Authorities warn people not to touch the snails if they find one and to contact them.ДЇor NPR News, I'm Jessica Meszaros in Tampa. Labrador retrievers trained to sniff out the snails are hot on their trail, and snail bait is being laid. MESZAROS: The quarantine in Pasco County will last about three years. without a permit, though Benson says people do.Д«ENSON: They are intercepted throughout the country - I mean, at all major ports, coming in from other parts of the world, usually intercepted on passengers. It's against the law to import or possess these snails in the U.S. These are white, which is the more prized color in the illegal pet trade. They're different than the ones found previously. MESZAROS: It's not clear how these snails entered Florida again. Snails would consume them as they were growing. Benson says one big worry is that these mollusks reproduce quickly.Д«ENSON: If they were established, your agricultural crops would fail. Since then, more than a thousand have been collected in an area of Pasco County, which is now under quarantine. MESZAROS: Florida officials thought they'd done away with the snails in South Florida last year after a 10-year battle, but two weeks ago, they turned up 300 miles away in a home garden. Bryan Benson is with Florida's Agricultural Department.Д«RYAN BENSON: They crawl up the sides of houses, absorbing calcium out of the stucco and leaving fecal matter under the eaves. It can give you meningitis because it carries the rat lungworm parasite, and it can eat your house.

JESSICA MESZAROS, BYLINE: The giant African land snail is not your garden-variety species.

And for the third time, the state is fighting them. The giant African land snail can grow up to 8 inches long, which is the length of an iPad mini or a banana.

OK, Florida cannot seem to get rid of an invasive, disease-spreading pest.

Snail cartoon