No it is not a snail from the woods surrounding Chernobyl ,but a Giant African snail. I had no idea they existed until about an hour ago when my daughter arrived back with another addition to her zoo. I see no point in this as the first question I asked was are they edible? Why would anyone want one is my question as it looks so ugly and serves no purpose. I suppose the same can be for those that keep spiders and other wacky pets.
These funky things live for around 10 years and you pick them up by their foot. That bottom suction cap slimy thing is called a foot. They grow up to 30 cm in length which is quite substantial and I have never seen one before today. This one will be nearly fully grown in six months so there is huge growth coming. She had to purchase some cuttle fish so it can be incorporated into the diet to help aid the shell growth.
I can just see the homesteaders on here feinting in horror as it wouldn't take many of these to ruin your crops. The good thing is you would be able to spot it as they move like any other snail and that is generally slow. Apparently they are very invasive and are in the top 100 of pests around the world.
This ugly thing originated from East Africa originally and it only takes one to form a colony as it can self mate as it has both sexual organs. They breed about 4 times a year and I bet you my daughter had no idea about that one when she got it this morning. Self breeding is very rare apparently so we will see how rare.
During the Second World war the Americans introduced them to the South pacific islands as a back up food supply. It is used in a snail soup in Taiwan called Hot Frying Snails and is seen a as a delicacy. That isn't overly surprising as we have seen what strange things are consumed in the East. They have to be cooked properly as they can make you very ill as they can spread diseases. Everyone to their own and Ii won't be eating this anytime soon no matter how hungry I am.
They have a varied diet and eat the normal things such as fruit and vegetables ,but throw in bones and even concrete and small stones which help strengthen their shell. Pretty scary when you start thinking this thing consumes bones. A cheap pet as it basically it eats your food waste such as potato peels and off cuts from vegetables.
