These slimy things are everywhere around the yard and in town on a wet day. This morning I opened a book Darius checked out from the library, and on the inside flap there was a brochure put together by the Cordova Junior High's Community Problem Solving Team about the slugs.
Here are some of the goodies I picked out of the brochure about the uber-disgusting Black European Slug: They can eat 30-40 times their own weight and their diet includes vegetation, poop and other dead slugs. They have more than 27,000 teeth on their tongues, their blood is green, and they leave a nasty trail of slime behind them. Their mucous on their bodies is said to be "highly distasteful" to other animals, so their predators are few.
The main topic of the brochure was to inform the community of proper collection and disposal methods. Since these slugs are hermaphrodites, any slug can fertilize eggs, even those of dead slugs. Killing a slug and leaving it will only attract other slugs who will breed and then feast on their dead buddies. Taking that into consideration, it doesn't do any good to just kill them. You actually have to collect them and then burn them. Lovely!
A couple of weeks ago Zach picked one up and gave it a good squeeze. Not a good idea. The slime it left on his hands was like some sort of industrial strength rubber cement. I was literally scrubbing at his hands with soap, water, and a washcloth and the goo would not come off. I'm not a very squeamish individual, but I was thoroughly disgusted!
Hey, there's got to be a few drawbacks to living in a beautiful place, eh?
Holy crow. I don't even know what to say. Yucky!!!!
ReplyDeleteWe used salt on the slug and lemon or alcohol on hands to get rid of the residue to put it nicely!
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