Giant Snails taking over!

Giant Snails taking over!

motherboard.vice.com

Snails the size of footballs are sludging their way across the world, killing crops and carrying meningitis along with them.

Known as giant east African snails, the invasive species has recently been discovered infiltrating Florida, nations in both Central and South America, and, most recently, Australia. The specimens are rather terrifying, seeing as how they can grow up to a foot long, weigh in at over two pounds, are capable of eating over 500 different species, can lay 1,200 eggs a year, a

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The meningitis caused by these Giant Snails is eosinophillic meningitis.

Source: www.health.gov.tt...

Being capable of eating over 500 species of crops! I wonder if Genetically Modified Crops can withstand these monsters... but i doubt it.

I wonder if there is a spray to kill off these snails. And if so what the cost will be.

Lets hope they can get this invasive species before too much damage happens.

motherboard.vice.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I just bought a humor book called 50 ways to kill a slug, and it actually has quite a bit of interesting methods to kill slugs "humanely"...

I will be putting this book to good use if I start seeing this demonic snail species plague these lands. Prepare for war gentlemen.

My thoughts:

I think that it would be awesome to hook up a couple of dozen of them, somehow, to pull a miniature chariot that can be ridden by a trained cat.

Im gonna start buying salt in bulk.

I'm moving to Florida and opening a French restaurant for giants.

But seriously. Gross. At least they can't be hard to catch.

reply to post by theone88


The ones I've observed in fishtanks generally engage in mating 24/7, so maybe this won't be so much of a threat.

reply to post by GreenGlassDoor


so, that would be nuking Florida, parts of Africa, Australia and central and south america?

Originally posted by tetra50
reply to post by GreenGlassDoor

 

so, that would be nuking Florida, parts of Africa, Australia and central and south america?

Escargot anyone? All you need is one for a family of four. Tell the French that there are free snails for the taking and they will soon be eaten out of existence.

The local birds would think they died and went to heaven! Thats a meal for the whole flock.

Some salt should help them out...way out...

reply to post by Turq1


sorry, interested in your opinion, but don;t do yo.ut.ube.

reply to post by Bybyots


hilarious, if the visual is rather, well, gross. And I don't think any self respecting cat would go near that chariot.

Oh...My...God!
That is just...the weirdest thing. Eeeeew!

Originally posted by theone88


Being capable of eating over 500 species of crops! I wonder if Genetically Modified Crops can withstand these monsters... but i doubt it.

I wonder if there is a spray to kill off these snails. And if so what the cost will be.

Lets hope they can get this invasive species before too much damage happens.

motherboard.vice.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I saw you mention they can carry meningitis (which kind?)

Also in the article it says you can eat them. I would eat them too, but only if I knew where the snail was traveling through. If the snail was munching away in a place with chemical sprays - no way. This could be great for people as a source of food, as long as the snail is chemical free!

As a disclaimer, I have and do collect various kinds of snails that live in the organic rice terraces. The larger ones are quite tasty, though not as large as the ones in this story.

Originally posted by Clisen33
I just bought a humor book called 50 ways to kill a slug, and it actually has quite a bit of interesting methods to kill slugs "humanely"...

I will be putting this book to good use if I start seeing this demonic snail species plague these lands. Prepare for war gentlemen.

edit on 14-3-2013 by Clisen33 because: (no reason given)

Haha I agree. I have never seen snails this big and hope to never.

reply to post by pstrron

Escargot anyone?

Did you have to say that with the pirate avatar? Now I am hungry for a Long John Silver's 6 piece Slug and Chips. With a Coke, of course.

Thanks, dude.

Originally posted by Philippines

Originally posted by theone88


Being capable of eating over 500 species of crops! I wonder if Genetically Modified Crops can withstand these monsters... but i doubt it.

I wonder if there is a spray to kill off these snails. And if so what the cost will be.

Lets hope they can get this invasive species before too much damage happens.

motherboard.vice.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I saw you mention they can carry meningitis (which kind?)

Also in the article it says you can eat them. I would eat them too, but only if I knew where the snail was traveling through. If the snail was munching away in a place with chemical sprays - no way. This could be great for people as a source of food, as long as the snail is chemical free!

As a disclaimer, I have and do collect various kinds of snails that live in the organic rice terraces. The larger ones are quite tasty, though not as large as the ones in this story.

According tio this link: www.health.gov.tt...

eosinophillic meningitis


Therefore, citizens are urged to exercise caution so as to avoid contracting the parasite. The parasite can be contracted by:


- eating improperly cooked snail meat

- handling live snails and transferring snail mucus (slime) to eyes, nose and mouth.

- eating food (salad greens) contaminated by snail slime or containing minute snails

- eating raw paratenic hosts (freshwater shrimp, land crabs, frogs) that have eaten infected mollusks

The main symptom of eosinophillic meningitis is severe headache.

Frequent symptoms during the early stage of disease are:

Nausea,

vomiting, and

moderate stiffness of the neck and/or back.

Originally posted by theone88

According tio this link: www.health.gov.tt...

eosinophillic meningitis


Therefore, citizens are urged to exercise caution so as to avoid contracting the parasite. The parasite can be contracted by:


- eating improperly cooked snail meat

- handling live snails and transferring snail mucus (slime) to eyes, nose and mouth.

- eating food (salad greens) contaminated by snail slime or containing minute snails

- eating raw paratenic hosts (freshwater shrimp, land crabs, frogs) that have eaten infected mollusks

The main symptom of eosinophillic meningitis is severe headache.

Frequent symptoms during the early stage of disease are:

Nausea,

vomiting, and

moderate stiffness of the neck and/or back.

Thanks for the link and info. It makes it sound like, because of the snail's presence, people living with it should be more cautious to thoroughly cook and wash all food.

And always wash your hands after working in the field or touching the snails.

... And then, because of the frustrations due to the snail -- eat them! (after being cleaned and cooked well - here we do at least an hour of boiling.)

reply to post by Bybyots


Arrrrrrr matey arrrrrrr, nothing like a slug n chips fest from Long John Silvers washed down wid a tankerd of grog...

Of course the French want wine with their snails.