Number of eggs one grey garden slug can lay in a year: 400 to 500
As hermaphrodites, slugs have both male and female sex organs which allow any two to mate.
Weight: 300 milligrams for a typical garden slug; about nine slugs equal the weight of a penny. The largest, the foot-long California slug weights about 1/4 pound.
Family affiliation: Mollusk, with cousins snails, clams and squid.
Speed: 2 feet in 43 seconds. Man can run a 100 yard dash in less than 10 seconds; it would take a slug almost 2 hours.
Slugs are territorial and will attack caterpillars and other slug “intruders.”
When slugs’ teeth wear out new rows move forward and replace them, conveyor-belt style.
Favorite foods include: strawberries, leafy plants, and some root vegetables.
A small slug can eat as much as it weighs sometimes twice that amount in one night.
Only 5% of the slug population appears above ground at any time.
In heavily infested fields there are approximately 9 slugs per square foot. This means 392,040 slugs per acre. Slug cycle their feeding habits so that only 20% are feeding at any given time.
They drink water and that is how they get slimy
If they don't get water they will dry out
They eat dirt
They also live in the dirt they eat from
Of course, they eat moist vegetation and mushrooms
Slugs live up to 15 years!!!
A cubic metre of garden will on average contain up to 200 slugs.
A slug smells with its body.
Vinegar is a good ingredient for slug sprays and for removing slug slime.
Unlike snails that hibernate during winter, slugs are active whenever the temperature is above 5°C.
When a slug loses one of its sensory tentacles it grows another, usually within a few months.
A slug can stretch out to 20 times its normal length, enabling it to squeeze through the smallest of openings.
Slugs used to live in the ocean, which is why they still need to keep moist.
Slugs have been present in the British Isles since the end of the last ice age.
Like sharks, slugs routinely lose and replace their teeth.
In favorable conditions a slug can live for up to 6 years.
A slug's slime absorbs water, which is why it's nearly impossible to wash it off your hands.
Only 5% of the slug population is above ground at any one time. The other 95% are underground digesting your seedlings, laying eggs, and feeding on roots and seed sprouts.
A slug's blood is green.
Gastropods form the second largest class in the animal kingdom, the largest being the insects.
It's been estimated that an acre of farmland may support over 250,000 slugs.
One individual field slug has the potential to produce about 90,000 grandchildren.
Slugs have the capability to reproduce by themselves, although a mate is preferred.
A slug's slime contains fibres which prevents it from sliding down vertical surfaces.
Most British slugs eat rotting vegetation, but a few are carnivorous.
A slug's slime enables it to glide without difficulty over glass shards or the edge of a razor blade.
A slug is essentially a snail without a shell.
When picked up or touched, the Black Slug will contract to a hemispherical shape and begin to rock from side to side. This behavior confuses predators.
Slugs do play an important role in ecology by eating decomposing vegetation.
A slug has approximately 27,000 teeth. That's more teeth than a shark.
Research has shown that the average UK garden has a population of over 20,000 slugs and snails.
British gardeners use over 400 billion slug pellets every year.
Britain is home to around 30 species of slug.
Slug eggs can lay dormant in the soil for years and then hatch when conditions are right.
A slug is basically a muscular foot, and the name 'gastropod' literally means stomach foot.
Slugs leave their own individual scent trail so they can find their way home.
The Grey Field Slug is the most common and damaging slug in the UK. Up to 1.5 inches in length, this slug is typically found in lettuces, cabbages, carrots, beans, celery and tomatoes – in fact almost every type of garden crop. It is active in temperatures as low as freezing.
The Black Slug is the monster of all slugs, growing up to eight inches long. It mainly causes damage to seedlings in the Spring.
