Florida Invaded By Giant African Land Snails

[Mynock]

Hurricanes, Anacondas, giant eyeballs washing up on the beach, face eating bath salt zombies, sinkholes......and now snails. Yes, thats right, giant invasive land snails are now on the rampage in Florida, feasting on crops, recycling bins and stucco.
Maybe we should change the nickname to "The Bad B-Movie Plot State". I'm waiting for the next news flash to report that the snails got into a batch of bath salts and aquired a taste for human flesh.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/15/us/florida-giant-snails

[Fred588]

Hurricanes, Anacondas, giant eyeballs washing up on the beach, face eating bath salt zombies, sinkholes......and now snails. Yes, thats right, giant invasive land snails are now on the rampage in Florida, feasting on crops, recycling bins and stucco.
Maybe we should change the nickname to "The Bad B-Movie Plot State". I'm waiting for the next news flash to report that the snails got into a batch of bath salts and aquired a taste for human flesh.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/15/us/florida-giant-snails

Or some evil corporation, realizing they had let the giant snails escape, tried to fix it with some kind of radioactive stuff (bath salts?), caused a mutation, and the giont snails are now GIANT snails the size of military tanks. No quicksand yet but we'll find a way.

But seriously (?) I think I see a scene here. A public service group composed mainly of bikini models (or maybe Tampa Bay cheerleaders) goes into the swamp to hut down and destroy the giant snails.

[DangerGirl]

Don't worry (or maybe worry), given the Sci-Fi original movie formula of taking an animal that's in the news and building a horrible film around it, I'm sure we'll be seeing Giant Snail Invasion on Sci-Fi soon enough, followed by Giant Snails vs. Crocosaurus.

[Mynock]

Before you feed them to the Sharktopus let me keep just one for a pet. Did a little more reading on these guys and they're amazing......the shells can reach 8" in diameter and with their bodies fully extended they can be a foot long........they're like the size of a small dog.

[Fred588]

Before anyone decides to adopt one of these, I am seeing reports about apparently the same species in Texas being a vector for a meningitis type of disease.

[Duncan Edwards]

Gary!

(Spongebob fans will get it)

[DangerGirl]

You beat me to it, Duncan. Meow.

[water_bug_62208]

Unfortunately, this thing isn't funny. If they don't get a handle on these snails and eradicate them, the darn things could be a major, devestating threat to our agriculture.

[jadokast98]

Gary!

(Spongebob fans will get it)

MAOW

[Mynock]

Before anyone decides to adopt one of these, I am seeing reports about apparently the same species in Texas being a vector for a meningitis type of disease.

Did some reading on this.....they can carry Angiostrongylus cantonensis, or the "Rat Lungworm", which is a flat worm native to Southeast Asia and the Pacific area. It can give a human meningitis but it has to be ingested.......I wouldn't lick my hands after handling them.
Of coarse just because the can carry something doesn't necessarily mean they do. I got told all the time that my Iguana was going to give me Salmonella.....never happened. Careful handling and hand washing are part of owning any exotic pet. Mostly the trick is to observe but not touch. It's not like my scorpion likes being cuddled anyway.