The lengthening days and less intense cold fronts, signifiers of spring’s approach, are speeding up the activity level of many plants, animals and fungi. Home landscape chores will soon shift from raking leaves and pine straw to mowing and edging.
During this current period of mostly moderate temperatures, the installation of new ornamental plants and vegetable gardens is a popular activity. Garden centers are offering a wide variety of tender starter plants which are easily transplanted.
These vary from showy annuals to highly productive dietary staples that help stretch the home food budget and offer control of production methods. Beyond the front door and under the open sky, there are plenty of creatures who are looking forward to expanded meal choices generously offered by the panhandle’s human residents.
Slugs, those slimy terrestrial snails without shells, are accelerating their plodding pace in search of meals and mates. They share many of the same traits, both negative and positive, with their mollusks cousins that are usually located in the same environment.
Emerging after a winter of little activity, slugs will soon be dining on tender vegetation in landscapes and gardens. Currently most are remaining in protected sites like this one, hiding under decaying pine bark.
As the weather warms, the slugs which survived the winter begin laying eggs. Only a few months old, they deposit hundreds of eggs annually in moist spots away from direct sunlight. Sometimes the deposits are left slightly below the soil’s surface.
The eggs incubate for only three weeks, with juveniles emerging ready to roam and eat. Before the summer is over, the new slugs are leaving eggs of their own in damp, cloistered environments.
When the temperature reaches extremes outside, either too hot or cold, the slug’s moderate preferences, it will cease egg deposits until the conditions return to an agreeable point. Initially less than a quarter inch and earth toned, the nascent creatures can quickly grow to several inches in length.
Snails and slugs both propel themselves on a muscular foot which extends the length of their body. Inching along at a literal snail’s pace, the slug spends its days hidden from the sun and potential predators.
Its eyes are simple and located at the end of tentacles which constantly move. Unable to recognize shapes, it searches for the lowest light, usually signaling a hospitable environment.
Dining preferences are tender vegetation and decaying organic matter. Mealtime for the slugs depends on where the sustenance is located and its exposure to sunlight.
Nights are a time of high activity for slugs. The cooler temperatures and higher moisture of north Florida’s spring evenings combine with emerging foliage to form an ideal dining experience.
A voracious consumer, its mouth has a conveyer belt-like structure covered with tiny teeth for shredding and digesting its meals. Sluggish eating habits mean new plant growth disappears quickly and completely, with no morsels left for stragglers.
The nighttime activity subjects the slugs to predators which hunt during the dark hours or in heavily shaded environments. For many the mucous covered, slime-trail-leaving blobs are not to their taste.
However, some birds, a few snakes and the occasional rodent which are hungry enough and not especially choosy will eat the slugs. Toads and the rosy wolf snails, sometimes known as cannibal snails, consider slugs fine dining.
When the autumn weather brings low temperatures, the slugs instinctively retreat to damp leaf litter. In such an ideal survival environment, they sluggishly wait for the next opportunity to visit a home landscape’s salad bar.
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