can slugs regenerate?

[willowstar]

Hello

Am I finally a real gardener??? I have just been out rummaging around my vegetable beds with a torch looking for the little sods who have been eating all of my lettuce, beetroot leaves, courgette leaves etc... anyway, I was picking up any slugs and putting them into a pot to relocate them over to the big field of weeds we have. I sort of squashed one and I think it split in too, so I scooped both ends up and put them in the pot.... and they BOTH put out their little feeler things and started crawling up the pot!!! Is that possible?

I wasn't so surprised that both ends moved as I know worms can do that, but I was surprised that both ends had those little feeler things.

Are they the same as worms, can each big carry on???

[SimonCole]

You definitely have a mutant because they normally have two eye stalks. As I remember from my invertebrate biology lectures, they do not regenerate... More evidence for a mutant

[Nicos]

I wonder if 'it' was a breeding pair and you split them up in the throws of ecstasy- no wonder they were in a hurry to clamber back out of the pot!!

[Piper]

I've never known them to regenerate, but these days I guess you never know. But I think maybe Nicos is right, poor little things didn't get the night of passion they thought they were going to have.

[willowstar]

oh no!!!! I feel bad enough when I move them, i worry about how they feel being separated from their family and whether they will be OK in their new location... so to think that I stopped them doing what comes naturally makes me feel even worse!!! mind you, I did relocate them together so hopefully they were able to carry on where they left off. I think I had better toughen up a bit though, I have to keep reminding myself it is them of my veggies that I have lovingly grown.

thanks for your thoughts.

[OverWyreGrower]

Um, I collected all the slugs off my plot and fed them to the chickens... no guilt here (well, not much!)

[Curvy Vixen]

Mine go for a little flight! They get thrown over the back wall into the field behind ~ that's assuming the pellets haven't killed them first!

No guilt here, especially everytime I gaze sadly at my 'lacy' leaves

[rustylady]

They definitely don't regenerate if you put salt on them, they turn into slug crisps! Sorry, I hate slugs and snails and woodlice, they've had more of my crops than I have this year, and the snails are even climbing the beanpoles.

[Salina]

I don't think they can regenerate like worms can so Nicos is probably right lol, yucky eh.
we often get slugs and snails crawling up the walls indoors because they can come in under the door, I usually put them back out when I find them, the dogs have eaten a fair few of them though, eww. they are kinda cute in their own way with their little eyes on top of their stalks lol.
does anyone know why the shrivel up if they get salt on them? *shrug*

[blossom]

They don't regenerate when I have finished with them. Their guts being all over the floor sees to that.

[poozie]

Slugs dehydrate through osmosis when applied with salt. not a pleasant way to go. I learn't about it at school.

"The slug turns into "ooze" because a "diffusional gradient" (concentration
difference) exsists between the liquid inside the slug and the salt
outside of the slug. In most natural processes when a diffusional
gradient is present, the solution seeks a state of equilibrium, meaning
that the concentrations on the inside and the outside should be the same.
The concentration of salt inside the slug is much less than the
concentration of the pure salt on the outside of the slug. The cell
membranes of the slug are designed to keep the nutrients and minerals
inside but can pass water through the membranes. So the water inside of
the slug passes through the cell membranes of the slug and tries to dilute
the salt concentration on the outside of the slug. The movement of the
water from the inside of the slug to the outside dehydrates the slug and
the dehydration turns the slug into ooze".

An article on slugs.......

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2876862

[rustylady]

Slugs dehydrate through osmosis when applied with salt. not a pleasant way to go. I learn't about it at school.

"The slug turns into "ooze" because a "diffusional gradient" (concentration
difference) exsists between the liquid inside the slug and the salt
outside of the slug. In most natural processes when a diffusional
gradient is present, the solution seeks a state of equilibrium, meaning
that the concentrations on the inside and the outside should be the same.
The concentration of salt inside the slug is much less than the
concentration of the pure salt on the outside of the slug. The cell
membranes of the slug are designed to keep the nutrients and minerals
inside but can pass water through the membranes. So the water inside of
the slug passes through the cell membranes of the slug and tries to dilute
the salt concentration on the outside of the slug. The movement of the
water from the inside of the slug to the outside dehydrates the slug and
the dehydration turns the slug into ooze".

An article on slugs.......

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2876862

Beautifully put, Poozie.

[Soldierfire]

Slugs and bugs can be removed with a clay called diatomeceous earth. The clay is natural and has small silica glass fragments from fossil diatoms. The slugs and bugs crawl over it and the silica glass cuts them and drys them out. Harmless to humans and natural. Soldierfire

[Paulottie]

Slugs and bugs can be removed with a clay called diatomeceous earth. The clay is natural and has small silica glass fragments from fossil diatoms. The slugs and bugs crawl over it and the silica glass cuts them and drys them out. Harmless to humans and natural. Soldierfire

Wow scientific, organic and satisfyingly gruesome! -but I suppose I'd need a truckload for 500 sq yds of allotments?

Get a grip Willowstar! FAMILY!! And all chowing down on your veggies at the wedding breakfast!!

[willowstar]

I know Paul, pathetic isn't it, but they are sort of cute with their little eyes on stalks. I am a vegetarian and hate to kill anything living, simple as that, hence my quandry.