The team tested multiple non-toxic attractants to lure snails out of hiding, including bananas, sesame seed oil, papaya-flavored oil, reconstructed papaya-flavored oil, and fermenting bread dough. “We found that the snails were consistently more attracted to metaldehyde when combined with synthetic lure based on the odor of papaya-flavored oil,” said Amy Roda, a scientist at TIML. “We identified the chemicals that were producing the odors of the attractive papaya oil, and we were able to synthesize a lure that was just as attractive.”