Another Reason NOT to Retire to Florida

"Rat-Sized Snails Are Invading Florida"

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"Parts of the Sunshine State could soon be overrun by house-eating snails that grow to the size of rats.

Reuters reports that more than 1,000 giant African land snails are being caught each week in Miami-Dade County, southern Florida. The snails grow up to 7 inches long and eat “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. They also have a penchant for stucco (which contains calcium, vital for a healthy shell) making them a menace to homeowners.

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/04/16/rat-sized-snails-are-invading-florida/#ixzz2QdLrQIAE

Escargot.....hmmm, hmmmmm.

Maybe they should try to see if they are edible and cook the little things../ 7inches is large so they maybe tough but they maybe a way to tenderize them and sell the in gourmet shops. I am collecting the ones I find in Chiapas so I have a recipe!

They might be a bit crunchy if they had just consumed their daily allotment of stucco?

You clean them out by feeding them cornmeal prior to cooking.

Well...they shouldn't be hard to catch!

Somebody ought to hack their email to see what's up with their invasion strategy. Ohhhh!...I forgot they're snails.

I found my first giant snail shell while on safari in South Africa. When the guide told my it was a giant snail I was happy to know it wasn't a regular sized snail. Those puppies get BIG! And a lot prettier than the PNW slugs that decimate gardens.

lunateak wrote:I found my first giant snail shell while on safari in South Africa. When the guide told my it was a giant snail I was happy to know it wasn't a regular sized snail. Those puppies get BIG! And a lot prettier than the PNW slugs that decimate gardens.

And make the icky "slug tracks" on your screen door. We'd always run for the salt shaker...

They'd get in our strawberry garden and they always chose the most perfect one that was just reaching perfection. I found a pan of beer was the answer. They'd flock to it. I've had up to 50 dead ones in a pan. Somehow they looked so happy! I guess for a slug..drownig in beer is the perfect way to go!