Author Topic: Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails  (Read 4113 times)

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Offline CG6468

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Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails
« on: April 16, 2013, 07:30:05 AM »
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Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails

By Barbara Liston

ORLANDO, Florida | Sun Apr 14, 2013 1:50pm EDT

(Reuters) - South Florida is fighting a growing infestation of one of the world's most destructive invasive species: the giant African land snail, which can grow as big as a rat and gnaw through stucco and plaster.

More than 1,000 of the mollusks are being caught each week in Miami-Dade and 117,000 in total since the first snail was spotted by a homeowner in September 2011, said Denise Feiber, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Residents will soon likely begin encountering them more often, crunching them underfoot as the snails emerge from underground hibernation at the start of the state's rainy season in just seven weeks, Feiber said.

The snails attack "over 500 known species of plants ... pretty much anything that's in their path and green," Feiber said.

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.
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Good old Florida….

Illinois, south of the gun controllers in Chi town

Offline JohnnyReb

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Re: Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2013, 08:21:11 AM »
Have you got any suggestions on how to tell the difference between the snails and DUmmies?.....or do we smash them all just to be sure?
“The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of ‘liberalism’, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.” - Norman Thomas, U.S. Socialist Party presidential candidate 1940, 1944 and 1948

"America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within."  Stalin

Offline Wineslob

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Re: Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2013, 09:27:47 AM »
“The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”

        -- Marcus Tullius Cicero, 55 BC (106-43 BC)

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"Practice random violence and senseless acts of brutality"

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Offline BattleHymn

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Re: Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails
« Reply #3 on: April 18, 2013, 05:56:16 PM »
Are they edible?

Offline rich_t

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Re: Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails
« Reply #4 on: April 18, 2013, 05:57:24 PM »
Are they edible?

Saute in garlic and butter.
"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of 'liberalism,' they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened." --Norman Thomas, 1944

Offline CG6468

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Re: Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails
« Reply #5 on: April 18, 2013, 09:33:04 PM »
Are they edible?

Maybe, if they don't eat you first.
Illinois, south of the gun controllers in Chi town

Offline ColonelCarrots

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Re: Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails
« Reply #6 on: April 19, 2013, 12:41:31 PM »
We've got these giant grasshoppers by my house now. They're all over.

Offline Dori

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Re: Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails
« Reply #7 on: April 19, 2013, 12:48:29 PM »
Northern Calif. in the redwoods is full of banana slugs.  They are the second largest in the world.





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Offline JohnnyReb

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Re: Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails
« Reply #8 on: April 20, 2013, 01:04:59 PM »
Northern Calif. in the redwoods is full of banana slugs.  They are the second largest in the world.







I thought those were just high/drunk hippies......Oh well, slugs of a shell smell together.
“The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of ‘liberalism’, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.” - Norman Thomas, U.S. Socialist Party presidential candidate 1940, 1944 and 1948

"America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within."  Stalin

Offline Dori

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Re: Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails
« Reply #9 on: April 20, 2013, 01:36:13 PM »
I thought those were just high/drunk hippies......Oh well, slugs of a shell smell together.

Your thinking of Big Sur.  Yes, that place is nothing but hippies. 

Further north is some pretty country.  I like it because there is no mountain driving.  We camped at Elk Prairie Creek.  That's where I saw my first banana slug.  That thing was draped across the food locker and was as big and as yellow as a banana.  There were elk running through the camp and about five racoons for every camper.
“How fortunate for governments that the people     they administer don't think”  Adolph Hitler

Offline Freeper

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Re: Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails
« Reply #10 on: April 20, 2013, 02:03:51 PM »
Turns out it was just a Grayson family reunion.
I may not lock my doors while sitting at a red light and a black man is near, but I sure as hell grab on tight to my wallet when any democrats are close by.

Offline vesta111

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Re: Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails
« Reply #11 on: April 30, 2013, 02:04:34 PM »
Your thinking of Big Sur.  Yes, that place is nothing but hippies. 

Further north is some pretty country.  I like it because there is no mountain driving.  We camped at Elk Prairie Creek.  That's where I saw my first banana slug.  That thing was draped across the food locker and was as big and as yellow as a banana.  There were elk running through the camp and about five racoons for every camper.

We do not see too may slugs up here.   I have seen a few but they are very small.  We are told to place a tin in the garden if we see one and fill it with beer, Slugs will crawl in and drown.   

Problem is is if you have a large garden and put out too many the drunk next door will be found crawling through the garden trying to get to the booze before the slugs.

Why on earth anyone wants to live in Florida is beyond me, huge snakes, alligators and now foot ball size slugs eating up peoples homes, not to mention sink holes.   

Offline tiny1

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Re: Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails
« Reply #12 on: April 30, 2013, 02:32:06 PM »
Have you got any suggestions on how to tell the difference between the snails and DUmmies?.....or do we smash them all just to be sure?
Shoot 'em with a bb gun.  The one that runs quickest, is the snail.
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Offline BattleHymn

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Re: Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails
« Reply #13 on: April 30, 2013, 05:37:56 PM »
Shoot 'em with a bb gun.  The one that runs quickest, is the snail.

 :rofl:H5

Offline Ptarmigan

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Re: Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails
« Reply #14 on: May 03, 2013, 08:51:37 PM »
Plot by bunnies.
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Offline Wineslob

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Re: Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails
« Reply #15 on: May 07, 2013, 02:15:59 PM »



Used em for bait once. The Trout went nutz.
“The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”

        -- Marcus Tullius Cicero, 55 BC (106-43 BC)

The unobtainable is unknown at Zombo.com



"Practice random violence and senseless acts of brutality"

If you want a gender neutral bathroom, go pee in the forest.

Offline Dori

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Re: Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails
« Reply #16 on: May 07, 2013, 02:22:21 PM »



Used em for bait once. The Trout went nutz.

How big are your trout?   :thinking:
“How fortunate for governments that the people     they administer don't think”  Adolph Hitler

Offline Wineslob

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Re: Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails
« Reply #17 on: May 07, 2013, 04:10:47 PM »
How big are your trout?   :thinking:


Only 1. Wanna see?




 O-)
“The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”

        -- Marcus Tullius Cicero, 55 BC (106-43 BC)

The unobtainable is unknown at Zombo.com



"Practice random violence and senseless acts of brutality"

If you want a gender neutral bathroom, go pee in the forest.

Offline thundley4

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Re: Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails
« Reply #18 on: May 07, 2013, 05:47:15 PM »



Used em for bait once. The Trout went nutz.

We use regular garden slugs for bait, catfish like them.