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Hi.  Our New England COSEE program has been developing a promising 
substitute for the land snail (working in collaboration with teachers 
using the appropriate curriculum). I've pasted an introduction the 
key developers have  written for us below (Sukey Padawer, NEAq and 
Jacqui Steinback, URI).  We very much welcome interest -- the whole 
idea is to get people using the little suckers - so contact me 
directly and I'll connect you with the team. (Ask nicely enough, and 
we might mail you snails.)
Carolyn

>The Eastern mud snail Ilyanassa Obsoleta (formerly Nassarius 
>Obsoleta) is a promising substitute for the land snail in a 
>classroom setting, depending on the objectives. The Mud snail is a 
>estuarine species that needs to be contained in a saltwater setting, 
>but a simple aquarium is easily maintained using an Instant Ocean 
>preparation with tap water and a dechlorinating agent.

Ilyanassa are a very hardy species, tolerating broad temperature, 
salinity, and oxygen changes. In addition, they are detritivores and 
eat a wide range of foods (ranging from tuna to fishfood to oatmeal 
to seaweed). Although much smaller than land snails, mud snails are 
very active and engaging, having interesting feeding behaviors and 
very prominent structures, such as the siphon--used for water intake 
and sensing food--and the proboscis--used for feeding, that keep 
students enthusiastic and engaged. Basic experiments on food and 
substrate preferences and observations of external anatomy have been 
very successful activities in our limited clasroom trials. However, 
mud snails are not transparent like the land snails, so the heart and 
internal structures can not be seen in live specimens.

>Mud snails are very abundant and can easily be caught at low-tide by 
>teachers in coastal areas. However, more research needs to be done 
>on commercial suppliers. The suppliers that we have found seem to 
>catch the snails on a demand basis (not maintaining a year-round 
>supply), and therefore initial orders for snails may be limited 
>seasonally (especially in the northeast). However, some suppliers 
>(like Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA) have expressed 
>interest in maintaining year-round supplies for schools, if the 
>demand is there.





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>Date:         Wed, 5 Jan 2005 12:18:16 -0800
>Reply-To:     Informal Science Education Network 
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>Sender:       Informal Science Education Network 
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>From:         Fred Stein <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Snail Question
>To:           [log in to unmask]
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>X-OriginalArrivalTime: 05 Jan 2005 20:28:27.0473 (UTC) 
>FILETIME=[1CDD5410:01C4F365]
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>ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
>Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
>*****************************************************************************
>
>Hello all,
>
>The ant conversation is going so well that I wanted to ask a related question.
>
>Do people have a source for land snails in their state?
>
>Land snails (such as the brown garden snail - Helix aspersa), used to be
>available and were incredibly popular in certain elementary science units.
>As of last year, they became regulated, and cannot be distributed
>interstate.
>
>Do people use local suppliers now that they can't be sold by Carolina
>Biological? Have people found other alternatives to the brown garden snail?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Fred
>
>Fred Stein
>Science Educator
>Exploratorium Institute for Inquiry
>3601 Lyon St.
>San Francisco, CA 94123
>(415) 561-0332
>[log in to unmask]
>
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-- 
Carolyn Levi, Ph.D.
Director, New England COSEE
New England Aquarium           
Central Wharf, Boston, MA 02110-3399          
(617) 973-5264/ Fax: (617)723-9705
http://www.necosee.net/
http://www.newenglandaquarium.org

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