Got squirted by a garden slug
Minosgardener
Posts: 95
Okay this is a new one for me! I picked up a slug and it squirted me with a slimy yellow substance. I've never had this happen before - it took quite a bit of scrubbing to get it off. When I came back it hadn't gone that far and it then met my chickens. Didn't know that slugs had a defence mechanism, I assume all the others were na??ve and trusted me...
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This is new to me too.
The mucus secreted by the foot contains fibres that help prevent the slug from slipping down vertical surfaces. The "slime trail" a slug leaves behind has some secondary effects: other slugs coming across a slime trail can recognise the slime trail as produced by one of the same species, which is useful in finding a mate. Following a slime trail is also part of the hunting behaviour of some carnivorous slugs.3] Body mucus provides some protection against predators, as it can make the slug hard to pick up and hold by a bird's beak, for example, and the mucus itself can be distasteful.9] Some species of slug, such as Limax maximus, secrete slime cords to suspend a pair during copulation.
Yuck, you poor thing
I remember those copulating slugs from one of David Attenborough's programmes
Look away now if you're squeamish
Slugs roost (or whatever slugs do) under pots in my nursery. I pick them off til I get a handful, then put them on the slabs and tread on them. They always ooze slime on my hand en route to their death.
I would too. It's the least they can do.
I once made the mistake of picking up a large slug bare handed because I couldn't be bothered to get my gloves. Well the time it took to scrub all the yukky slime off, I could have gone and got my gloves about 5 times. I didn't realise the slimy stuff was so resistance to soap!
I'm glad I'm not the only one that this is new to! I have picked up literally hundreds if not thousands of slugs in my time and have neevr had this happen before. Maybe the word has got out that I throw them to the chickens now.
Fleurisa - I was feeling quite anxious at not being able to get it off with soap and the scrubbing brush!
I remember spending hours trying to get a slug off the nose of my inquisative West Highland Terrier.
After a while using a strimmer i get covered in slug guts and pieces, on all my cloths , my hands , arms, face, hair you name it. I am that used to it now it doesn't even bother me