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CAN’T LOOK AWAY

Giant Rat-Sized Snails Invade Florida

They eat plaster. And breed fast.

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Florida has an invasive-species problem, and it’s not all the giant pythons in the Everglades. The state is being invaded by giant African land snails, which can grow as big as rats and chew through stucco and plaster. They breed fast. In Barbados, where they’re plentiful, their shells blow out tires on highways and their slime coats walls, according to NBC. It’s not clear how they got here, but the last invasion began when a boy brought three back as a pets. In seven years the population grew to 17,000, and it took $1 million and 10 years to eradicate them.

Read it at NBC

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