Posted on 04/15/2013 6:20:45 AM PDT by Red Badger
South Florida residents are being warned to be on the lookout for one of the world's most destructive invasive species: the giant African land snail, which can grow as big as a rat.
The huge mollusks were first spotted in Florida in 2011, and their numbers are growing, Reuters reports. More than 1,000 are being caught each week in Miami-Dade County and more will continue to emerge from hibernation in the coming weeks.
The snails can gnaw through stucco and plastic, and attack "over 500 known species of plants ... pretty much anything that's in their path and green," Denise Feiber, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, told Reuters.
In some Caribbean countries, such as Barbados, which are overrun with the creatures, the snails' shells blow out tires on the highway and turn into hurling projectiles from lawnmower blades, while their slime and excrement coat walls and pavement.
"It becomes a slick mess," Feiber said
A typical snail can produce about 1,200 eggs a year and the creatures are a particular pest in homes because of their fondness for stucco, devoured for the calcium content they need for their shells.
The snails also carry a parasitic rat lungworm that can cause illness in humans, including a form of meningitis, Feiber said, although no such cases have yet been identified in the United States.
Experts gathered last week in Gainesville, Florida, for a Giant African Land Snail Science Symposium, to seek the best ways to eradicate the mollusks, including use of a stronger bait approved recently by the federal government.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
That is a big snail. And it’s already eaten one finger and half his hand.
look on down for ceven bigger critters!.....
I like your idea better. My first instinct was that we need giant French men to take care of this problem. But then I realized I'd rather put up with the snails.
LOL....
The snails also carry a parasitic rat lungworm that can cause illness in humans, including a form of meningitis
You can have my share.
“Who`s the butt ugly broad?”
That’s Florida’s slug of the south - Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Damn! They've got more than one of those?????
Ahh man. I luv Cilantro...
They whelp standing up?
Tastes like dish detergent to me.......yuck!............
Pretty much everything as some or other "high known risk". About these snails, we have insufficient data to draw a conclusion. The specific data needed is how cooking effects the potential pathogens. If cooking kills'em, then the risk is minimal.........JUST like eating pork (or bear meat).
Eeeeeeeeew, disgusting creatures.
Tropical pests are frigging gross.
No poison deters them or kills them easily. They stink if you squash them or even alarm them. They show up on my bed, computer, counters even in with the dishes if I leave the cup board open. I rolled over and squashed one on the bed a week ago.
From China most likely.
They are like illegal aliens.
Check that, they ARE illegal aliens. Doesn’t matter that they aren’t human, the shoe fits. Time to deport them, to snail hell, via a fancy French restaurant.
Stink bugs sound like even more fun!
Up here in the frozen reaches of Chicago we only have to deal with normal pests like rats, roaches and carpenter ants.
“Check that, they ARE illegal aliens”
Great point!
I’ve never been to a French restaurant. I si have snails one though; they were so loaded up with garlic, that’s all that you could taste.
I hate garlic. Most people like it, many LOVE it. I HATE it. Onions too. The whole family.
Muslims love it, even though in their mythology, garlic and onions first grew in the garden of eden, right under where Satan had his 2 feet planted. Funny people, Muslims.
I like garlic in certain dishes. My sister makes an excellent lasagna HEAVY on the garlic.
OTOH, my g/f uses virtually no garlic in her cooking.
Saving the best for last, my Mom had an ulcer, so while she like moderate amounts of garlic, she paid for it. She had a green bean/olive oil/garlic dish that I love.
Onions: Again, depends on the dish. I like them in grilled kabobs. My Mom also had a green pepper/mushroom/onion sauce that I love. I have a container of it in the freezer.
I was not aware that the Islamos loved it. Eh, f**k them.
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