Slugs are hermaphrodites: they have male and female reproductive systems.

Each slug lays approximately 500 eggs a year. Eggs are laid in clusters of two dozen eggs each. They can remain in the soil for years and then hatch when the conditions are right.

There are 30 species of slug in the UK.The average UK garden is home to over 20,000 slugs. It is estimated that an acre of farmland may support over 250,000 slugs.

Only 5% of the slug population is above ground at any one time. The other 95% is underground digesting your seedling, laying eggs, and feeding on roots and other seeds.

A slug has approximately 27,000 teeth. When slugs’ teeth wear out new rows move forward and replace them, conveyor-belt style.

Slugs can stretch to 20 times their normal length enabling them to squeeze through openings to get at food.

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 Garden Slug is usually black with a pale side strip, it feeds above and below the ground and is a particular pest of potatoes.

The Black Slug is the monster of all slugs, growing up to eight inches long. It mainly causes damage to seedlings in the Spring.