[1] The distribution of T. pisana includes the Mediterranean region and adjacent Atlantic coasts from central Morocco to north western Europe:[4] The species has been introduced to numerous other areas, including: In many of these places T. pisana has become a problematic invasive species and a serious agricultural pest.

In hot climates it aestivates often directly exposed to the sun, attached to grasses, shrubs or succulent plants, fence posts, tall weeds, and so on.

[4] In South Africa, a study showed that these snails were most abundant along roadsides; densities decreased dramatically with distance from roads.

[3] Theba pisana is also a significant pest of citrus, vines, legume crops and cereals in South Africa.

[3] Most T. pisana snails have an annual life cycle, breeding in summer and autumn, but a few also take 2 years to mature.

[11] In South Africa, T. pisana appear to have an annual lifecycle, breeding in autumn to winter and growing to adult size of about 14 mm diameter by the end of the following summer.

It uses the stalks of cereals as aestivating sites, which in turn clogs machinery and fouls produce during mechanical harvesting.

[3] According to Quick (1952)[14]Theba pisana has been responsible for the extermination of native snail species as a result of competition for available food.

[3] In their report on the status and potential impacts of alien invasive organisms in the fynbos biome, MacDonald & Jarman (1984)[15] predicted that T. pisana would have very little impact on ecosystem processes, such as nutrient cycling, energy flow and sediment dynamics or on the germination and succession processes of the plant community itself.

[3] However, the snail could seriously impact directly on fynbos plants, by feeding on them, and also displace native herbivores by competing with them for resources, and these effects have not been studied.