Aw! I hate killing snails too. How are you on slugs, though? I don't like killing either but some people are happy to differentiate. I heard someone suggest that slugs are just homeless snails, and thus our hatred of them over snails mirrors some kind of social discrimination. I personally think that's balls. I think snails just look nicer than slugs. Perhaps you could have gone back to the house after the call and tried to glue the shells back together. Or replaced them with bottle caps or something. They might have been ok! Sorry.