The golden apple snail has a brachial respiration system that allows it to breathe under water as well as a lung that respirates air. This allows the snail to adapt quickly to changing conditions and expands its ability to search for food, prompting the snail to leave the water when the food supply below the surface is inadequate. Female snails lay up to 500 eggs per week, causing population explosions. Such adaptations, along with high population densities, have made these snails a serious pest in many areas of cultivated rice land in Asia. The snails eat the base of padi seedlings, then consume the aerial leaves and stems, all of which takes an adult snail between three and five minutes. minutes.