Slugs

[spendday]

Slug have invaded (I use the term loosely) wormery

they are a creamy colour. I know some people say some types of slugs can be harmful any idea what species these are and if they can be fed to caudates...... if they can might thing about trying to culture them

cheers

 

[Azhael]

I´m most likely wrong, but i think the small, creamy ones could be Agriolimax sp. There are plenty of species around europe and some are rather similar so they could be something else.
I have fed them to some of my caudates on occasion and while it takes patience (specially for the newts), they are generally well accepted. If you culture them yourself, they should make a decent addition to a balanced diet.

 

[Otterwoman]

My newts all LOVE slugs. LOVE them like cheesecake.

 

[FRANCOIS]

My newts love slugs too, I placed a few adults in my large terrarium a year ago and they reproduce, when I raised my marm (came as a tiny juvie) the baby slugs were very helpful among other meals such as small earthworms.
These days I have a harder time to find earthworms (100 F since 40 days!!! and 110 this week, worms move down deep and are hard to find, so when I am out of purchased worms, the slugs are welcome....
After I water the yard, after sunset, I place a small plate on the grass with some dry cat food and in no time (I check every hour), I find small slugs. Happy Meal for the marm and the spotted sal... I keep large ones too for the breeding program...

 

[spendday]

cool thanks for all the replies they could be Agriolimax species they look similar to some on google images.

i'll grab some later and report back, thinking ill try them with my fire salamander first, then maybe my green burrowing frogs as they are just coming out of aestivation, and need some weight before breeding.

 

[fabri]

I had a bad experience with slugs. My newts and salamanders love them and I was regularly feeding my creatures with this slimy animals. Because of my work I often have to move from one place to another and if I have to do so for long time I bring my animals with me. The first day that I was in another city, I was collecting one slug in a meadow and I gave it to my Taricha torosa that I found death the day after with the tongue out of the mouth and a kind of foam. From that day I stopped to feed my animals with slugs even if I know that it can seem stupid because tousand of breeders feed their creatures with them and I was doing it as well.

Now, I wanted to ask you: There are slugs that are toxic? Have you ever heard that sombody had a similar experience with slugs?

PS: for sure there were no problems of pesticide because I collected them in a wild place faraway from the cultivated and residential area

 

[nwmnnaturalist]

Slugs and snails can certainly carry toxins, as well as dangerous parasites. More often the biggest danger is the mucous itself. Many slugs will produce copious amounts of mucous in an effort to defend themselves, and this can easily suffocate any predator. I've seen slugs 'drown' victims from small frogs, toads and salamanders all the way to small perching birds.

I honestly never recommend slugs as live food. It is too risky.

 

[fabri]

That's what I thought! So my question is now: why they are sold as live food? and why in quite every care sheet they are suggested as a good aliment? Every slug can e toxic and dangerous for their mucus or just some of them?

 

[xxianxx]

I would be concerned about parasites that wild caught slugs can carry

 

[peter5930]

I don't really have a choice about some of my animals eating slugs; my garden has an unlimited supply of them and they crawl in and out of my outdoor tanks at will. I've fenced my garden off to exclude cats and foxes for the most part, so the slugs in my garden are less likely to carry parasites from having eaten cat and fox faeces, but I can't stop birds from potentially pooing parasites into my garden, and there's a thriving population of field mice in my garden (the smell of which incidentally drives my dog nuts), which could also transmit parasites to the slugs via their faeces.

 

[Coastal Groovin]

Some species of snails have been know to pass meningitis on to humans if eaten raw. And I know they transmit lung flukes to some mammals (hedgehogs) that feed on them. I don't know what else they carry but I only feed them to my animals boiled. It kills the bacteria, fluke eggs and stops the slime coat that really can drown your animals like Cassie said in her post. Also with wild slugs you cannot tell if they were feeding on toxic plants so even cooked they are a risk. I mostly feed them to box turtles because they are immune to most plant toxins. They can eat mushrooms tht would drop you dead in 30 mins.

 

[psychotic]

I just so happened to come here to ask a very similar question. I'm glad I found this post. I was thinking of collecting some of the slugs that hang out around my pond and letting them lay some eggs for me. I was going to raise the babies to feed to my frogs and toads. I was thinking that maybe my eastern newts might like to eat the baby ones. But from what I've read here I don't know. They wouldn't have a risk of toxins because they would be captive hatched. They shouldn't have any parasite either should they? That just leaves the slime. Would babies produce enough to kill my newts?

On breeding slugs. I don't know about other kinds but the big yellow ones that live around my pond and in my garden are easy as pie to breed. Just get some damp dirt (I use coco fiber) put it in a bucket with a lid (lid must have very tiny holes. I use a thumb tack to make them), add slugs and feed them veggies. In no time you will find little clear pearl like eggs scattered throughout the substrate.