Bufo Alvarius vs Banana Slug?

[goldbread]

I always see a bunch of banana slugs partying under bricks and logs in my backyard.
You guys think it would be safe to feed one to my Sonoran desert toad?
Or would they have trouble feeding on the slugs much like they do with night crawlers?
Because I would love to add a variety to its diet besides mealworms, crickets, and the very occasional pinky.

Thanks

 

[zonbonzovi]

It is my admittedly shaky understanding that some slugs carry gut fauna that can be harmful to anything that eats them. Take that with a big grain of salt, but if you have other options, stick with them.

 

[Entomancer]

I wouldn't.

Like Zonbonzovi said, they might have fauna in their digestive tract that could hurt your toad. Aside from the gut fauna, Banana slugs are almost entirely detritivorous slugs; they eat organic garbage, and the really like rotting carcasses and mushrooms. So, in addition to the gut fauna, you could have spores and toxins from the mushrooms in the genus Amanita

Furthermore, are you sure that they are Banana slugs? "Banana Slug" is a name that gets tossed around quite a bit, and only slugs in the genus Ariolimax are really Banana slugs. There are other slugs that you could find that could be poisonous, or could have even worse eating habits than Ariolimax does.

Finally, true Banana slugs secrete mucus that tastes bad to most animals, along with an rather potent anesthetic that will numb the mouth of those who wish to dine on it.

If that isn't enough, your toad originates from the Sonoran desert. Even if you got it from somewhere else, Banana slugs probably aren't in its diet in the wild, so the anesthetic might be even more potent than usual, never mind any other possible poisons.

 

[goldbread]

Thanks for the advice guys