Snail mail - Snails like to eat paper

Snails eat paper and paper products such as cardboard, paper towels, sanitary paper, magazines, newspapers, seed packets, sticky notes and letters - and they do so because of the fibres and calcium. The main component of paper is cellulose, which is extracted from trees. Calcium is often added to paper as a filler.
Slugs are particularly fond of eating anything made of paper if it has become wet from rain or a lawn sprinkler.

The following signs indicate that slugs are eating your paper:

• Slimy, silvery marks on the paper or on the ground nearby, especially in the morning
• Large holes in the middle of the paper
• A damp patch or area around the hole in the paper
• Half-moon shaped/concave holes on the edges of the paper, with the holes getting bigger over time
• Thin lines scratched out of the paper
• No signs of chewed paper: snails swallow the paper they tear off, but rodents often leave torn or chewed pieces of paper lying around
• Paper is eaten in early spring before insects appear. Slugs are most active in spring and summer, but many slugs overwinter in areas with cold winters, so you shouldn't see paper damage from slugs when temperatures drop sharply

Is paper even healthy for slugs?
Animal lovers may also wonder if snails should eat paper at all, or if it can harm them.

• Paper is not only made from cellulose. Chemicals are often added during paper production, e.g. bleaching agents, printing inks, fillers, etc. These additives can be harmful to snails. These additives can be harmful to snails.
• Another reason why paper is bad for snails is its high cellulose content. Paper can consist of up to 99% cellulose and cause a sugar rush in snails. This sugar rush does not occur when they eat cellulose in the wild, as plants are only 33% cellulose and trees are 50% cellulose.
• When snails eat plant material, they get many other nutrients from the food, but paper does not have much nutritional value for snails.
• As a small snack, paper is not a problem for snails, but it should not be their main food.

Anyone familiar with the German children's series "Eine Möhre für zwei" (A Carrot for Two) will certainly know that Finchen the snail delivers the parcels there...