Gardeners: if you spot these little pink eggs, you should act fast to prevent an invasive species of snail

Snails seem pretty harmless, but it depends on what type you have in your yard. Invasive species can do real damage to your ecosystem — and even to you. But, for one snail in particular, there's a telltale sign you can spot before it's too late, and that's little clusters of pink eggs.

At first, they may look innocuous and also quite colorful, but they're a herald of an approaching infestation that gardeners are being urged to look out for.

So, before you let golden apple snails take over your yard and cause long-term damage to your crops, yard life, and potentially even affecting you, keep an eye out for these little clumps of pink eggs.

And, if you spot them, here's exactly what it means, and what to do about it.

What is the golden apple snail, and why is it dangerous?

Clusters of pink eggs found in your yard may look harmless, but they're anything but. In fact, they're a sure sign that the golden apple snail is making itself at home in your yard — and that is bad news.

Why? Well, golden apple snails (known as the Pomacea canaliculata) are a dangerous species of snail for several reasons. They can live both on land and underwater, destroying your plants and potentially harming your entire underwater ecosystem, which can contaminate water and cause serious harm to anything or anyone that interacts with it.

And aside from causing devastating upset to your yard environment, they're also hosts to dangerous parasites that can cause infections and even eosinophilic meningitis.

Once you've spotted any clusters of eggs, it's important to bear in mind that the golden apple snail can produce thousands of them, which is how the invasive mollusks can spread across your yard at a terrifying speed.

So, the best thing to do is to act fast — and below, I'll explain the best ways to get rid of them from your yard as soon as you spot them.

What to do if you find them

Early detection is key to tackling golden apple snails, so surveying your yard and checking areas of high humidity and aquatic life is a great way to keep on top of a potential outbreak. But, what should you do if you spot these telltale pink eggs?

Well, it's important not to try to handle them without proper inspection. So, if you've spotted pink eggs, the best thing to do is to note down what you've seen and where and contact your local environmental authorities to carry out a proper inspection and assessment.

While you wait for a visit and for further results, it's important to isolate the area(s) where you've detected the pink eggs and monitor it for any further growth or the emergence of adult snails.

They'll then be manually removed, either by trapping them or picking them up, and as a last resort chemical intervention may be used. The authorities should then inform the local area of the snails presence to prompt searches in yards and prevent the spread any further.

And there's a few additional ways you can protect your yard from future infestations and that's by reducing areas of water, protecting crops and planting specific types that snails hate, like strong-scented lavender or rosemary.

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