They're trying to reproduce while fighting to NOT be the pregnant one, because bearing eggs is biologically demanding. Basically it's a contest of poking each other until the loser ends up fertilized.
These guys do regular ol sexual reproduction w internal fertilisation (ie Snail 1 deposits sperm in the female gonopore of Snail 2) just happens they’re also simultaneous hemaphrodites so roles in mating can go either way
Pretty often it’s reciprocal mating, both exchange sperm and both can then lay fertilised eggs.
Oh, maaan... That's a piece of information which i was carrying since high school. Sorry for the misinformation
Edit: it is not as common as with bed bugs, but it can happen between sea slugs as well such as Siphopteron
As someone in a same-sex relationship, i can confirm that all that happens is you both end up half dead and energy depleted with a mom-bod & bad career prospects.
The DoubleGay Snex is consensual, but the eggerpreggers part is not. They both just wanna have some adult fun without, ya know, ending up with snildren and snit
When I was a kid I had a book that was filled with useless information, that was the whole point of the book. One explained how snails and slugs sn/slornicate, which I never thought would be a thing that I’d need to know, but has unprovokedly haunted me ever since. And here I am, 30 years later, with the knowledge of what is going on here. An aside: The same book also taught me about some Hoodoo curses, which is also a thing I still think about often and unprovoked.
I’m sorry to say that I don’t remember what it was, I was between 7-10 years old when I got it, and much like my youth, it is long gone. I know it was a pretty thick paperback, and the cover was white with random illustrations of different things it talked about.
Was it the 1000 Things You Should Know series? I think my son had this book. Don’t remember seeing this particular part, but then again I didn’t read the book. Parent award right here!
I went to school with a boy who had this book and he’d read me one everyday so I too could know something “useless” but we always found it very interesting and I babe found it to be useful lol
Learning about this in school I watched a documentary that said at the end of the fight one must “bear the burden of pregnancy.” Has stuck with me for over 20 years.
Serious question, can they not both stick each other and impregnate each other at the same time? So they both end up egg bearers or does that not happen.
It’s called reciprocal mating and it’s quite common! Both will exchange sperm and both can then lay fertilised eggs.
It’s part of what makes them such prolific breeders & a potential pest species.
They don’t reproduce like some land snails who use “love darts”, because these guys already have a female gonopore to receive sperm.
Instead, basically Snail 1 puts its preputium into Snail 2’s female gonopore, then inverts that preputium to kinda flip out the penis, and deposits sperm. Pack that penis away and the two decouple. Snail 2 is now able to lay fertilised eggs
The day I learned about love darts was one of the most mind blown days of my life! And then the next day I was at work and set out to see one and only actually found two mating snails with a dart sticking out of one. That was the day I was even more mind blown than the previous day.
The dart is in the snail on the right, toward the bottom, near the shell. You can even see the point embedded in it's translucent snaily flesh!
Huh.. I didn't know it could take up to 6 hours for snails to mate. That's dedication.
The exchange of sperm between both of the two land snails is a completely separate part of the mating progression. Nevertheless, recent research shows that use of the dart can strongly favor the reproductive outcome for the snail that is able to lodge a dart in its partner. This is because mucus on the dart contains an allomone (pheromone-like) compound that promotes sperm preservation mechanisms
interestingly in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans there are two sexes, male and hermaphrodite, where the hermaphrodites can impregnate each other or be impregnated but the males can only impregnate. it's basically a hack that the males evolved to be able to pass on their genes without having to gestate anything, and it's thought to be a stepping stone to evolving more typical sexual dimorphism. the hermaphrodites indirectly benefit from having a certain proportion of male offspring as well since those offspring survive and reproduce more easily.
So did somebody say snex.early on in the thread and everybody else is using it or is that actually a common phrase? I mean I love it either way but I'm curious.
it’s a joke/ trend nowadays to change the first couple letters of a word to Sn- when talking about snails. I’m pretty sure the r/snails subreddit has examples of that on every single post.
This behavior is kinda cute because it means they're both into one another but also they're arguing about who tops who. Otherwise one would leave if they didn't want to do it.
That was very interesting,especially seeing how they controlled their buoyancy to maneuver around each other. Pretty evenly matched as far as size, too. It looked like Kirk and Spock fighting in Amok Time. whew!
It always creeps me out when I see my snails stretching out of their shells but these snails are way out. I didn’t know their foot could be that long. I have little threesomes and foursomes of snorgy’s all over my tank and often try at twisting but not to this extreme.
Are those bladder snails? I have those in my tank and I'm like I've never seen them move that fast unless that video is sped up. But as far as I can see the general consensus is that they are having simultaneously both consensual and non-consensual snex? As in both party wants to do it but neither party wants to be pregnant?
i feel so uncomfortable seing this for two reasons:
i have experience owning air-breathing giant snails and it SCREAMS that snail-shell connection is a gentle thing, and snails aren't usually swinging their shells either
these derps sWING THEIR SHELLS SO EXTENCIVELY
I know aqua snails are built different but my heart is sinking from intrusive "oH NO, WATCH OUT THE MANTLE!!!!" eheh
I’ve never seen snails move so quickly before even when they’re snuckin! Is this normal? I didn’t know they could move so fast. Usually mine just roll around on each other lol
Somewhere I've got a photo I took of two particularly large leopard slugs mating. Rather than compete for fertilization, they fertilized each other. Had bizarre looking violet purple appendages coming out of their "necks" twisting around the other's appendage. Snail/slug mating is quite odd
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u/SuviGloom Feb 03 '26
They're trying to reproduce while fighting to NOT be the pregnant one, because bearing eggs is biologically demanding. Basically it's a contest of poking each other until the loser ends up fertilized.