Giant snails are causing a mess in Florida.

There are plenty of snail jokes to go around but Floridians aren't laughing.

An invasive species of snail has infested Florida.
African land snail populations are on the rise.

The snail carries a parasite that can cause meningitis and might be a danger to humans.

The Public Information Director for Florida’s Division of Plant Industry said: “They leave excrement all over the sides of houses. They’re very nasty. These things are not the cute little snails that you see.”

The African land snails were first introduced to the Florida peninsula back in the 1960s.

Nearly a million dollars were spent over the ten years it took to eradicate the 18 thousand snails.

Now about one thousand of them are caught every week in extermination efforts, and 117 thousand have been captured since September 2011.

They can grow to be up to 8 inches long, and lay 12 hundred eggs a year.

Authorities have investigated a connection between an African religious ritual and the snails, which may be behind their most recent appearance in south Florida.