Slug or snail?
How to tell them apart
A snail has a coiled shell big enough to pull into. A slug has no shell, or only a tiny one.
Quick answers
They differ on 3 of the 8 quick answers: hibernates, kept as a pet, do people eat it.
| Question | Slug | Snail |
|---|---|---|
| What is it? | Mollusc | Mollusc |
| Carnivore? | No, herbivore | No, herbivore |
| Dangerous? | No | No |
| Domesticated? | No | No |
| Awake when? | Night | Night |
| Hibernates? differs | No | Yes |
| Kept as a pet? differs | No | Sometimes |
| Do people eat it? differs | In places | Yes |
At a glance
| Question | Slug | Snail |
|---|---|---|
| Found in | Worldwide | Worldwide |
| Habitat differs | Forest, Farmland, Towns, Grassland | Forest, Farmland, Rivers & lakes, Coast, Open ocean |
| Size | Tiny | Tiny |
| Length differs | – | 0.6 mm (shell) to 39 cm (giant African land snail) |
| Legs | None | None |
| Covered in differs | Skin | Shell |
| Lives | Alone | Alone |
| Lives for differs | 1–6 years | 2–7 years |
| Can fly | No | No |
| Swims | No | No |
| Lays eggs | Yes | Yes |
About each
Slug
Land gastropods with no shell, or only a tiny internal one. “Slug” isn’t one group: losing the shell evolved many separate times, so different slugs aren’t closely related to each other.
Snail
A gastropod with a coiled shell big enough to pull itself into. Land snails are the familiar ones, but most snail species live in the sea, and many more in fresh water.
Sources
Last reviewed . The answers and notes come from each animal's own page, where every source is listed.
How each answer is decided: How we answer. More look-alikes: Side by side.