Florida leatherleaf slug (Leidyula floridana)

[Obelisk]

Saw this one feeding on a weed in front of my porch:

 

[Bugs In Cyberspace]

I have to say those are pretty awesome slugs. I've never personally seen one but my mom sent a photo of one from her yard in Mexico a few years back. My wife has no problem with tarantulas or pretty much any other type of pet bugs, but even the word slug makes her skin crawl. She woke me up a few mornings back when a slug had somehow gotten between two panes of glass in our front screen door. She found the slime residue quite disturbing, but I secretly thought it was beautiful. Some perfect combination of factors allowed this animal to create, in its attempts to escape, something that looked like an impossible Mobius strip-rollercoaster, back and forth between the two panes not an inch apart. Sunlight was shining through it, casting prismatic effects in multiple colors. Even with glass-cleaner liquid, slug slime does not wash off easily and initially seems to make more of a mess. I could imagine seeing a slightly smaller version of this selling as an artistic wall-hanging. It's certainly prettier than those ugly topsy-turvy tomato cages that seem to sell so well.

I could also imagine the leatherleaf slugs being a little bit more palatable than the average garden fare. Maybe I'm off, but it looks a little like food to me. Butter and garlic salt!

 

[Tenodera]

^ Peter needs to stop browsing the forums on an empty stomach.

That slug is a pretty nice mimic for what it has to work with! Looks just like an old willow leaf.

 

[Obelisk]

They look exactly like a folded leaf. I walked over this one several times before taking a good look at it. The slime is definitely hard to get off. Once you carry one, you're going to have to put with the slime until it dries!

 

[beetleman]

after a good rain they show up by me aswell,always in the morning when it is still dark,when i'm going to the gym,i'm always amazed by them. awesome slug. yeah the leaf mimic is great.ive kept them before.

 

[ecooper]

That is a cool looking slug! Thanks!

EC
www.macrocritters.wordpress.com

 

[Travis K]

They are very interesting creatures........ BUT

They don't keep their grubby little mouths off my flowers oVo
Some of you may be familiar the Giant slug WA has on the Wet Side of the sate, aka the West Side where it rains all to much for my taste. Anyway, we now have giant leopard slugs in my neighborhood that probably came in on nursery stock and they chew the hell out of a lot of flower species in my yard. I was very excited when I first saw a good 8"er one evening on my walk, but now I just kill every one I find. I gather that with every house out here having automatic sprinkler systems they don't all burn up with our hot and dry summers. I still think they are neat but I love my flowers more than the slugs

 

[zonbonzovi]

Hey, those are neat! As Dr. Lecter says, "Love the skirt!" (Or is is suit?). I never think of FL as being a good place for slugs as I see the majority here out during cooler weather and rains but that state is always full of faunal surprises.

Travis, while you get to deal with Limax maximus, our west side gardens are overrun by Arion ater. I love our natives and they generally stay away from planted material but the invasives suck! They're either too large or too slow for predators to take note of. We're going to need a bigger beetle.

Anyway, we need a devoted slug photo thread...

 

[Obelisk]

I've been wanting to keep 1 or 2, though I was more reluctant before because of the human/pet parasites I've read about them carrying. Seeing that at least a couple of you have kept them, I guess I'm more willing to give them a try now. I've heard a lot about them being pests up north, though I can't say that I've had the same experience here in Miami. They're not rare here but not common either, so it's pretty cool to see them when I do.

 

[beetleman]

arion ater........are those the jet black variety,those are really cool slugs i know the red ones are amazing............i know i like these balls of loogies.

 

[oldmanofthesea]

Out of ALL the animals on earth, slugs are my least favorite. In other words, I hate them. Ron

 

[Obelisk]

Out of ALL the animals on earth, slugs are my least favorite. In other words, I hate them. Ron

....... and this is where I've stopped learning from this thread. Out of ALL the comments in this thread, this one's obviously the most worthless!