Family Achatinidae
South Africa is home to 27 known species of snail in four genera from the family Achatinidae, also known as the Giant African Land Snails, with different species found in the various provinces. What they have in common is their herbivorous diets, extraordinary sizes and longevity of up to 5 years. The shell of the largest South African species, the Brownlipped Agate (Metachatina kraussi) which inhabits forests and savanna woodland in Kwazulu-Natal, can grow to 16cm in length.
Several kinds of Giant African Land Snails are kept as pets, however this is also the most likely source of introductions outside their natural range which has caused enormous environmental problems in many other parts of the world – in fact, the East African species Achatina fulica is considered to be one of the 100 worst invading species in the world!
DeWetsWild 
Used to see them often on a farm near East London as a kid. (some 40 years back) Then it was only empty shells. Now nothing. Have not seen a empty shell in the last 30 years. All gone. Wonder why.
How sad to hear that, Isak. Do you know if they used any pesticides on the farm? 30-40 years ago farming practices were a lot less “nature friendly” sadly.
Yes Dries , the farm next door had about 30 hectares of tomato lands. Constant pesticide application…
Wow! Here in Nigeria, Archatina archatina, A. marginata and A. fulica are all farmed and used as food. They are very delicious and have a high protein content. Ducks also feed on the eggs and slugs. It is farmed by many and consuming from the wild is not sustainable.
Thank you very much indeed for a very interesting and valuable contribution to our article on these wondrous creatures, Helen!
Weird to think of them as pets. They’re huge!
I wonder how much SpongeBob having a pet snail had to do with snails being regarded as pets for people…
Sjoe, hulle is omtrent groot – daardie skulp in Marilize se hand is ‘n deeglike bewys. Het hulle nog nooit gesien nie, maar og, hier’s hope klein slymerige swartetjies in die tuin waar ons nou bly (en dan kom hulle snags in die huis in … mens moet omtrent ligvoets loop wanneer jy soggens opstaan 👀).
Dis amper soos om op die kinders se legos te trap in die nag oppad badkamer toe, behalwe hierdie legos is nog slymerig ook! 😀
OK, that’s scary! I’m used to the garden variety U.S. snail, a much smaller creature. 🙂
They have to be seen to be believed, John!
Fascinating. We have very small ones 🙂
Most of our snails are also on the smaller side, Lakshmi, and therefore these enormous ones immediately gets your attention!
Oh my! They are big. I understand that they are one of the species that are our border quarantine people keep an eye out for.
I can well understand why that is, Tracy – these giants could easily have a massive impact on your unique wildlife (much as several other kinds of imports already are!)
Ek moet jou die een vertel. In ons eerste weke in Mosambiek, speel ons kinders met die plaaslike kindertjies, gooi balle heen en weer. Tialet sien toe die grote slak, en gooi dit na ‘n Mosbiekertjie. Die kind het dit nie sien kom nie en die ding tref hom op die voorkop. O dear… wat ‘n gestoei om te verduidelik dat sy dit nie “mean” bedoel het nie!
Goeiste, Elsabe – dit moet amper wees soos om met n baksteen gegooi te word; hierdie slakke is swaar! Ek kan my indink julle moes baie mooi broodjies bak om die vrede te beredder.
Besides being giant, the shells are lovely.
It’s the size and the often beautiful shells that have made many of their kind attractive pets, Janet, that have now lead to them becoming invasive in parts of the world where they don’t naturally belong.
I find it interesting that many invasive species of different sorts look quite attractive Keeps people from wanting to get rid of them, I guess. Of course we have fun things like the Burmese pythons in Florida that were pets that people let go in the wild and now terrorize the area. Sigh. There are some flowers in Wyoming, called “pinks”, that are lovely but invasive.
We humans love meddling with nature’s delicate balance. Introducing snails or snakes or flowers to an area where the factors that keep them in balance in their native haunts do not exist is sure to lead to trouble. When will we learn?
Probably never, unfortunately.
I fear you are right, Janet. We’ll keep trying to do our part.
That’s all we can do.
They are indeed “giant”.
Certainly deserving of their name, Anne
I haven’t seen these around here for many years – perhaps the drought has been too long for their survival? When we first arrived here our children were fascinated to find these enormous shells in our garden. Later on we often saw live snails wandering about. These wonderful illustrations make me wonder about them once more.
That is really sad to hear, Anne. I know you don’t use pesticides in your garden, so the prolonged drought is the only plausible explanation.
Oh my goodness, Dries. They’re huge! A shame they’ve become invasive. Great photos.
Thanks, Jane! Only again because of humans that they’ve become invasive in places where they shouldn’t occur naturally. In Africa we have enough predators to keep them in check.
Wow!! Those are huge! Puts our little garden snails to shame, haha.
They’re enormous, Meghan. I am glad to know the photos conveyed that well enough.