Baby Snails

I found this little snail outside yesterday...she/he(garden snails are hermaphrodites) is obviously a survivor...it's shell was covered in maroon and white paint from last summer when we had the house painted before the wedding. I picked it up to check if it was just an abandoned shell or living snail...the snail was fast asleep but alive. Undernearh about an inch in the ground were translucent white eggs it had recently laid.

I put the snail back were I found it...today when I checked again the snail had completely filled and covered the hole and was now gone. This particular spot is obviously a bit of a snail nursery, as climbing up the walls directly above the unhatched eggs were a few dozen snail hatchings from another litter.

Even at such an early age these garden snails are quite curious...any that I photographed although initially weary all stared into and reached out to touch the camera lens.

.