Barbadians will not eat the African snail. We have been socialized to see the Achatina fulica as slimy and nasty and to be sprinkled with salt when spotted on our property. Even in the harsh economic times the local Guyanese population has been the only one interested in ‘picking’ the snails to benefit from the bounty set at .50 cents a pound.

It means if we are to control the growing number of African snails – sighted in the 11 parishes – we will have to use massive amounts of a killing agent which is not harmful to the environment. Keeley Holder is an Israeli trained Integrated Pest Management Specialist based in St. Joseph who suggests the African snail population can be eradicated based on the findings of Albert R. Mead (1961): The Giant African Snail: A Problem in Economic Malacology p.68:

“On the other hand, they found that the following substances would kill the slugs within a few minutes after being dusted on them: ammonium sulphate, ammonium sulphocyanide, barium sulphocyanide, calcium carbide, calcium cyanide, corrosive sublimate, drained creosote salts, potassium sulphocyanide, sodium carbonate and sodium sulphocyanide. Of these, only calcium cyanide was sufficiently lethal at practicable concentrations to be considered for use in field conditions; its very deadly nature, however, makes serious consideration completely out of the question.”

There is no loud public communication by the authorities about how we plan to attack the growing African snail population. Besides the fact the snails are harmful to fauna and flora they are unsightly on an island which is marketed as a tourist destination, it seems a commonsense position to get the African snail population under control.


  1. Ask Bajans to eat snails? There are many Bajans who are proud to proclaim that they do not eat breadruit, sweet potatoes and other ground provisions, unless of course they are served at Brown Sugar or Bagatelle GH. This trend had prompted the famous statement from the late PM Dipper Barrow that, “the Colonel from the Confederate South had won the hearts and minds of our people.”


  2. Both snail slime and seaweed are regarded as top anti-aging, beauty treatments in the US and Asia.
    The beauty industry is always looking for the next big thing to market to consumers, the more “exotic” and expensive, the better.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2019881/Snail-slime-latest-beauty-mollusc-mucus-touted-clear-acne-heal-scars-beat-wrinkles.html


  3. Oh! Nia…thanks for reminding me about snail slime and the beauty industry….another use for the African Snail slime! Wow! Money to be made folks….


  4. BAF,BAF, BAFFFFFFFFFFFFF

    Now list-ten to me causen I only saying um once:
    Dis ol geezert may be ol school but lemma tell ya, tawk bout sof n tenda n suck-ulent. De young whippa-snappas dat does got you lickety-lipz n dickety-dick waterin, in want nutton wid dis suck-ulent n moist ol geezert. ya wanna bet? gimme a holla anytime den.

    Ms. Rosemary
    LOLL.

    Colonel Buggy
    I spen lil time inGermany n I kno dat I eat summa all kinda strange shite-tings but dem did taste good n dem stan dung in me stummuck. So eff wunna-all gine gimme ‘snail’ jess doan leh me kno wah um is befo I eat um. Den again I change my mind,From now on, I in eatin nutton dat I doan kno wah um is. So you gine gotta cancel dah dinna-date dat we had fa dis Satda nite at Bagatelle GH. LOL ya too swoiteee.
    By de by, I still luvs ya.


  5. @Dear Aunt Bonny Peppa: “Now list-ten to me causen I only saying um once: Dis ol geezert may be ol school but lemma tell ya, tawk bout sof n tenda n suck-ulent. De young whippa-snappas dat does got you lickety-lipz n dickety-dick waterin, in want nutton wid dis suck-ulent n moist ol geezert. ya wanna bet? gimme a holla anytime den.

    Dear Aunt Peppe… Please tell me (and us) how that helps us to compete on the International Playing Field.

    How the fsck does it help?

    Eh?


  6. My dearest nevu Halsall
    Oh jesus croisssss, you name BAF now?
    Kip outta big peeple convasashuns likkle boy.
    Didn’t I tawt you as a youngsta dat it is bad mannas ta juck in ya mout when big peeple tawkin?
    I wood gih you a hard slap n put ya in de corna widout any suppa tonite.
    Wait til ya trough put n bubble in um.

    Cornerrrrrrrr. de slap comin later ‘ron.


  7. My Dearest aunt Peppa…

    Have you consider that you have more important issues to deal with than you sorry life.

    Sorry… That might be considered mean… (And will be understood as being funny by those who understand Aunt Bonny and her cousins…)


  8. My dearest nevu Halsall

    Cornerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.


  9. Islandgal
    I eat lambie in Grenada many moons ago n um din taste bad a’tall. But dese African snails, oh my gawddddddd. Is only one ting dat I like ta ‘eat’ dat does slime so, n I in tawkin ’bout okras needa. N fa me, de slimiah de bettah.
    LOLL, ya gun tell ma dat I too bad. I kno.
    LOLL


  10. Bonny …. So I gun still need to walk wid my Gillette Fusion?


  11. Wait my man wey you come from using my handle again ..? But I like de question …


  12. Bonny ……BAFBFP might not be a pork eater…he is a Muslim….Ha haahhhhaaaaaaa He might like hot dawgs.


  13. Wait Islandchick, don’t tell me that I gun need a Gillette fusion for you too … Wah wrong wid wunna ol’ schools, if wunna like to feed you must get wid the program … ha ha ha … Bacon baby, bacon … and whip cream, but no feathers … ha ha ha ha …


  14. BAF
    Wahevva mek you feel good, walk wid, causen when ya get hay all we gun got on is de radio, hare? Gillette fusion or holla-groun razah.


  15. Bonny ….yuh got muh cryyyying yuh two wutless !


  16. Islandgal
    Dere is pork n den dere is udda pork. Ef ya dowt me, ask any good pork connoisseur.Muslim or rasta. Ask BAF.


  17. BAFFY……de chicken done get plucked so nah Gilette fusion bout hey an ah hope yuh kno what tah do wid de lollypop? Lawdy wunna two Badddddd!


  18. Oh shoot I sorry I miss and went to a appointment …I miss all dis ol’ talk .. David you see how dese chicks behaving inside hey … David, Padre you have to exercise standards .. Ha ha ha ha .. David de killin mah. Look dah joker who bring the calypso “Too much Bitin’ insects” got to be on he way out. I ain’ too sure ’bout ratas and Muslims but I took a shine to Sparrow from the time I was in short pants and short enough to peep under skirts without gettin’ discover …

    Pluck Chckens … my head dizzy now … oh Gad …!


  19. Snail numbers are down this rain season in my part of the planet. A close friend said the millipedes are eating them and their eggs.

    Natural predator perhaps?

    Peace

  20. Ibrahim Ajagunna, Kingston Jamaica Avatar
    Ibrahim Ajagunna, Kingston Jamaica

    I have read about this giant African Snail in Barbados and how it has been ignored as a delicacy. The African Snail is not different from conch (with the exemption that snail is on land) and conch is at sea. Surprisingly, we have no problem eating conch. In the Bahamas, for example, conch is even prepared raw and it is a popular delicacy. On a serious note, the snail is the most expensive meat item in Nigeria. All that the Barbadians need is learn how to prepare it. Simple lime juice will clean the slimy and it can prepared using any methods of cooking. I need the opportunity to demonstrate this on local television in Barbados. On the other hand why not export it to France. Killing them is nothing but waste of scarce resources. Lets stop killing them and eat them.


  21. Ibrahim

    Welcome to BU.

    Have you tried to contact our television station? It would be interesting to see you prepare a dish of these ‘delicacies’. I have no wish to partake in any of these dishes but others might be. Looking at these snails makes me nauseous furthermore eating them. yukkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk.


  22. And their shells can be used for jewellery and other accessories too.


  23. Nia
    I would swim cross a lake a crockadiles fuss befo I wear anyting mek from dem snailz.
    Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww


  24. @Bonny – Lol! I wouldn’t eat them, but I would totally rock a snail shell necklace. If I could learn the proper way to sanitize and preserve them I would make them myself too.

    People often take dead birds, bear claws, fox tails, insects, deer antlers, almost anything that is roadkill or has died a natural death, and sell it as wearable handmade art or home decor. So it could definitely be done with our snails.

    Afterlife Anatomy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/afterlifeanatomy?ref=pr_shop

    Kill Jar Jewelry: http://www.etsy.com/shop/KillJarJewelry?ref=ss_profile


  25. Nia
    I had two pheasants that were cured n mounted on a stand one time. Male n female. I would keep them in the corner of my living room and you should see the expression on everyone’s face when they entered my home for the first time. That of course, was a real thriller for me to watch their expression. Eventually they started to come apart and I disposed of them.

    Wish you luck with your snail necklace or bracelet or ear-rings or toe ring or engagement ring or wind chime.
    yukkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk


  26. ” Let’s stop killing them and eat them”.

    Wow! The most wise statement of the century!

  27. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Colonel Buggy:

    Thanks Colonel! You have taken us down memory lane. Remember most black Bajans have their Ghanaian ancestry embedded in their DNA. These so-called African snails were brought to the new World along with the slaves as a source of food on those perilous journeys. Just like the green monkeys!

    Snails formed an important source of protein and minerals, especially calcium which they could not get from milk since milk was reserved for he whites.

    As the black slaves moved away from snails as an important element in their diet the expanding population was contained by the roaming animals such as goats , pigs, small reptiles, wild birds, “yardfowls” and dogs who ate them as a source of food and calcium.
    With the adoption of a dainty, pristine, clinical, and chemical-dependent lifestyle, these “roaming” snail predators were removed from our physical surroundings, enclosed in pens on “industrial” farms and fed a diet of imported processed food. This change in the eco system created an imbalance in which these gastropods were now without any natural predator to control their populations; and like humans, overrun the place.

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