tips for keeping slugs

[Spotted Salamander]

although it is already mid november here in new york, there are still quite a few juicy slugs active at night in my garden. i just fed one to my spotted salamander and he loved it! any tips for keeping slugs? i would love to keep some to feed to him over winter ^_^

[Foster Reves]

I have never tried to keep or culture them however I do collect slugs from my yard at times. Here in VA there are mild winter days when they can easily be found.
Chip

[Kenny]

Keep them in a container with moist soil and rotting pieces of wood with fallen leaves, they should do well. As for dinner...some lettuce en stuff like that. There's a guy on the dutch c'data forum who breeds them.

[Otterwoman]

I have a tank where I was trying to keep garden snails/slugs this summer. The snails are still alive, but I couldn't manage with the slugs, even though I replaced them and tried over. The same environment where the garden snails live, the slugs die.

[Oskar]

So I guess slugs I collect around my house are safe to feed my pets with? (I live in VA)

[Spotted Salamander]

Originally Posted by Gingrich

So I guess slugs I collect around my house are safe to feed my pets with? (I live in VA)

as long as you make sure they are from a pesticide free area. theres always a slight risk of any disease/parasite though. i also wet the slugs completely and roll them in paper towels to remove the dirt/small debris that may be stuck to them.

[Joseph S]

Dawn: Have you tried keeping them seperately? Please explain more.

Its a shame though since slugs are far more useful than snails. I think the culture of slugs might be something we are overlooking as far as pet food goes! The only problem I see is that they may become pests in a terrarium by eating the plants.

[Daniel]

I am more concerned about their (potential) parasite load, slugs are known to be intermediate hosts to some parasites (trematodes, nematodes - over here at least but I think it is no different in the US).

This year is the first year I collected eggs and let them hatch.

As was already said - a container with enough humidity, some rotting wood, some green things for food and they do well. But as a friend (who bred them for more than a year) told me, they prefer some light.

[Otterwoman]

Originally Posted by fishkeeper

Dawn: Have you tried keeping them seperately? Please explain more.

Last year I had them in a terrarium with dirt and leaves and stuff, and fed them carrots, and they lived for quite a while and got bigger and then just all died. Now I have some snails in a tank

Garden Snails

The large ones are still alive, the small ones died as well as the slugs. I have a pot of dirt in there, clay balls with water on the bottom for moisture, some pieces of clay pot for hiding, and I feed them carrots.

[Joseph S]

Haven't read thread...but have you offered a calcium source?

How would you break the cycle and ensure parasite free slugs?

[Otterwoman]

I didn't offer a calcium source. Where do they get it in nature?
Also I never realized about parasites until this thread. I've been feeding my newts yard slugs since I started with newts. I truly believe that Elektra's fecundity this year is due to the aphrodisiacal properties of slugs.

[Eva]

Originally Posted by fishkeeper

How would you break the cycle and ensure parasite free slugs?

Slugs/snails are only intermediate hosts to the parasites. Generally speaking, slugs/snails can become infected with parasites but do not pass them on to their eggs or to other snails/slugs. If you catch wild slugs ("wild" slugs? oh, the images that conjures) and breed them, you can feed the offspring without worrying about parasites.

-Eva

[Joseph S]

Chalky soil does the trick...cuttlebone or old calcium supplement will do in captivity.

But it doesn't seem to completely explain why snails do ok and slugs don't for you...snails likely are even more calcium dependent than slugs.