Tire-Puncturing Snails Make Florida Even More Terrifying

Florida, everyone's favorite state that just sorta hangs there off the rest of the US, is about to get a whole lot more icky. More than it already is, I mean. It's already a bit icky. Maybe it's the humidity.

The state has had its fair share of bizarre road incidents lately. Now Reuters is reporting that Florida is now being inundated with an invasion of African Giant Land Snails, which I'm pretty sure are just monsters from hell sent to punish us:

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.

Perhaps the worst part of the invading monster snails is that if you hit one on the highway their shells are hard enough to cause a blowout. Also, "their slime and excrement coat walls and pavement." So there's that. Hopefully everyone's favorite superhero, Florida Man, can save us.

The one comfort we do have is that our best scientists are on the case, trying to figure out how the snails got here.

Their best guess, as of right now, is "ham sandwich."

Photo credit: AP