How to run a snail race
Thingamababy has complete instructions for holding a snail racing tournament. It even comes with tags to affix to the shell of your slimy steeds. Here are some handling tips:
Link4. Prepare the racers. Many of the mollusks will be too skittish to come out of their shells. You want brave snails. Wait until one peeks out of his shell and starts moving. Grab that one and, while holding the shell in the air, press a racing number onto the shell. DO NOT apply the number while on the ground because you'll smoosh and possibly injure the snail.
Lift off any protruding twig or leaf debris from the underside of your selected snails and place the racers inside the inner circle facing outward. If any snails try to jump the gun, tap their shell so they retreat inside.
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"If any snails try to jump the gun, tap their shell so they retreat inside."
That rates as the funniest sentence I've read all day. "Snails jump the gun." Even typing it makes me laugh.
This, is maybe the most important set of instructions I have read all week. Perhaps, it was written by mole men for their favorite activity?
I thought this page would be a link to this Youtube clip (which is pretty awesome in its own right), but it's great to see two minds come to the same conclusion independently.
I used to have my kids find snails to race to help clear them out of my garden. We just drew numbers on them with chalk and drew a chalk circle around them. The winners were the first ones tossed into the street. We were trying to teach them to evolve and learn to fly. ;^)
I find that I can get my snails to go faster if I threaten them with a sprig of parsley and some nice warm garlic butter.
annnd they're off....no wait
http://vark.blogspot.com/2007/11/nacargot-video-nsfw.html
utube video of snail race. btw, couldn't log in, got error message. - arbitrary aardvark