have eight legs like a spider, but their body is different.
Harvestmen mainly eat snails and insects.
Scientific nameErinaceinaeSpeciesMammalLocationEurope, Asia, Africa and New ZealandDietOmnivore
Hedgehogs are well known for their ability to catch and devour a wide variety of prey including earthworms, insects like beetles and caterpillars, and even baby birds.
The common hedgehog is often found in gardens where there are many snails.
Scientific nameMuscidaeSpeciesInsectPlace of distributionEurope, Asia and non-tropical regions of AfricaDietOmnivore
Horn flies are a species of fly that feed on the blood of cattle, horses, and other mammals.
Horn flies can be controlled with insecticides, but they can also be eaten by certain animals.
Birds such as swallows and blackbirds eat horn flies, as do some lizards, frogs and toads.
Scientific nameLimax maximusSpeciesGastropodDistribution in southern and eastern AustraliaDietCarnivore
Leopard snails are one of the most common animals that eat snails.
They are large nudibranchs that have a brown and black spotted pattern on their body.
They are found in gardens and forests throughout the United States.
Scientific nameLacertiliaSpeciesReptileRangeWorldwideNutritionCarnivore
There are many different types of lizards that eat snails.
The most common include anoles, gecko and iguana.
These lizards have a specially adapted mouth that allows them to pry open snail shells and pull out the soft body inside.
They don’t usually eat the shell itself.
Scientific nameMusSpeciesMammalDistributionWorldwideNutritionOmnivore
Mice are among the animals that eat snails.
You can consume them because they have sharp teeth that can pierce the snail shells.
Mice normally eat the flesh of the snail, but they will also eat the snail shell if no other food is available.
Snail shells provide important nutrients for mice, such as calcium and phosphorus.
Mice that eat snail shells are generally healthier than mice that don’t eat snail shells.
Snail shells also help protect mice from predators.
Scientific nameTalpidaeSpeciesMammalDistributionWorldwideNutritionCarnivore
Moles eat large amounts of earthworms and snails.
They locate their prey by sensing the vibrations they create as they move underground.
Scientific namePleurodelinaeSpeciesReptileLocationNorth America, Europe, Asia and North AfricaDietCarnivore
They have long, slimy bodies and a flattened head well suited to eating slugs and even other newts.
During the day they hunt in the water, but mostly live on land in moist forests near ponds or rivers.
The smooth back skin helps them swim through the water.
On land, their skin secretes a sticky mucus that helps them climb vertical surfaces or hold on to rocks to avoid falling into the water.
Scientific nameDidelphidaeSpeciesMammalDistribution: United States, Mexico, Central America, South America and CanadaDiet Omnivore
The possum is a small, off-white North American marsupial.
Opossums are omnivores and eat a variety of things including fruits, vegetables, insects, carrion and snails.
One study found that opossums eat an average of 23 snails per day.
That might not seem like a lot, but it can add up over time.
Possums are an important part of the ecosystem and help keep snail populations under control.
Scientific nameRattusSpeciesMammalDistributionWorldwideNutritionOmnivore
However, there are many different types of snails. Therefore, it is important for people with rats or other pets to know what to feed their animals to avoid slug poisoning.
Roman snails
Roman snails
Scientific nameHelix pomatiaSpeciesGastropodsRegions in the south-east, west, east, north and south of EuropeDietHerbivores
Roman snails are considered robust because they can withstand very cold temperatures.
A Roman snail’s shell is brown, and the snail itself varies in shades of dark purple, pink, and blue with white spots around its body.
Scientific nameUrodelaSpeciesReptileLocationNorth America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Central AmericaDietCarnivore
Salamanders are small lizards that live on land.
Some salamanders will eat anything they come across, while others will only eat specific things like fruit or leaves.
One species of salamander, the red-spotted newt, prefers to forage at night to easily avoid predators.
These small amphibians will eat any type of snail they can find, including the invasive apple snails that are causing problems in many parts of the world.
Scientific nameSoricidaeSpeciesMammalDistributionNorth AmericaNutritionCarnivore
Shrews are a species of mammal in the Soricidae family.
Shrews are small and there are many different species, ranging in size from 17mm to 38cm in length.
They have a slender body with very sharp teeth, but unlike rodents, they do not have elongated incisors.
Their tail is between one and two inches long and is always covered with black hair.
These mammals are insectivores and their diet consists of a wide variety of insects, including snails.
Scientific NameSerpentesSpeciesReptileRangeWorldwideNutritionCarnivore
Snakes are among the most important enemies of snails.
There are many different species of snakes that eat snails, including the king cobra, black mamba, and bushmaster.
Scientific name PasseriSpeciesBirdRangeUnited StatesDietOmnivore
Songbirds mainly eat the soft parts of the snails, such as the body and tentacles.
They also eat snail eggs.
Some songbird species that hunt snails are the American robin, the dark-eyed junco, and the white-throated sparrow.
Scientific nameBufonidaeSpeciesReptileRangeWorldwideNutritionCarnivore
Some people believe that the toxins in snail slime can be poisonous to these predators, but there is little scientific evidence to support this claim.
Toads in particular seem to love eating snails and will do anything to track them down.
Scientific nameMeleagris gallopavospeciesbirdrangeUnited Statesdietomnivore
Snails are a popular target for snail-eating animals.
Wild turkeys like to eat wildflowers, nudibranchs and smaller species of insects, as well as mice and other small rodents – but they will also eat larger prey like this one.
In fact, their main diet consists of acorns from oak trees, which provide both protein and fat. However, when these are scarce, turkeys will seek other food sources.
This includes snails.
Snails are at the bottom of the food chain.
They are a slow and easy target for many small mammals, reptiles, and birds.
Although they have a tough shell that protects them from predators, many with long beaks and claws can bypass defenses to get their daily meal!
Living in South Africa I had the pleasure of seeing most of these animals up close.