Kitana
Achatina achatina
Religion is not a choice. You are either convinced, or not convinced.
Posts: 91
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Post by Kitana on Jan 25, 2013 18:28:04 GMT
I've had my pancake slugs for a while now and I've noticed their growth has been incredibly slow, this is the same for my velvet slugs, Does anyone have any advice on growth as there's not a lot of information available for them  Attachments:
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Post by pinkunicorn on Jan 27, 2013 10:50:31 GMT
How big are they fully stretched? What are you feeding them and how is the intake?
Yours look like the tropical leatherleaf slug (Laevicaulis alte) btw, which often gets mistaken for the Jamaican pancake slug (Veronicella sloanei) in pet trade. I got these lovelies myself. I am very curious of your velvet slugs, I've been trying to figure out for a while which species this actually is, but unable to order any myself during the winter. It has to be some Veronicellidae-family member, but which?! Velvet slug is not a commonly used or official name.
(This can be in the Problems section, so moving there)
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Post by malacophile on Jan 27, 2013 15:17:08 GMT
Hi, Kitana! Are you in Birmingham, as in Alabama? If so, how did you get these guys? I want some too!  |
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Post by pinkunicorn on Jan 27, 2013 15:27:55 GMT
Many Veronicellids are imported pests in the US. I posted a link to a (I think) USDA leaflet that identifies many species, I think the research topic. It might have their primary locations as well. As far as I know they are not controlled like GALS (some are local like the Jamaican slug), but I'm not 100% sure on this.
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Kitana
Achatina achatina
Religion is not a choice. You are either convinced, or not convinced.
Posts: 91
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Post by Kitana on Jan 28, 2013 16:14:00 GMT
I have both pancake slugs (Veronicella sloanei) and the African velvet slugs (Laevicaulis sp.) The little guy in the picture is 100% most definitely a pancake slug  I believe the tropical leather and velvet slugs are the same thing, but I don't keep them in the same tank as my pancakes. They're in 15 litre tanks with 4-6 inches of super compost substrate, a good 2 inches of various stage decaying leaves and wet moss, with a few rocks and plant pots for hiding places/decor. They're kept very humid and are fed an array of different fruits and veg, cereals and chicken mash. Fully extended they vary from between 3-4 cm long. None of my Entomology buddies have kept these before as they're hard to get hold of but I've been asking around different countries to see if anyone has any advice on their growth rates and if they've found anything to influence growth No, I'm from Birmingham, England. (UK) |
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Kitana
Achatina achatina
Religion is not a choice. You are either convinced, or not convinced.
Posts: 91
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Post by Kitana on Jan 28, 2013 16:55:32 GMT
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Post by pinkunicorn on Jan 28, 2013 19:36:29 GMT
Normally the Jamaican pancake slug is white/cream with darker dots, if you have confirmed this is indeed V.sloanei then that is a curious morph! Maybe it could be V.cubensis? Those are dark skinned, perhaps also called pancake slugs, but I'm unsure as I've only seem the Jamaican V.sloanei (presumably) in pet trade.
I only learned this after buying my guys as pancake slugs, seeing everyone in the trade call them pancake slugs. But a quick look at the wiki showed them to be African leatherleaves, Laevicaulis alte. There is only two Laevicaulis species, and the velvet slug might be the other one. I don't know what the other looks like but the velvet slugs I've seen in pics are kind of pocky skinned, but thicker skinned than the leatherleaves. That's why I'm so curious about yours! Now looking at both pics it indeed looks like the velvet slugs are indeed Laevicaulis, perhaps L.alte. They are identical to mine, as far as I can see.
Your conditions sound good. All veronicellids are tropical slugs so they like it hot and wet (the velvet/leatherleaves breed during monsoon season). You could add more protein to the diet, for both species. Mine gobble fish food right up and are over 10cm fully extended. They're monsters, larger than I expected and mating like nuts. I'm not sure what the max size for V.sloanei/cubensis is but the literature gives the same averages as for L.alte, so I assume they can grow quite a bit from that.
Pick a brand with about 40% protein, mostly from fish/shrimp instead of soy/wheat for best quality food. Tortoise food is also a good option. I offer it a few times a week as much as the slugs want to eat in one meal, which is about 5 small pellets per slug (pre-soaked). I find fish food has better intake rate than cooked fresh meat for some reason. Maybe it's the smell?
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Kitana
Achatina achatina
Religion is not a choice. You are either convinced, or not convinced.
Posts: 91
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Post by Kitana on Jan 29, 2013 9:58:00 GMT
It may have just been my terrible camera, but out of 18 there all of various colours between tan, grey and a cream color with grey markings on them. They also have the blue grey tentacles with tan coloured tips which is very good at distinguishing them from the rest, V.Cubensis can be the same colour but usually darker with the same dorso-median stripes and usually there's a white stripe too but the major difference being that they have blue grey tentacles with a brown area around the eye spot, I'm quite confident that they are the real sloanei However I got the velvets from a guy from a forum and looking at them closer I believe they're just lined leatherleafs (Laevicaulis alte) For a while I thought they looked like the V. Cubensis but under a magnifying glass they have the brown tentacles I've tried them on dog biscuits before but they didn't eat it  Fish food sounds like a good idea though, I'll give them a try with it. They do love their chicken mash and rabbit pellets though, I'm probably just being impatient with their growth Thanks for the reply |
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Post by pinkunicorn on Feb 1, 2013 15:11:54 GMT
Oh that's really cool, with all the different morphs! Literature only mentions the creamy ones, as far as I've seen, but there's not that much info on these slugs available. That's interesting about the colour of tentacles, good to keep in mind, thanks!
Have you had success breeding them yet, or did you acquire all 18 as purchases? I assume the latter as you say you might be impatient with the growth, that they are not very old slugs. I got mine in August and they were pretty small back then, maybe about the size yours are now, for comparison. Unsure of exact age but they reached maturity this month and just laid their first batch of eggs. I've not found any info on breeding except that in India it happens during monsoon season, lol. Some slugs die after laying eggs but so far all my five leatherleaves are still alive. Very curious to hear any experiences you have regarding the mating of Veronicellids, too. They are not very common pets even among snail keepers.
(And if you got baby V.sloanei to sell at some point I'd be interested in buying some!)
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Kitana
Achatina achatina
Religion is not a choice. You are either convinced, or not convinced.
Posts: 91
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Post by Kitana on Feb 2, 2013 16:23:00 GMT
I bought them both at around the same time (about September 2012) and they were both hatchlings, so they have grown a little but nothing major, I used to have a few more but over the months a few have escaped I did get a small amount of information about them from a German university but it was just about the different types, how to tell them apart and what types of plants they attack, I think it was more of a pest report rather than information, haven't seen any information on growth or breeding at all ( well, Someone did say that they prefer to breed in 3's or in groups and will readily mate more than once a night), not even temperatures, just that they need to be kept humid. I'll keep emailing breeders and see if they can give me any information at all or experiences, and I'll put all I've been told on here I just wish there was a big book that would tell me!!! lol |
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Kitana
Achatina achatina
Religion is not a choice. You are either convinced, or not convinced.
Posts: 91
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Post by Kitana on Feb 17, 2013 15:18:25 GMT
UPDATE! After giving them some more Oak leaves and moving them into a bigger tank with it's own heat mat I had noticed they were eating a lot better now, then yesterday as I was spot cleaning the pancake slugs I found one slithering around, and it was HUGE!! Seriously they've doubled in size! from 1-4cm to about 4-8cm. The tropical leather leaf were a little smaller than the pancakes but they've also grown a tad too So I'm a happy bunny! Thanks for all the advice x |
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Kitana
Achatina achatina
Religion is not a choice. You are either convinced, or not convinced.
Posts: 91
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Post by Kitana on Apr 10, 2013 22:05:59 GMT
Both pancakes and leatherleafs are now adults Laevicaulis has now had eggs and should be hatching within the next few weeks Attachments:
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Fish food sounds like a good idea though, I'll give them a try with it. They do love their chicken mash and rabbit pellets though, I'm probably just being impatient with their growth