Several gardeners have remarked that they now have large snail populations, when they did not formerly see snails in the garden. Within the last 10 years, the introduced garden slugs have been joined by their cousins, mollusks with attitude as well as shells. Some sort of definite irony is at work, because these snails were brought to California in the 1850s as potential escargot, human food. We're now feeding them the tender parts of our garden plants. Slug management techniques also apply to snails.
Snails seek damp, protected places.
They often tuck themselves against walls or stones. In my garden they lurk under rock garden plants like candytuft where it hangs down a brick wall. Hand picking snails is easier than hand hunting slugs, because they obviously come with a sort of handle attached, the shell. Snails multiply and grow fast, and like slugs, can be damaging at very young ages, and they mature between about 4 months and 2 years old, eating all the while. A baby snail has the shell complete and looks exactly like a miniature of its parents.