SLIMY REAL LIFE
Kris Buckley owes her life to some very obscure pets...
Holding a damp, slimy and rock hard item up to the camera, I knew it would keep my audience entertained.
‘You’ve got to keep her nice and wet,’ I teased, looking straight into the lens. ‘If it stinks then it’s dead…’
Despite what you may think,
I wasn’t being dirty-minded.
I was sharing some advice.
Telling the internet exactly how to keep pet snails –holding my Giant African Land mollusc in prime view.
Plus, living in Munich, Germany, it helped that the word snail was also the same cute nickname for awomen’s genitalia, too.
Something that I really played up to in front of my followers –at least they would remember me!
And it wasn’t the first time that Ihad shared my snail wisdom online.
In fact, keeping and breeding snails had become my life –a bizarre yet fascinating hobby.
It was something that started roughly six years ago.
Hitting rock bottom in 2017, I’d just escaped aturbulent relationship and found myself on the breadline.
Collecting necessities from the local food bank while trying to keep aroof over my children’s heads, I didn’t have anything for myself anymore.
Only, scrolling through social media, that’s when Isaw apicture that I liked.
A terrarium full of green plants, rocks and a snail.
It would be nice to have a little rainforest, I thought.
Unable to have apet dog or cat, asnail seemed like the next best thing instead.
Plus, I’d read online that they had the power to calm you down, too.
It was just what Ineeded. Anything to try and lower my anxiety.
So turning to asecond-hand selling app, Ifound exactly what Iwanted –it really was meant to be.
Afull terrarium with two giant snails, all for around £100 in total.
I didn’t have aclue how to look after the molluscs, but they certainly gave me something to focus on.
Reading all sorts of articles and tips online, it was acase of trial and error.
Only needing to feed them once aweek, the pair were very low maintenance.
I quickly found the best thing to do was actually leave them alone instead.
All that was important was maintaining the humidity and temperature in the tank.
If there were any changes that I needed to make, I’d start to notice due to the colouring or shape of the snail’s shell.
WHAT THE SHELL?
And before long, the initial pair that Ihad picked up turned into awhole brood.
Moving all of the furniture out of my bedroom, my boudoir was brimming with slimy creatures instead.
Realising that there
