Here's a link to a site in FL that says they are INDEED exotic, native to South America. http://www.dep.state.fl.us/central/Home/Watershed/snails/Snails.htm It seems they would not survive winter in NJ, but life has a way of getting around rules and assumptions. We never thought we'd have an over-wintering population of water hyacinth in Arkansas, and now it's poised to take over.

Kylie, I love that picture of your GD!!!! I know....I did not look that cute with the frog in my hair! LOL!!! Amelia....You are so funny! I actually thought about taking it back but did not want to drive back there. I thought about giving it to the neighbor kids. I usually take my snake skins to them as they love that kind of stuff! Kristy...I will try and get a pic for ya. I don't know exactly what kind of snail it is. I was surprised for such a little frog...how high and far it could jump and how much energy it had. Of course he may have been freaked out cuz he did not like my driving skills! LOL!! Karyn, We have an edition across the street that has a huge pond built all around the neighborhood. It is a gated community and I don't know how far I can throw.... hmmm. Will let you know what happens to him. Joyce

I am located on Oahu Hi and have the identical snail problem. I may have introduced them to my bins when using fallen leaves to create a leaf layer over food scraps. Luckily I've not used compost for anything but foliar tea, and those leaves did not come from my yard. A knowledgable source advised me to start over or stop feeding for a month or two, that there's enough to keep worms alive in the compost already. "Those worms are tough, don't worry !" He's got a Masters degree in Ag Science and Organic Farming and so far has never steered me wrong. I will be starving both bins but will experiment with beer trap plus sprinkling a little sea salt on the top layer of one of the bins. I was also advised to drop the moisture level, monitoring it with moisture sensor. Thank you for posting those pictures, hopefully we can hear from someone who has overcome this already.

I've been battling snails for years! They de-head and kill all my seedlings grown from seed. I tried Sluggo and other products like it and didn't like it's side effects on my plants. The plants tend to turn VERY dark green and get crisper and wrinkled. It doesn't kill the plants, just mutates them for a few weeks before they recover and grow normal again. I wonder if it's the iron in the sluggo product? Last year, I tried several holistic methods and had success with a couple. They sell little tiny shot-glass sized plastic cups and I buried them to the rim and filled with beer. I bought beer and also made my own mash with yeast, water and honey. The store-bought beer worked pretty well but some plants were still being chewed off. I tried surrounding the seedling stems with sand paper and that worked until it rained. The grit washed off the sand paper quickly. I tried putting leaves from mint plants surrounding each seedling stem. I sprinkled garlic and cayenne pepper on the ground. Those 3 things did not work at all. But placing pennies vertically around each stem worked 100%. The pennies placed horizontally worked too, until it rained and soil washed over the copper and the snails crossed the barrier. It took 3 or 4 pennies placed vertically in a square around each stem to ensure the seedling survived. My garden is 150 feet long and it will be annoying as all get out, but I will be planting pennies this year, along with each plant. I'll use Sluggo outside the garden, a couple feet away from the perimeter.