Forget cockroaches, scorpions or rats – giant African land snails can grow as big as rats and gnaw through stucco and plaster.

Giant African land snails, one of the world’s most destructive species, are invading South Florida. The species are reported to grow as big as rats and gnaw through stucco and plaster.

An article from The Huffington Post stated that more than 1,000 giant African land snails are being caught each week in Miami-Dade, and 117,000 in total since the first snail was spotted by a homeowner in September. They typically produce around 1,200 eggs per year – meaning it can be hard for homeowners to be rid of them!

Denise Feiber, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, said that residents will be likely to encounter them more often in seven weeks, the start of Florida’s rainy season, where they will emerge from underground hibernation. She says they attack “over 500 known species of plants…pretty much anything that’s in their path and green.”

There is no clear source on the infestation source yet. However, Feiber says investigators believe it is a strong possibility that it is traced from a Miami Santeria group, a religion with West African and Caribbean roots, which was found in 2010 to be using giant African land snails in its rituals. They often come to the Unites States unintentionally, through tourists’ baggage or through freight.

“If you got a ham sandwich in Jamaica or the Dominican Republic, or an orange, and you didn’t eat it all and you bring it back into the States and then you discard it, at some point, things can emerge from those products,” Feiber told The Huffington Post.

Why Realtors Should Beware of the Snails

We normally don’t think of snails as dangerous, but these creatures have been known to blow out tires on the highway in Caribbean countries, like Barbados. They also are known to carry a parasitic rat lungworm that can cause illness in humans, including a form of meningitis. And, they are known for being a huge pest in homes because of their devour the calcium content in stucco for their shells. These snails are not your typical garden snail.

“They’re huge, they move around, they look like they’re looking at you…communicating with you, and people enjoy them for that,” Feiber said. “But they don’t realize the devastation they can create if they are released into the environment where they don’t have any natural enemies and they thrive.”

Realtors, please be on the lookout for these giant African land snails during your open houses.