Ugly grub ball

Gimme shell-ter ... banana snail

A FAN of wackily-shaped fruit and veg has built up a million-strong following on the web - by sculpting the grub into a ZOO.

Hoppy to be here ... frog made of lime peel

Vanessa Dualib, 29, scours supermarkets for misshapen produce she turns into bizarre animal characters.

Her creations - which she photographs before they go rotten - include a snail made from a banana, a sweet potato hippo and a whale constructed from an aubergine.

She dubbed an artist figure made of peapods Peacasso.

Slightly potty ... hippo-potato-mus sculpture, left, and sweet potato walrus

Vanessa said yesterday after posting her 64th character online: "I was inspired by the three things I love most - photography, food and humour."

She added at her home in Sao Paolo, Brazil: "You have to work fast - the banana snail started to go brown very quickly."

Ssseriously fishy ... mango fish, left, and tapioca root snake