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Why a Giant Land Snail Should Be the Biggest New Pet Trend — Literally

View the pictures of this Giant African Land Snail and decide for yourself if you’d actually want to own one of these bad boys.

Updated

9 years ago

January 8, 2020

First for Women Staff

Studies have proven that gushing over cute animals at work is a great way to boost your productivity and improve your mood. Typically in this situation, you’re looking at puppies, kittens, maybe an adorable baby bunny, right? When you think about cute animals, a giant snail doesn’t immediately come to mind — but just wait until you’ve seen this delightful Giant African Land Snail.

The snail is being called “equally adorable and nightmarish.” No matter what camp you’re siding with, one thing is clear: The online world has a new obsession.

https://twitter.com/whatmaddness/status/889045092647878657 https://twitter.com/doublePinc/status/889222255523188737

And as with any new obsession, people had a lot of questions. The original poster of the now-viral image took the opportunity to clear a few things up. Twitter user Madds from Denver, CO, explained that the picture and the snail were not hers. The source has been lost so she can’t give credit, but she thinks the image originated in Russia.

Then she regaled her absorbed audience with some fun snail facts:

“The Giant African Land Snail is pretty devastating for the ecosystem, carries all the pathogens, and is banned in the U.S,” Madds explained in a tweet. “I usually just tell jokes, but I’m happy to have learned so much about snails today,” the tweets concluded.

According to National Geographic, the massive snails can eat up to 500 kinds of agricultural crops and carry a parasite called rat lungworm that can transmit meningitis to people and pets. Yikes.

If these facts haven’t deterred your affections, know this: The giant snails are illegal in the U.S., but you can still own a small snail as a pet. Not quite the same, we know, but it will have to do for the time being. Guess we’ll just have to stick to looking at pictures of the quirky invertebrates — all in the name of productivity, of course.

This post was written by Holly Royce. For more, check out our sister site Now To Love.