Re: slugs and other thugs

Here in Australia we have some huge slugs called Leopard Slugs and just like 
leopards they are carnivorous and so are beneficial in the garden helping to 
keep down the numbers of their vegetatian brothers.

Putting snail pellets down inside narrow pipe can help prevent pets getting 
to it and reduces the effect of rain runoff.

Simone Clark
simoner@ento.csiro.au



	
>	In keeping with the old adage that one must know the enemy - here is
>the beginning of a diatribe on the lowlife that we call 'slugs and snails'.
>They are mollusks, subclass Pulmonata.
>	Some claim that slugs are gaining a sort of popularity today.  They've
>been chosen to be the SCHOOL MASCOT by the Univ. of CA, Santa Cruz (only in
>California could this happen...) They are the object of festivals (!) and 
>various retail goodies from T-shirts to dolls and replicas.....Tom, think
>Anne-Marie would like a SLUG doll?  I can't believe it, myself.
>	Slugs come in shades of pink, brown, beige, black and gray with or
>without spots.  Here in Northern New Hampshire, I see the beige variety most
>often but the brown is second and gray coming in third - always without
>spots.  (I see a lot of slugs that is why I am taking the time to study
>them - they are the only creature that truly disgusts me and is in a declared
>war with me.)
>	Slugs thrive in moist, moderate climates like the Pacific Northwest,
>California and southeastern Alaska (?) but they are found throughout most of
>the United States and southern Canada.
>	Snails are fancy slugs, condo included.  Most often they are a shade
>of dirty brown with some spots or stripes. (I see snails seldom but the few
>I happen upon have stripes.)
>			       	SLIME
>	This is the operant word since both slugs and snails excrete lots of
>it as they crawl around doing their dirty destruction....this is the red flag
>for you, the gardener, that they plan to engage you in a protracted 
>battle(s). What works against them one week may be utterly useless the 
>next week.  It is crucial to have several plans of attack at the ready.
>				LIFE CYCLE
>	They are hermaphroditic, possessing both male and female sex organs,
>but need a partner to cross-fertilize.  Although it can take them all day to
>mate, at only a few months of age each can lay hundreds of eggs a year, which
>hatch in only three weeks, ready to repeat the cycle.  The eggs are tough and
>elastic and not very vulerable to small predators, BUT they will dry up 
>if not kept moist. (One reason JI's have so many slugs.)
>	Extreme weather, either too hot or too cold, causes SNAILS to stop
>laying eggs and go dormant, a condition they can tolerate for up to FOUR
>years.  (See how long-lived they are!)
>
>	I am going to give hints everyday for deterrence and/or execution.
>Today I am going to repeat two things mentioned in March:
>
>		1) Handpicking - A predawn flashlight raid where the offenders
>are dropped into a pail of salted water to finish them off when they're 
>still groggy. Carolyn was right on track when she spritz them with salt (or
>white vinegar) - leaves them dead in their slimy tracks as does lime juice.
>		2) Slug juice - remember? - Put the remains of a cup or
>two of dead slugs into a blender, PUREEING them, and then straining the 
>resulting mush.  Spray on live slugs.......kills them, supposedly.
>	
>	Stay tuned,
>
>	Ellen Gallagher e_galla@moose.ncia.net 
>          Lancaster, NH - USDA Zone 3
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