How far can a Banana Slug travel in a day?
Question:I live and garden on the Oregon coast over run with these giant slugs. I keep tossing them over the fence as far as I can throw . Just wondering if they are able to make their way back or are there new slugs showing up every morning. Should I be loading these guys into my truck and taking them on a one way trip far, far away? Murder is only an option as a last resort.
Answers:
Best way to get rid of them is:
1-Gather up some neighborhood kids.
2- Pay them a penny a piece to collect them for several days
3- Mail them to your least favorite politician, with a note, "You've been bugging me for a long time. My turn."
noo no, banana slugs travel very slow, like snails. new ones probably keep showing because they like yoru garden but they're not the same ones you toosed voer the fence, im sure of it!
just kill them or spray something on them
yea there the same ones.they have been outfitted with pocket rockets and move back very quick.save them .then when you get a few pounds fry them up like chickin and serve them to your inlaws.then you can sit back and just enjoy.
It's been documented that a Banana Slug can travel 6.5 inches in 3 hours. That equates to 52 inches a day. Taking into consideration they'll have obstacles to overcome, plus they'll have to take time out to eat, it's not reasonable to think the slugs showing up every morning are yesterday's throw-aways. Plus, slugs don't consider any particular place 'home'. Wherever they are is home, as long as they have mushrooms to eat. It's time to put 'Operation Slug-Kill' into motion. Slug pellets can be purchased at the local hardware store, and beer (to be doled out in saucers) can be purchased at the local beer store.
I would be careful with how you treat those fella's though... look what I found:
** More than just beloved, the banana slug has also become prophetic, at least symbolically, serving as an example of both the potential and the perils for biological entities and educational institutions of a condition known as gigantism. In the banana slug's case, the excess growth occurs in its genital structures. With a male organ often bigger than its body, a banana slug sometimes has to amputate its partner's organ in order for the species to survive. Indeed, ask any banana slug, and s/he will tell you that bigger isn't necessarily better... http://www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/0...
** My banana slugs are just so damn cute! Below I have a mating video and pictures of... http://bio.research.ucsc.edu/grad/weaver...
And who knows? You may be right about the same ones returning... One site reports:
** "They can be seen migrating across the path on dark damp days and at night or climbing up stumps looking for a dark place to hide. Once they find a dark damp spot to hide out on dry days, they will usually come back to that same spot, preferring to hide alone..."
and
** "With only one muscular foot, a slug moves slowly. How it moves can be seen when you place a slug on a piece of glass and look at it from underneath." so maybe you could get one and measure the distance it travels in a minute on a plate or something and figure out how far they travel in an hour...
http://www.naturepark.com/bslug.htm...
** slugs are useful. They help in the decomposition and recycling of the forest. They feed on decaying leaves and vegetable matter and turn it back into dirt. http://www.mentalwanderings.com/gulch/20...
Good luck and thanks, I really enjoyed this question!
PS:
HEY! I just had to read one more site and look what I found!
** Locomotion is accomplished by expending a mucus substance from their head area that is both sticky at times and slick at other times. They move from the rear end first in waves of constrictions and expansions reaching speeds up to .007 miles per hour... http://www.nps.gov/archive/mora/notes/vo...
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