Land Snails and Slugs - The Terrestrial Gastropods

[brontodocus]

Walk-around of the Bullyland Animal World Edible Snail (or Burgundy, Vineyard, or Roman Snail), Helix pomatia Linnaeus, 1758. Body length is approx. 90 mm and the shell is approx. 39 mm high and 39 mm wide, so the scale is 1:1. Despite being a figure that's been around for several years it's still in production.
Here is a link to it at Bullyland's website: http://www.bullyland.de/index.php?id=798&L=1










Edit 2017-02-06: Fixed broken image urls.

[Jetoar]

This snail will be a great gift for my girlfriend  .

[brontodocus]

Thanks, Jetoar! I can't believe it took me so long to finally buy one since it's representing an animal quite common nearby.

[Jetoar]

Yes,Is very possible that when I will go to the museum, I will buy this figure for my girlfriend  . It is very cute and tiny.

[Rossano]

Got one of this just this afternoon, it is a very nice model and actually I expcted it to be a bit smaller, looks like real scale and it is damn realistic. The only disappointing particular is the painting of the eyes, way too big black dots that give to the image a neatly cartoonish appearance. Will try to fix this with some paint by myself, it would be first time.

Curious enough, while on the website it is called "Edible Snail" that is one of the common names of the Helix pomatia, on the paper catalogue that I got in the shop it is called Vineyard Snail, i.e. Cernuella virgata, but clearly the model is not of that species.

[brontodocus]

Got one of this just this afternoon, it is a very nice model and actually I expcted it to be a bit smaller, looks like real scale and it is damn realistic. The only disappointing particular is the painting of the eyes, way too big black dots that give to the image a neatly cartoonish appearance. Will try to fix this with some paint by myself, it would be first time.

Curious enough, while on the website it is called "Edible Snail" that is one of the common names of the Helix pomatia, on the paper catalogue that I got in the shop it is called Vineyard Snail, i.e. Cernuella virgata, but clearly the model is not of that species.

Sorry for being late... I think this may be a translation issue. Bullyland is a German brand and the German vernacular name for H. pomatia is "Weinbergschnecke" which literally translates into "Vineyard Snail", although the English vernacular name "Edible Snail" may be more common.

Anyways, hey, the photos are back in this walk-around.

[Rossano]

Great pic as usual! 

[snailtime]

Hi all, I figured I'd make a thread specifically for land snails and slugs as this is what I collect and I have quite a few. I saw there's a general mollusc and worm thread already but I think this group deserves its own thread. Because I have so many I will probably post in batches. I will include any information I know about the figures I have, but if anyone reading this thread knows more about something I've posted, please feel free to share your knowledge!

As far as I know, I have all known land snail/slug figures produced with the exception of the yellow-shelled New-Ray snail and the three Bullyland slugs. If you have something I don't, please share here!

One thing to note is that since there aren't a ton of figures made of these animals, I sometimes branch out a bit and collect things that are more accurately classified as "toys." For example, sticky toys, finger puppets, wind-up toys, etc. However, the "toys" I collect must follow some rules to stay on theme. Stylization must be minimal - these must look like land snails/slugs. No painted on happy faces, I want to see eyes on the tips of eye stalks (unless it's one of the few species that has eyes at the base of the stalks). The figure/toy must also primarily exist to depict a snail/slug, the toy part must be secondary. By that I mean I don't collect things like those slug fidget toys that are everywhere these days. Those are primarily fidget toys, the fast that they're in the shape of a slug is a secondary feature. I hope that makes sense!

The final thing I want to note is that I have some professional malacology in my background. I have studied land snails/slugs on the professional level and am quite competent in species-level IDs and have a solid understanding of land snail/slug taxonomy. I actually have an entire bookshelf of primary literature With that being said, the vast majority of these figures are simply not realistic enough to give even the most basic of IDs to. They are just snails/slugs unless the manufacturer says otherwise. However, if I do suspect an ID for a figure, I will share.

P.S. Here's a preview of what you'll see in this thread. Stay tuned though because I have more figures that aren't pictured in these images. 

[snailtime]

Let's start off with some vintage unbranded figures. These simple snails range in manufacture date from the 1960s (so I've been told) to the 90s. These were sold in a variety of formats. Sometimes they were prizes in gumball machines. Sometimes they were sold in creepy crawly sets. Wherever these snails were seen, they were typically also seen with some caterpillars, a scorpion, lizard, frog, stag beetle, slug, etc. Theres no branding on the bottom of any of these other than "CHINA" on a few.






And here's the slugs that were commonly spotted with a snail counterpart. The lime green slug with the orange stripe down the center came with a set of other creepy crawly figures that sported extremely unique intensely colorful paint jobs. Sadly I no longer have the others There was no corresponding snail though to my knowledge. These slugs seem to be in the family Athoracophoridae (the leaf-veined slugs, although these would belong to a species without the obvious leaf-veins that some members of the family have).






And for the sake of reference, here are some photos of example packaging that I've stumbled across (these are just two examples, there are other different kinds I've seen that I sadly don't have images of).

Gumball machine display/insert from the 80s:



1991 'Toys to Grow On' brand "Bug Box" that would have contained a set of creepy crawlies:

[snailtime]

Vintage figures - Part 2. Here's some more snails that were likely gumball machine prizes. Presumably from the 60s or 70s. No branding other than "HONG KONG." The body is rubbery but the shell is a hard plastic. They're simple but somehow still quite detailed.




More gumball prizes. These are from the 60s. They're pretty small but really nice. Very detailed. The clear gumball capsules they came in are behind them. These also have a rubber part and a hard plastic part. One of the snails is a mini version of the two larger ones above pictured above. No branding other than "HONG KONG." Nice crawdad figure too. I really like these guys.





Another made in Hong Kong figure. Probably made between the 60s and the 80s. Really hefty, solid figure made out of something rubbery. Great quality. Suction cup on the bottom too. The snake tongue is an interesting choice, but I like the unique character it gives the figure. I've seen another version of this one without the snake tongue (also orange, but more translucent and no paint on the shell) but I don't have that one in my collection at moment.



Here's some interesting ones. I love this unique looking sculpt. Not realistic, but cute. The rubbery brown/black one is from the 60s/70s and says Hong Kong on the bottom. It was a gumball machine prize. There were some other very cool rubbery figures that were in the same "set" as this one but I no longer have them. I distinctly remember a detailed rubbery chameleon figure. The grey one says "CHINA" on the bottom and was another gumball prize. I assume the same about the one with the striped shell (this one I think is from the 90s). The striped shell on this one kind of reminds me of Theba pisana, the white Italian snail, but this is likely just coincidental. There are hundreds of snail species that can have shells striped like this and this figure isn't detailed enough to narrow it down at all.



These aren't actually toys, but vintage fishing lures. I carefully removed the hooks from them. I absolutely love the detail and colors. And come on, a snail fishing lure? That's not something you come across every day. 

[sbell]

That's a surprising number of slugs and snails. As a group I'm sure I've got a few, but they're usually incidental.

Do you stay specifically to terrestrial species?

I don't see a lot of Japanese models in there -- definitely a source of a very broad range for you! I'm sure there's some!

[snailtime]

That's a surprising number of slugs and snails. As a group I'm sure I've got a few, but they're usually incidental.

Do you stay specifically to terrestrial species?

I don't see a lot of Japanese models in there -- definitely a source of a very broad range for you! I'm sure there's some!

Yes, I only collect terrestrial species. If I got into collecting marine species I think I would quickly run out of room. There are so many nudibranch figures out there! My knowledge of marine/aquatic species in general isn't very strong either.

I have lots of Japanese models - Kaiyodo, Kitan Club, and Takara Tomy off the top of my head. Those will be saved for a later post Many of these models have Chinese knock-offs floating around as of late (I collect the knock-offs too). I'll do a post of the originals compared to their copies soon

[snailtime]

One last post for the night. This post will be centered around the models and toys created by the company Archie McPhee (formerly known as Accoutrements). This is a great company for all the slug lovers out there. They're based out of Seattle, WA so the banana slug love makes sense. I will post these in chronological order.

First we have an extremely basic slug. Probably the most boring figure I have. It's basically a thin strip of rubber. The underside says HONG KONG 1986.



Next we have a banana slug finger puppet. Very nice paint job. The underside says 1997 and 'Made in China.'



Compare that to the "Finger Slug" they released in 2017. I think the earlier model looks a little nicer but I think they're both great. The second picture is one of the promo photos.




These are the "Itty Bitty Snails" that are currently in production. Three different figures in a total of nine different colors. My only complaint is that I want even more colors    Nice detail, but because these are so tiny it looks like the fragile, weak points had a hard time coming out of the mold. The tips of some of the eyestalks are missing. I appreciate the different shell shapes.





This is slightly off topic, but I might as well touch on the other notable slug items made by Archie McPhee. A few years ago (when the "Finger Slug" was still in production) they released a ton of banana slug stuff. Such as this latex mask and an enamel pin of a slug-headed man. I don't have these in my collection since these aren't really what I collect, but they're worth mentioning. There was also a set of sticky slugs ("Slug Stampede") but I will save that for my next post where I feature sticky slugs and snails of all sorts.

[snailtime]

In this post I'm going to go over sticky/stretchy slug and snail toys. There are quite a few of these out there, so this will be a longer post. Stay tuned though because after this post I'm going to dive into Japanese models (starting with Takara Tomy and Kitan Club).

I last left off with stuff made by Archie McPhee. The one terrestrial gastropod item I left out was their "Slug Stampede" set of three sticky slugs. The sculpt of these is really incredible. The attention to detail is amazing! I especially love the detail of the breathing hole or pneumostome. I'm sad that these were only made as sticky toys and not as hard figures because these would make some great models. There appears to be a suction cup on the bottom of these, but it's a little pointless on a sticky toy. I can't mention these without mentioning another set of three sticky slugs made by the company 'Ridley's House of Novelties.' I'm not sure what the relationship is between this company and Archie McPhee, but the slugs are identical except for color and packaging. I think Ridley's may be a UK-based company, but I don't remember.





As you can see, I'm trying out a new way of storing and displaying sticky toys. I don't like keeping everything in the original packaging because it takes too much room (I save packaging in a box in my closet). For a while I attempted to store sticky toys in individual bags. However, the problem with sticky toys is that they don't always store well depending on what they're made of. The sticky toys started leeching an oily substance through the bags which got everywhere. I'm now trying different sized clear display boxes (intended to store things like Hot Wheels and baked goods). If I notice they start leeching through these containers I think I'll try setting them down on wax or parchment paper inside the containers. Anyways, on to the next thing. The sticky/stretchy land gastropod toys are almost exclusively slugs. I'll cover all the slugs first and then talk snails.

Next up is the beautiful "Box of Slugs" made by the company 'Rex London.' These are nice looking but the box is what really stands out to me. I love the box art. These are the kind of sticky toys that are so sticky they basically want to melt into anything they touch. They instantly grab any and all dust and hair nearby. Like all sticky toys, they wash completely clean with a little soap and water. An oily residue is left on the fingers and these have a chemical smell, but not a bad smell. This came from the UK.



And here we have the "Glueslug," my all-time favorite of the classic sticky toys. These are very interesting and I don't know much about them. They were manufactured by a now defunct elastomerics company based out of San Francisco, California called 'Applied Elastomerics.' The yellow slug seems to be from 1990 and is the original. The orange slug seems to be a later run of the same toy from 1999. The packaging changed between that time somewhat significantly. I do not know if other colors were ever made, but at one point I found some of the original patent information on the Glueslug and found there were also patents for many other "Glue" animals. I think I remember there being a starfish. The phrase "Natural Wonders" appears on both variations of packaging, perhaps this was the name of the line of toys these were from? These have no smell and leave no residue on the fingers. I like the realistic faces and the inclusion of olfactory tentacles (something that the slugs from Rex London lacked).






Here's a classic. One of the greatest slug toys ever made and still in production! "Banana Slugfest" is a sticky toy, but isn't sticky like the toys before. It's more of a stretchy toy than a sticky toy (though it still is a bit sticky). This is made by Play Visions (Club Earth) and the packaging has changed over the years. The packaging on the left is the older design and the one on the right is the newer art currently being stocked (old and new packaging are in reverse order in the second image). I prefer the original art but I'm just glad this is still in production. These are supposed to be banana slugs as the name suggested. The spots are more like little dashes/stripes but I think it works fine for this toy. Also the inclusion of the word "Slugfest" is all this toy needs to make it perfect.





Play Visions/Club Earth made a second very similar banana slug toy around the time the Banana Slugfest was first released which is no longer in production. It was a rubbery banana with holes in it that came with two mini slugs. The packaging encourages kids to "pull your banana slugs through the banana holes." A wonderfully weird concept. This was exclusively a stretchy toy. There was no stickiness to any of the pieces. I only have one of the mini slugs. I hope they put it back into production one day because I'd love to have the banana to go with the slug. The mini slugs in this toy are miniature versions of the banana slugfest.






Here's a couple of miscellaneous sticky slugs that appear to be of the same sculpt. The translucent yellow/orange one seems to be suffering from a significant loss of detail. The black one smells absolutely horrible and leaves greasy, oily residue all over the fingers. It is made by 'Tobar' ('One for Fun') and is sold as "Sid the Sticky Slug." Production photos online often make this toy look blue but it is in fact black. The yellow slug is sold by 'PlayWrite.' Both of these toys came from the UK. There are a few of these slugs sold in different kinds of packaging under various different companies but they all seem to be the same toys.






Next up are some really basic slugs sold by 'Oriental Trading Company.' This have been around for a while and are still in production. They're often sold as treat-or-treat/halloween favors. They come in four colors but are not very detailed and don't look very sluggy. The tentacles are really thin. It looks like they're supposed to appear spotted on their mantles. Perhaps the creator was inspired by the leopard slug, Limax maximus when designing them.




These sticky slugs were also made by the Oriental Trading Company, although to my knowledge they were never advertised anywhere. They came as a surprise to me when I bought a set of 100+ assorted sticky toys from the company in attempt to get the slugs show above. These ones were a complete surprise. They're much nicer than the other slugs made by OTC. I like the colors more and I love the detail of the tubercules on the skin, the lines on the underside of the foot, and the lines on the head near the mantle.



Moving on to the snails. I don't have any sticky snails but I do have stretchy snails. These three are made by Blue Frog Toys and came from the UK, although they were once available on Amazon. The body is stretchy and the shell is hard plastic. I love the design of the body and the detail. Looks very realistic. What I don't love is the paint job on the shells. I don't really like how the shells are white plastic with paint kind of washed over them. If the shells were cast in brown or some other earthy color and then had another color added I think that would've looked much better. Then again, these are just kids toys and they're great for what they are




Last but certainly not least are these beautiful gumball machine prizes made by the Chinese company Yiwu JO Toys Co Ltd and sourced off of Alibaba. These may not be realistic, but I adore them. I love the bold choice of using black rubber for the body. You don't often see that with snail toys even though it's a common snail skin color in real life. I also like the color combinations on the shells. The orange/yellow shelled snail almost reminds me of a cartoonish Cuban painted snail, Polymita picta. The shells are made of a hard plastic. The rubber bodies are interesting in that they appear to have some kind of cotton stuffed inside. This gives an interesting texture when squeezed. They're also quite stretchy.



That's the end of the sticky/stretchy land snails and slugs. Next I will start to go into Japanese-made figures (and their knock-offs).

[snailtime]

In this post things are going to get a bit complicated. As much as I would like to follow a linear order when going over these models, in some cases I just can't. I group my collection by set and by sculpt, but when knock-offs are generated things can get a little tricky. As much as I would love to go into all the Japanese figures at once and then move on to other companies in this post I think it would be best to go over Kitan Club, Takara Tomy, and Bullyland (not a Japanese company of course, but you'll understand my reasoning soon). I will go over the rest of the Tomy figures and Kaiyodo in the post after this one.

First up is Euhadra peliomphala land snail from Nature Techni Color/Kitan Club. Quite possibly the best land snail figure I have. The detail is insane. It looks exactly like a real snail and species-level ID is easy. The stripe on the body, the shape of the head, the shell coloration. This figure is truly incredible. The only issue with mine is that the eyes are bent inwards. I'm not sure how to fix this if it's fixable. The body is made of a soft, bendable material that feels somewhat rubbery. Even the underside is realistic looking. I love the mouth. The mouth is open as if this snail is in the process of crawling across something and hungrily scraping the surface with its radula. The paper insert is beautiful and contains photos of the real animal.





Here is a set of snails and slugs produced by Takara Tomy. These are also highly detailed and the set consists of three different snails, two different slugs, and a charm of the two larger snails and the larger slug (three charms total). I'm not sure if the species these were intended to be was ever officially mentioned. The slugs are quite clearly Ambigolimax sp. probably Ambigolimax valentianus (formerly known as Lehmannia valentiana). Common names include three-banded slug and striped greenhouse slug, these slugs are actually invasive to Japan (and many other places globally). The snails seem to superficially resemble Bradybaena similaris to me, which is commonly called the Asian trampsnail. These snails can have a reddish stripe on their shells but can also come in a non-striped form. It looks like this set includes both morphs. This species is also invasive in Japan.







Here are two land snails produced by Bullyland. Both are meant to represent Helix pomatia, also known as the edible snail, Roman snail, or burgundy snail. According to the Animal Toy Wiki, the light-colored snail was produced from 1994-1999 when it was finally replaced by the darker-colored snail as part of the "Woodland" series. There were also three slug figures that were produced with the light-color snail which unfortunately I do not have. The darker-color snail I have is probably circa 2010 but is still in production. I purchased the newest 2022 snail to compare recently and was disappointed to see that it looked nothing like the beautiful production photo (which looked more refined and detailed than the snail I have now). The ~2022 darker-colored snail looks identical to the ~2010 snail except it doesn't say "Made in Germany" on the bottom anymore. Overall, I like both snails a lot, but I think I prefer the older lighted-colored snail. The paint job just looks a lot better to me even if it's a little less realistic.





Now let's take a look at the clones... So many clones!



In the last couple of years there's been a boom of "life cycle toys" that've popped up all over Amazon, Aliexpress, and elsewhere. These are cheap Chinese models and there are many different animals to choose from. The only figures that seem to be original in these sets are the first and second stages, usually eggs and larvae. The sub-adult/juvenile and adult stages in these sets usually seem to be lower-quality versions of models that already exist. On the snail side of things, the adult stage is usually a knockoff of one of the larger Takara Tomy snails or a Bullyland snail. The sub-adult stage is either missing or another Takara Tomy snail. This is a bit funny since many times the life cycle being sold actually depicts two different species for the adult and sub-adult stages. The life cycle toys also includes a very simple model of a clutch of snail eggs and another simple model of clutch of eggs with a few baby snails hatching out of them. These are overall quite unremarkable but interesting. Alternatively, there are sets of snail toys sold that include the knock-off figures but not the eggs. Some sellers also sell the snail models individually. The models that are featured in the life cycle sets and the non-life cycle sets are not mutually exclusive. These toys are often mixed together and can be found sold in various different sets. I think it's interesting that the Kitan Club, Takara Tomy, and Bullyland snails all got lumped together somehow.



Now let's look at the clones individually. Here's the Kitan Club snail with its replicas. Note the progressive loss of detail that occurs from copy to copy.





Here are the different Takara Tomy snails with their duplicates.




The tiny Takara Tomy snail has never been sold in the life cycle sets, instead it can be found in the sets of snails only (no eggs).



And finally, here are the Bullyland snails with their clones. One of the clones is actually quite nice having an almost burgundy colored body and a yellow underside. Not realistic but pretty.




Overall, I actually really appreciate all the copies. It gives me more stuff to collect and adds more variety, even if the quality is a bit lacking. The clones range from being a really hard plastic (almost a resin feeling) to being a more bendy, softer plastic. I just wish they had made copies of the Takara Tomy slugs too. There's not enough slug figures out there! I'm imagining a slug life cycle set with a Takara Tomy slug knock-off as the sub-adult and a Bullyland slug as the adult. I can dream

[snailtime]

As far as I know, Kaiyodo has released a total of five land snail figurines and a total of three different species. There's the green-shelled Leptopoma nitidum, two variations of the Amalia snail (Euhadra amaliae), and two variations of Mandarina mandarina.



Here's the Amalia snail, Euhadra amaliae:



Here's the operculate land snail Leptopoma nitidum. This is an unusual one and I think the only operculate land snail model ever made. An operculum is the little disk sitting on top of the snail's tail. When the snail retracts, the operculum acts as a little door, closing the shell. This snail also lacks olfactory tentacles and has eyes at the base of the primary tentacles. These features are characteristic of aquatic/marine species but are also found in some primitive land snails.





Kaiyodo also released some models for the Sumida Aquarium, including these two beautiful Mandarina mandarina land snail models. These are easily my favorite Kaiyodo models.





Wrapping up the Japanese figures we have this garbage snails made by Takara Tomy x Panda's Ana. The bodies are incredibly realistic and I love the theme. They each represent small pieces of trash that might be found on the streets of Japan. The ketchup snail is my favorite. The paper inserts each have a little comic that shows each snail going through some kind of misfortune.

[snailtime]

In 2007, Safari Ltd released a nice Cepaea hortensis (white-lipped snail) figure. I bought this from a museum gift shop around that time. Sadly this figure is no longer in production. The skin color is a bit orange and the lips look odd. Worse still, this white-lipped snail lacks the identifying white lip on the shell. Instead the whole shell including the lip has been painted yellow. Other than that this is a great figure. I hope they bring it back at some point.



Papo has released a few nice snail figures over the last few years. There's a Cepaea nemoralis (brown-lipped snail or grove snail) and two different sculpts of what appears to be Helix pomatia, the edible snail. The larger H. pomatia is marked 2022 but the other two figures have 2020 stamped on them. The larger 2022 model may have been a European only release. I have seen it available on eBay.de and know it was also available in the UK at some point.





At one point the company AAA released a nice snail model. This one was gifted to me by a fellow animal figure enthusiast and is one of my greatest treasures. I just love this one. I like how knobby the tentacles look and the detail of the body texture and shell. The paint job is nice too.

[Roger]

I spend most of my time dedicated to this hobby on the STS-Forum or editing the Toy Animal Wiki. Unfortunately, I can't devote as much time as I would like to other boards like ATF, DTF, or some Facebook groups. However, I was fortunate to stumble upon this incredibly interesting topic during one of my lurking sessions in what is one of the most exotic collections I could find. It's enchanting to me that such themes are chosen, and snails are something I wouldn't expect. The quantity of figures you have is impressive considering the small number of dedicated figures for these creatures. It's amazing to feel excited knowing that someone decided to focus on this theme. If you ever consider contributing photos to the wiki, just reach out to me, keeping in mind that we don't list clones on the Wiki. However, I confess that this is one of the most interesting aspects of this presentation, especially when life cycles feature figures from different species. I think I've seen something similar with frogs too. If I ever find a New-Ray snail, it surely will be yours.
Edit: Do you know a vintage snail figure from a Spanish brand called Pech Hermanso? Not very realistic but a piece of history.

[snailtime]

I spend most of my time dedicated to this hobby on the STS-Forum or editing the Toy Animal Wiki. Unfortunately, I can't devote as much time as I would like to other boards like ATF, DTF, or some Facebook groups. However, I was fortunate to stumble upon this incredibly interesting topic during one of my lurking sessions in what is one of the most exotic collections I could find. It's enchanting to me that such themes are chosen, and snails are something I wouldn't expect. The quantity of figures you have is impressive considering the small number of dedicated figures for these creatures. It's amazing to feel excited knowing that someone decided to focus on this theme. If you ever consider contributing photos to the wiki, just reach out to me, keeping in mind that we don't list clones on the Wiki. However, I confess that this is one of the most interesting aspects of this presentation, especially when life cycles feature figures from different species. I think I've seen something similar with frogs too. If I ever find a New-Ray snail, it surely will be yours.
Edit: Do you know a vintage snail figure from a Spanish brand called Pech Hermanso? Not very realistic but a piece of history.

Thank you so much for your kind words    I'm so glad other people are interested in my collection! The wiki is free to use any of my photos and I can take others if needed. If you like this topic stay tuned because I'll post two other sets of photos today of even more figures.

No, I have never seen that snail figure from Pech Hermanso but now I'll be keeping an eye out for it. It might not be realistic but it's certainly unique and a really nice figure

[snailtime]

Even more snails and slugs! Here's a Partula sp. manufactured by K&M Int. This is a really interesting choice for a figure. Partula snails are mostly endangered and many have gone extinct. They are tropical tree snails that live in places such as Moorea and Tahiti. I love that they chose to make a figure of a snail that is in dire need of attention. This figure is made out of a soft, bendy plastic and looks like it may have been made in the 90s but I don't actually know. The detail of the mouth is a nice touch.



I don't know much about these unbranded snails. The green glow-in-the-dark snails were sold with glow-in-the-dark insects (the most notable of which was a nice antlion larva). I don't know anything about the yellow one. There is no branding other than "CHINA" on the underside.



I don't know anything about these unbranded snails either other than that they came from the UK. That's a shame because this is one of the nicest snail sculpts out there in my opinion. I'm guessing these might have been sold with generic packs of insect toys.



These slugs on the other hand, I know are sold with generic packs of insects. The glow-in-the-dark and dark blue ones are currently being sold all over Aliexpress and Amazon. The dark blue slug incorrectly says "SNAIL" on the underside. The lighter/brighter blue slug was the one that was common before the dark blue one started being manufactured and is made of a softer, bendier plastic. I don't know anything about the metallic blue slug, but it is "vintage," highly detailed, and also made of a soft, bendy plastic. The purple one was sold to me as being vintage and came from Greece. The brown slug is currently available on Amazon and is sold by the company BOHS. As far as identifications go, the blue and purple ones are likely Bielzia coerulans, the Carpathian blue slug. Yes, there are in fact real blue and purple land slugs. The purple ones are juveniles but adults can range from being bright blue to a greenish teal. The brown one appears to be Arion rufus, the chocolate arion/European brown slug/red slug. These slugs range in color from dark brown to orange to red.



These generic land snails are sometimes sold alone and sometimes sold in packs of sea animals for some reason despite clearly being land snails. The snail with the orange shell, yellow stripe down the neck, and orange tentacles is the original figure as far as I know and has circulated online for the last 10 years or so. I used to see a lot of them coming out of Germany but this could be coincidence. The other two are currently sold in sets of sea creatures on Aliexpress and Amazon with the yellow/brown one being the newest. IDs are not possible with these as they are way too generic.



These are very similar to the snails above, but are a different sculpt. These can also be found in sets of sea life toys or as "garden miniatures." The orange-shelled one is on Amazon and Aliexpress at the moment. The white-skinned one I just bought yesterday at the Archie McPhee store in Seattle, WA. It was the only one there and was in a bin of assorted sea life toys.



This snail is truly vintage. It was made some time in the 1930s or 1940s in Germany by the company Elastolin. It's made of what feels like some kind of hard resin or plastic.



I don't know anything about this simple grey slug or what it was sold as or with, other than it came from the UK. I probably wouldn't have gone out of my way to buy this. It came with an eBay lot of insect toys that I purchased to get a snail figure. The slug was a bonus. Into the collection it goes 



This simple snail has been available on and off on eBay for a few years. It's unbranded, made of plastic, and sold as a "garden miniature." It was sold as a Euhadra sp. but really looks too generic to be identified as that or as anything else. For those that want IDs, let's just call all of these unidentifiable land snails as being in the clade Stylommatophora. That's the best, most accurate ID that can reliably be given.



These little plastic snails have been floating around the internet for at least 10 years, but they've never been easily accessible (outside of Germany). They seem to come from Germany and are also sold as "garden miniatures." A lot of these plastic snail toys seem to be sold as garden miniature figures to be put outside in a flowerpot even though that's clearly not a good idea. Most of these are more suitable as small toys. They probably wouldn't last long being left outside as they are too small and fragile. One of these was sold separately as a magnet prank item along with a bunch of other magnet insects/frogs/etc. This magnet toy also came out of Germany.