Wanna Hear About Something Really Gross? (picture included)

[Jill]

I saw this story yesterday and was totally repulsed! And, you know me... I wanted to share information with others.

Also, for the record, my answer to the question "you wanna hear something really gross?" is almost always going to be YES! If it makes me gag and laugh at the same time, I'll love it! A long time ago, I think I posted about going out to give the dogs fresh water and I grabbed onto a slug that was on the water bucked (I hadn't seen the slug). Now I don't remember if I "popped" the slug or not (could be I have blocked the memory). I remember trying to rinse and then wipe its slime off my hand, but it clings to you! I mean, it doesn't want to come off and I'm out there in the yard dry retching and laughing my butt off! Then Marty posted about her fear of toads and stepping on one barefoot or something. It was really a golden thread -- so gross / so funny!

Thousands of giant snails causing problems for Florida homeowners

South Florida residents are being warned to be on the lookout for one of the world's most destructive invasive species: the giant African land snail, which can grow as big as a rat.



The huge mollusks were first spotted in Florida in 2011, and their numbers are growing, Reuters reports. More than 1,000 are being caught each week in Miami-Dade County and more will continue to emerge from hibernation in the coming weeks.



The snails can gnaw through stucco and plastic, and attack "over 500 known species of plants ... 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.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/15/thousands-giant-snails-causing-problems-for-florida-homeowners/#ixzz2QcWknUmC

 

[candycar]

I rember those when we were stationed in Okinawa. They were all over. One I found in my yard was as big as my foot! They were all over the golf course and when they died the hermit crabs would use their shells. They didn't cause too much problem, I guess because the jungle grows so fast.

 

[Carolyn R]

I didn't mind the small snails we use to see as kids here in eastern Pa, they seem to have fallen off the face of the earth here. Those, eating through plastic and stucco, that many, that big......that's pretty gross.

.....not as gross as Marsha's snake pic though.....ugg snakes

 

[Lil Eowyn]

Wow! Those are big snails! The only ones we have where I live are about the size of my pinky finger curled up.

 

[Jill]

I sort of think the little curly tiny ones are cute, but not these big things!

 

[Sonya]

They are nasty! eww

 

[mickeymoto]

EWWWWW!!!! Very very gross, but fascinating also. They are almost as big as my chihuahuas LOL. I also love anything gross and disgusting. My family is appalled by it and everytime I start a sentence with "Wow guess what I saw", they run for the hills

 

[Margo_C-T]

Gee, just what Florida needs...another invasive non-native species! (yes, tongue-in-cheek...)

Margo

 

[susanne]

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I wonder if they're tasty?

Perhaps enterprising Floridians could sell them to French restaurants...Escargot Énorme?

 

[Jill]

My brother in law shared a giant escargots recipe with me! While I don't plan to prepare or eat it, it did crack me up

 

[disneyhorse]

I love those things!!! Did you know a permit in CA is $300 a year per snail to keep them as a pet here???

 

[Marty]

Yup that's plain nasty.

Here's one for you:

Ok there is NObody more scared of frogs than me. Nobody. I don't do reptile types with the exception of gators. For some reason, I have little fear of gators, actually love them close up and personal, but show me a toad or a worm, and I'll freak out and RUN.

So I had my favorite muckers, the moccasin kind that you just step into. I left them outside and when I put my foot in them barefoot there was this horrible "squish".......I jerked my foot out FAST and ......well, there was a toad in there. I killed him. The splat in there was disgusting.

I actually was screaming at the top of my lungs as I ran to the hose. I stuck my foot in water, then went and dumped clorox all over my foot, practically scrubbed the skin off. I aprayed my foot with all kinds of things then washed it on and off for hours. Needless to say, my muckers went to the dump.

 

[wade3504]

We live southeast of Orlando. I read about them but haven't seen them yet but would like to. I can hear my husband and kids screaming though.

 

[CabbagePatch]

Im also in Florida,but WAY OUT in the country.Most all of the year if you drive at night you cannot miss the frogs they cover the hard roads getting warm after the sun goes down, if you drive really slow you can hear the big ones 'pop pop pop' but as you speed up you barely notice them, just make sure that if you drive a car that you hose it down ASAP if not the 'residue' is quite gluey. If you go south a little at certain times of year there are millions and millions of bright red crabs, everywhere store owners will be sweeping them out by the bucketfull, even a bike ride sounds like you are riding on bags of Freetos.'Crunchy very crunchy.

 

[wade3504]

We definitely have the crabs. My stepdaughter saw one for the first time one night walking across the parking lot at a gas station. She thought it was a giant spider. I hear they can pop tires so I don't know that I'd ride a bike over them. We have to watch out for our animals as the crabs are quite strong and don't like to let go so I can only imagine what that would feel like on one of their noses. Tree frogs here freak my husband out along with the kids. They don't bother me.

 

[AngC]

disneyhosrse...

Unfortunately I can only offer you small, insignificant snails, but I'll send you all the large slimey slugs you want and I'll only charge you $100 apiece. AND you have a choice of colors: dark brownish or pink-brown mottled.

 

[REO]

Those snails are HUGE!

 

[disneyhorse]

AngC... Banana slugs are pretty awesome....

 

[susanne]

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We NW gardeners have been missing the boat! Instead of constantly whining about slugs eating our hostas and other plants, we need to market them as a specialty item to restaurants. After all, Geoducks are BIG in Japan, and they're equally gross. I know we'd be rich...

 

[AngC]

Slugs are an acquired taste; you have to work up to them. My progress so far... if they're less than an inch I can pick them off my lilies bare-fingered; any larger and the gross-out factor sets in and I need gloves. When it comes to stomping with my feet, I'm pretty good up to about two inches with my (open-backed) garden clogs; any larger and I have to put on my boots 'cause when they squish, stuff goes flying.

I've experimented and found some nifty effects (other than the usual boring salt and wasteful beer bath.) ...if you squirt them with alcohol (lab grade type or rubbing alcohol) they melt off the plants and the alcohol doesn't hurt most plants too much. If you encounter a "biggie," after you squirt it with alcohol, you can set it on fire. Plus, they're cannibalistic, so you can chum by squishing one; then check back later and squish all the others that came to snack on the carcass.

...and NO, disneyhorse; THEY ARE NOT AWESOME! ...barf, cough, choke. Sorry they just give me the eebie-jeebies (in addition to mowing down my favorite plants.)