are slugs toxic, or poisonus, or whatever you call a living organisim?

[moswen]

in response to the "baby torts are way more carnivorous than we like to think" post, i decided to see what my babies do when confronted with a worm... only it's so cold here all the worms are way down under.

SO: every night slugs crawl up our back porch and into our dog food bowl and eat the crumbs out of our dog bowls. i don't know how they don't freeze or dry up doing this, but they don't. these slugs are an average of 4 inches long and super fat. first time i saw them i thought "how can there be tula poop outside, she hasn't been outside all day?" they're really that big.

so, are they safe?

 

[dmmj]

the slugs I feed my red foot and boxies are no where near that at long.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

That sounds like banana slugs, if so they are all right. I feed slugs to my box turtles and my RES. They get a gross froth around their mouths, but yeah slugs are alright...

 

[moswen]

i thought bananna slugs were yellow?

dmmj, want some?

 

[chairman]

My hingebacks love slugs. The varieties you usually find in your yard are non-toxic unless they've been crawling through something bad. I think that most poisonous slugs are sea slugs, and generally are brightly colored.

 

[chadk]

My boxies and my blackthroat monitor love slugs. Nice slimey and squishy protein
4 inches isn't that big for a slug. About average for around here.

 

[Balboa]

I'd only worry about backyard slugs if chemicals are regularily used anywhere nearby, like a neighbor that uses herbicides and such monthly. Same risk with worms and everything else. Funny really, see so many sites saying NEVER to feed critters out of the yard, but think we're gonna screen our tort pens and get all the worms out of the soil so our torts can't eat them?

 

[chadk]

"NEVER" is the safe answer to give if you don't have time to explain, or doubt they will grasp or care about, the reasons reasons why... Like feeding spinach, iceburg lettuce, etc...

I feed my monitor stuff I catch... fish, bugs, slugs, even a rat... But I'd probably tell someone not to do it

 

[armandoarturo]

do desert tortoises like slugs?
I have seen them eating dead crickets......

 

[Jacqui]

Do any of you raise/keep slugs? Curious, as it is another of those on my list to try my hingebacks on but which we don't have roaming our yard.

 

[Balboa]

Sure I raise them,
that's the washington state bird isn't it? the slug? ... oh wait that's the goldfinch. Should've been the slug.

We had far less of them before we got dogs, the neighbors feed wild ducks. The downside is all the duck droppings all over my house. The plus was very few slugs, the ducks are good at gobbling them all up. Now that we have dogs chasing off the ducks I don't get the pluses anymore, just the negatives :-(

 

[Kristina]

http://rickshawunschooling.blogspot.com/2007/10/wild-food-killing-our-own-meat.html

 

[Jacqui]

Sure I raise them,
that's the washington state bird isn't it? the slug? ... oh wait that's the goldfinch. Should've been the slug.

We had far less of them before we got dogs, the neighbors feed wild ducks. The downside is all the duck droppings all over my house. The plus was very few slugs, the ducks are good at gobbling them all up. Now that we have dogs chasing off the ducks I don't get the pluses anymore, just the negatives :-(

But do you raise them inside in captivity? If so, how has your luck been with them?

---

http://rickshawunschooling.blogspot.com/2007/10/wild-food-killing-our-own-meat.html

Boy those things are huge! I want to try snails, but not sure I am quite up to eating slugs....yet.

 

[Balboa]

LOL I was trying to be funny, failed miserably I guess. Nobody here would ever try to raise them inside, just because you can't walk 10 feet outside without stepping on 1.

 

[Kristina]

A little trick for "cleansing" slugs/snails before you feed them to your torts and turts...

Take a margarine tub and punch a few holes in it in the lid or near the top. Put a layer of corn meal in the bottom of the tub. Take a slightly larger container, put about an inch or so of water in the bottom of it, and set the smaller container inside the bigger one. Put the slugs or snails in the small container, and put on both lids.

Leave them sit for at least 48 hours. The slugs/snails should be pooping out cornmeal when you remove them. That means they only have the cornmeal in their system, and everything else has been flushed out. You can take them and put them right in the freezer, and just thaw out a few at a time as needed.

And as far as raising them in captivity - use an opaque storage tub with a humid substrate and leaf litter/something to hide under, and just throw in left over greens and peels and things, and occasional cornmeal (just sprinkle it around.) No meat. They will lay eggs and breed under the log or wood or whatever they have to hide under. Just keep them from drying out.

 

[Balboa]

Hmmm,
I like that cleansing idea. I need to remember that one. Thanks Kristine!

 

[Jacqui]

So if a person got a few banana slugs, how long would it take to have young big enough for feeding? Do they have lots of young? (I know, I could look it up on line, but hey call me lazy )

 

[Kristina]

It depends on temperature, feeding, etc... They usually lay about 20 eggs, and if they are kept at about 80* and very humid, they will breed and lay more often.

How fast they grow is pretty variable.

 

[armandoarturo]

errr... I think I will just attach to the crickets

 

[stells]

Slugs themselves aren't toxic... but a slug that has been baited with slug pellets are fatal if eaten by a tortoise...