Giant African Snail

Five years ago, giant African snails did not exist in Barbados; two years ago they were not found near my home, one year ago you could see armies of them crossing the road or the grassed area behind my home, mainly early in the morning or late afternoon. If I happened to be driving somewhere at dawn, you couldn’t help but hear the crunch crunch as they were crushed under the car tires. It was impossible to avoid them. Now, the numbers seem to have dwindled significantly - maybe birds are eating them (egrets or herons), or mongooses, but they don’t seem to be quite the nuisance now that they were a couple years ago.

Like all molluscs, the giant African snails seek shelter from the sun during the day, and they half bury themselves in the grass or in a flower pot or anywhere else that’s out of the sun. I remember going to clear the remnants of the flower arrangements off of my father’s grave a few years ago, and as I picked up each arrangement, I could not believe the number of snails amongst the vegetation, hundreds of them, eating the flowers and greenery that made up each arrangement.

The largest I have ever seen here in Barbados is about four inches, maybe a little bigger, and every time I see two in close proximity to each other, they seem to be copulating. They have both male and female organs, which helps to explain the explosion in numbers a few years ago with both parties laying dozens of eggs at a time.

If you put some kind of snail bait, or bleach or salt or any chemical on them to kill them and the eggs are ready, the snail will lay the eggs before dying, so giving the next generation a chance at survival. Sometimes, when you try to kill them with chemicals, you can hear a dreadful squeal when the poison touches the soft part of their body - very unpleasant and glad I’m not doing that any more.

I guess that the Giant African Snail is now a part of our landscape.