I Can’t Get Enough Of Socrates, The Snail

Yesterday I posted a video of our snail Socrates, eating.

In the video, his tiny mouth is pressed up against the glass wall of the fish tank. The space that is his mouth opens and closes in a mesmerizing  fluid motion.  I love the whole fish tank, the fish, the live plants, but it’s Socrates the snail I find myself taking the most videos and pictures of and being the most fascinated with.

Abrah was the first person to tell me about the book The  Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, by Elizabeth Tova Bailey.

I would expect this from Abrah.  She’s a wonderful artist who can capture the express  of an insect or animal in its face and body.  She does this  in the drawings,  paintings and cartoons she creates.  And she has plenty of snails in her cast of characters which you can see on her blog In My Nature.

Then Linda,  another artist whose artmail, in the form of original postcards, I have a nice collection of, told me about the same book.

By now I was thinking I’ll have to get the book.

But before I could, I opened a package from Deb in yesterdays mail and there’s a copy of the The Sound of A Wild Snail Eating. (thanks Deb!)

I’m in the middle of reading the book Call Me Zebra, by Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi, (Which I’m really enjoying. It’s an intense read that absorbs me in with its language ) but I read the first few pages of The Sound of A Wild Snail Eating and I can’t wait to get back to it.

I don’t know what it is about Socrates, but he has me in his grip.  Not like the creature in The Shape of Water or anything like that.  But he’s definitely got me interested in the everyday lives of snails.