Cuban Painted Snail

Names & Nicknames: Cuban painted snail, painted snail, oriente tree snail

Size: The shells of these colourful critters reach around 2-3cm in diameter, kind of like a multi-colour grape – just don't eat them!

Communication: Cuban painted snails are primarily solitary, so they prefer to slime around by themselves. When they do get together, it is for mating and this involves a ‘love dart’ - read on to find out more about snail love.

Favourite Hangout: The glorious island of Cuba – the Eastern side to be exact. They're arboreal (like to chill in trees) and are mostly found in subtropical forests along the coast.

Favourite Snack: Vegans through and through. Cuban painted snails like to munch on moss, lichen and fungi growing on bark. Lush.

Eating Habits: Their particular diet is incredibly helpful to the trees they live on; by eating off the moss, lichen, and fungi from their bark, they help keep them healthy. This doesn't just help the trees; it also helps give your morning a kick. Cuban painted snails benefit local agriculture, such as coffee plantations, by keeping the plants healthy!

Love Language: To be shot by an arrow of love – Cuban painted snails take this phrase quite literally. When it’s time to get it on, these molluscs will expose their nether regions before stabbing their partner with an aptly named ‘love dart’. This dart is a calcium-based needle that the snail uses to stab into their partner and inject secretions that will help the snail's sperm be more successful. As snails are hermaphrodites (contain both male and female reproductive organs), each of the pair will attempt to stab each other before each of their man bits go into the other snail's respective lady bit to finish the deed.

If you see them: What makes these snails special is their remarkable variety of colour combos in their shells. From pastel yellows and pinks to brick reds, pearly whites, blacks, ochres, and many more shades in between. So if you see one, make a note of what colour it is, but please leave it be. One of their main threats is people taking and killing the snails to use their shells as ornaments, but we can all agree they look much better on the snail than in our homes.

Red Flags: These snails are threatened by habitat loss, predation by invasive species such as rats, and climate change. However, their main threat, as we touched on above, is the illegal collection and trade of their shells. Unfortunately, something that makes them so special and unique is also their greatest curse.

Epic Journeys: Snails like the Cuban painted aren't exactly known for their epic migrations. They tend to be most active during the wet season from September to October (well active by snail standards), and they enter a period of dormancy, basically a deep, deep sleep, so they move even less than usual!

Glow-up: After the ‘sharp’ ordeal of mating is over (see the love language section), these snails will lay around 50 eggs to bring along the next generation of these painted wonders.

Facts: In 2022, the Cuban painted snail was named the “mollusc of the year” in a landslide victory where it earned over 10,000 votes. As a reward, its DNA was sequenced so we can learn more about this enigmatic species.

Who are they in the friendship group: Absolutely stunning but a bit afraid to come out of their shell.