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Florida invaded by giant snails


Saru

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Large numbers of hungry Giant African Land Snails have descended upon Florida in their thousands.

A growing infestation of dangerous giant snails is threatening to damage buildings and spread illness through southern Florida, experts fear. Giant African Land Snails are being caught at a rate of 1,000 a week in the Miami-Dade county area around the city of Miami with numbers said to be increasing.

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A snail the size of a rabbit that likes to eat plaster, learn something new everyday.

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At least it's a 'Giant Invasion' you could run away from...

Edited by Junior Chubb
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Oh, Lord. Please don't let those things come too far north.

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size of a rabbit?? Maybe a very small dwarf rabbit,About 18cm long shell is pretty much fully grown.

They are becoming a quite popular pet in the UK but wouldn't survive for long outdoors here.

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Poor Florida.. There soon going to have no indiginous species of their own left.

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Now, if they could get the invasive snails to only devour the invasive kudzu, the vine overrunning the southern US, then the invasion of the invasives might be inverted.

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Funny how the article calls them "animals".

Glad they're not in California. I have a thousand exotic plants in my backyard. An infestation could cost me thousands of dollars in plants.

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Holy escargot Batman!

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Now, if they could get the invasive snails to only devour the invasive kudzu, the vine overrunning the southern US, then the invasion of the invasives might be inverted.

I read somewhere a few years ago that kudzu is helping to replace the ozone layer, something we need. I do agree that it's a PITA.

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Salt, lots of salt, that'll do the trick.

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that's pretty awesome people not the whole danger to the buildings,plant life or humans all alike and evenly but what i mean is giant snails damn that's huge and pretty amazing as well.i did not know that some could grow that big up to a rabbit.nature always excites me in many ways and life.whether this is natural occurrence its still cool.just pour salt over them lol

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size of a rabbit?? Maybe a very small dwarf rabbit,About 18cm long shell is pretty much fully grown.

They are becoming a quite popular pet in the UK but wouldn't survive for long outdoors here.

There you go!! Let's catch them and ship them over to the UK to sell as pets...

Wonder what will happen when they reach Lousiana and those French Cajuns start getting their hands on them.

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Florida is getting smacked left and right with invasive species. They should just wipe everything out and start over again.

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I wonder if any part of them is edible by humans or animals. I've never eaten snail though.

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I have had escargot once, it was as tough and chewy as an old chunk of tire and didn't taste much better . At least as far as I am concerned.

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Why don´t they just eat them? Sounds like a real big escargot.

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Good escargot is wonderful. The snails are removed from their shells and sautéed with butter, garlic and salt. Then you add more garlic. A minute passes, more garlic. Ten seconds later, add more garlic. Then add garlic, and ... a touch of garlic. Then more garlic. Or so it seems ...

But escargot is very good. I love it.

I wondered why these snails couldn't be eaten like escargot.

It may be that they are unpalatable.

I cooked a Banana Slug years ago while camping on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state. Horrible. Even with plenty of garlic and butter.

Found out later that Banana Slugs eat rotten wood, and other things I probably don't want to recall.

Blech.

But hey, deep fry these GALS, serve with ketchup or mustard at a county fair. People will eat anything at a county fair.

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Good escargot is wonderful. The snails are removed from their shells and sautéed with butter, garlic and salt. Then you add more garlic. A minute passes, more garlic. Ten seconds later, add more garlic. Then add garlic, and ... a touch of garlic. Then more garlic. Or so it seems ...

But escargot is very good. I love it.

I wondered why these snails couldn't be eaten like escargot.

It may be that they are unpalatable.

I cooked a Banana Slug years ago while camping on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state. Horrible. Even with plenty of garlic and butter.

Found out later that Banana Slugs eat rotten wood, and other things I probably don't want to recall.

Blech.

But hey, deep fry these GALS, serve with ketchup or mustard at a county fair. People will eat anything at a county fair.

It seems these things eat green plants, so it should not be so bad. And think of a rabbit-sized escargot. Wow!

I say call the French embassy immediately.

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Probably if people captured these snails and fed them tasty vegies and Then ate them, they would taste a lot better. Like the difference between a domesticated duck and a wide duck. Wild duck tastes like water weeds.

It seems these things eat green plants, so it should not be so bad. And think of a rabbit-sized escargot. Wow!

I say call the French embassy immediately.

We could become an Exporting nation again!!!!

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We could become an Exporting nation again!!!!

Oh God, wouldn't THAT be nice.

I'm so sick of the US being primarily an import nation.

CONGRESS... LISTEN UP. WE ARE TELLING YOU SOMETHING REALLY IMPORTANT.

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A snail the size of a rabbit that likes to eat plaster, learn something new everyday.

I think the size is exaggerated, maybe the size of rat, doubtful the size of a rabbit. They sell the shells of these African snails in gift shops, I have never seen one of these shells that would not fit in you hand, and they sell gigantic marine gastropod species in these shops.

Florida had these once before (in the 70s I think), and they managed to eradicate them. They have probably been smuggled back in as "pets" and escaped. This invasion is rather ironic for Florida because in Hawaii where they are also established, they use a predatory snail from Florida which eats them. Found the empty shells of both species lying side by side on Molokai a few years ago.

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Good escargot is wonderful. The snails are removed from their shells and sautéed with butter, garlic and salt. Then you add more garlic. A minute passes, more garlic. Ten seconds later, add more garlic. Then add garlic, and ... a touch of garlic. Then more garlic. Or so it seems ...

But escargot is very good. I love it.

I wondered why these snails couldn't be eaten like escargot.

It may be that they are unpalatable.

I cooked a Banana Slug years ago while camping on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state. Horrible. Even with plenty of garlic and butter.

Found out later that Banana Slugs eat rotten wood, and other things I probably don't want to recall.

Blech.

But hey, deep fry these GALS, serve with ketchup or mustard at a county fair. People will eat anything at a county fair.

Not sure you would want to eat a snail that has been dining on plaster! Escargot is ok, but for good snails, try fresh conch! Mmmmmm!

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