Giant slug!

[ConcinusMan]

Haha nice. I grew up just outside Vancouver and we'd find monster slugs all the time. The biggest were the Banana Slugs, they're even bigger than the monster you found & you should be able to find these out there still. They get to about 10" and can stretch to almost twice that

not my pic

We have those in the woods near the other Vancouver too. (WA state)

[drache]

the banana slugs I've seen near Santa Cruz, Ca were really deep banana yellow - very cool
and here's to their other (non-food) uses: Hate housework? Can't find a reliable cleaner? Try a slug.

[Tyrel26]

Very interesting!

Thanks for the link.

Tyrel

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

Banana Slugs are native to the Pacific Northwest, but the Black Slug (comes in black, pale, brown, rusty orange, brown with bright orange ventro-lateral pigmentation, etc...), aka Arion ater, is an invasive species from Northern Europe. It is extremely destructive to gardens, and its slime is foul-tasting to many predators. In Europe some snakes are known to eat them (I just don't know any details there...)

Our local banana slugs will make your tongue go numb if you lick them. Don't do it though, as they are often found eating nasty mushrooms and animal feces (great cleaner-uppers!). Bananas also have some incredible slime, and they can use it to bungie down great lengths when trapped up in a redwood branch during high heat (emergency escape!)
Oh! And here's at least one animal that eats bananas! This Pacific Giant Salamander acted like it had a mouthful of Novocaine.

http://www.humboldtherps.com/images/...alaco_01D_.jpg

Steve

[ConcinusMan]

I have found bananna slugs around here, AND salamanders just like that guy. Our banana slugs found locally are not yellow though! Seriously, they are dark chocolate brown with orange markings or orange undersides, but a guy at the University of WA assured me that they are banana slugs.

I have actually witnessed them feeding on deadly amanita (destroying angel / death cap) mushrooms and it doesn't affect them. But I'm sure that if they had just eaten one, that the slug meal would not be good for many predators. I have also seen several of these slugs feeding on piles of coyote feces. EEEWW.

You can't feed these slugs to garters anyway. The slime is like super glue, I mean, garters will choke on it. It's really bad. If you get it on your hands, it's worse than rubber cement.

[mustang]

wahoo one less maid service when i move out!

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

Our banana slugs found locally are not yellow though! Seriously, they are dark chocolate brown with orange markings or orange undersides, but a guy at the University of WA assured me that they are banana slugs.

Slug comparisons:

Banana slug - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Black slug - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I am pretty confident that banana slugs do not have orange undersides. The brown variants of the black slug do. We have these all over Humboldt County, and they are often almost as big as the bananas... Arion ater is also listed in many of the guides pertaining to the Pacific Northwest.

Steve

[ConcinusMan]

Well, pic #7, 8, and 9, do look a bit like the slugs I find in the woods in SW WA state.

[guidofatherof5]

Slug comparisons:
Banana slug - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Black slug - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Steve

Thanks for the links. Slugs are always a good read