UK: Snails take up residence in Devon postbox, feast on envelope glue

A mailbox in England has become a snail sanctuary, with the tiny creatures feasting on the post within.

Royal Mail put a sign on a postbox in Lewdown, West Devon, saying, "We remove the snails daily, but they are very determined and return."

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"It is our business policy not to exterminate them with pellets or other means," the sign added.

As per the sign, the molluscs seemed to "enjoy making a home" in the Lewdown postbox and ate the glue that held the envelope in shape.

BBC reported that the sign has been on the postbox for at least four months. It read further, "Whilst you are very welcome to continue using this postbox, we wanted to mention that your letter may not arrive without some nibble marks around the edges."

Villagers believe the vegetation on the wall encouraged the snails to conquer the postbox. The snail invasion has existed for at least a year, and the parish council has not discussed it yet.

Residents can post their mail at the village post office, as snails have not raided it yet. However, the Lewdown postbox is not the only place these tiny creatures have settled.

Residents of Marazion, Cornwall, found their postboxes sealed off to keep these tiny invaders out. The postbox survived without any issue for over a century, surviving even two World Wars and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the authorities had to shut it down as it became impossible for the staff to retrieve mail from it.

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However, the 'snail mail' is a decade-old issue in England. In 2001, the slimy creatures crawled up postboxes in piles of letters all over England.

The officer in charge, Tom Potts, told The Guardian, "We were finding 20, even 30 snails at a time in the bottom of boxes. It wasn't just ones or twos. They were leaving their slime everywhere, getting into the letters, licking the paste. But they left the stamps alone, respectful of the Queen's image."

Snails are herbivores, and they breed rapidly in damp conditions. They eat vegetables, fruits, flowers, and cereals. They also feed on rotting organic material. However, they are fond of glue on envelopes and stamps.

According to Country Life, there are over 120 varieties of snails in Britain. However, people mostly notice the common brown snails lurking around in corners.

(With inputs from agencies)

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