**5. Control strategies for snails**

Snails are important both ecologically as well as economically due to a variety of factors. The prolific breeder *A. fulica*, soon after the introduction to a new habitat, reproduces at alarming rates making the control strategy very difficult. The control strategy of the pest is based on physical, chemical as well as biological methods. The physical control includes collection and destruction of snails and their eggs from the infested site or campaigns organized by local agencies voluntarily supported by health service officials, local people, students and teach‐ ers. After collection, snails are crushed and buried deep into the soil, covered with kaolin. Eradication of the species involves a huge amount of chemicals, hand collection and extensive public awareness programs like posters, documentaries, etc. Metaldehyde is the principal component of molluscicides and is indiscriminately used for the control of the snail *A. fulica,* consequently causing loss of productivity of local crops. For example, in Sao Paulo, farmers unknowingly used the molluscicide "metaldehyde" in banana fields to target snails, which killed many species including bats, skunks, lizards and small rodents which were beneficial as natural control agents of agricultural pests [12]. The physical methods are very time‐con‐ suming and tedious while the chemicals have resistance problems, killing the non‐target flora and fauna. Therefore, biological control is the option that seems very fruitful and ecofriendly. But predatory snails (e.g., rosy wolf snail: *Euglandina rosea*) and flatworms have also failed to control some species such as *A. fulica* [52, 53]. As snails are ecologically and economically important due to the pest nature, the bacterial flora present in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of snails may have an important role in digestion. These functionally specialized GI tract regions may be unique microenvironments and could harbor unusual bacterial communities.
