Breeding Limax maximus and possible apophallation

[pinkunicorn]

Has anyone got experience breeding these in captivity? I got a few friends for my Big G and they're rather horny at the moment. The new slugs arrived on Wednesday and by Sunday morning there are two slime ropes hanging on my enclosure walls. They are obvious trying, but I think the enclosure is not high enough despite the stick constructions I put together.

So I think I need a taller enclosure at least for the mating. I got one in mind, and I could pick it up on Monday, but does anyone know just how high should it be? The "alpha-slug" of the pack is more than 18cm extended. So at least 20cm and how much reserve for the rope?

Any other tips welcome too. I will remove the eggs, I don't trust them not to munch on the babies although Garfield hasn't shown tendency to eat his own, just bites and chases them away at times (which I suspect might have something to do with the failed matings... I'd be bloody pissed off if I was a slug with special tastes and failing all the time!)

[pinkunicorn]

For tonight I ended up turning a 30x60x30 aquarium on its side so that it becomes a tower. The slug couple that I suspected is madly in love with each other did tailing for a while and have just started circling each other near the "ceiling". I think this is how they begin right? I've never seen this show live and have been hoping to witness it. It's late, lol, but this is a spectacle that needs to be seen!

Edit: Umm. I think I just witnessed a slug equivalent of premature ejaculation, or maybe one of them needs Viagra. Or they are not planning to have sluglets after all. I've seen failed matings in other species but not this kind of failed mating.

[vallery]

Try PMing oscar101 I believe he had them before and decided not to keep them due to there mating habits.

[Evil Angel]

I kept some a while back, found they needed a height of at least 4ft to successfully mate!

[pinkunicorn]

Thanks for the replies. Anything at this point is welcome!

I've an update. I've been keeping just the two biggest slugs in the tower box until yesterday and added the five others in last night. And guess what I found this morning? Another slime rope, with another blob of what I think is slug semen stuck on the wall. Which sounds like an almost successful mating, failing for the same reason as the one I videoed. Which makes me think Garfield might be lacking a penis, if he's not extendingit during mating. Leopard slugs are known to apophallate self or partner if they get stuck. Literature says the penisless slug is able to mate as a female slug afterwards. But it doesn't say how. As far as I know these slugs just wrap the penises around each other and don't actually insert them like some snails and slugs do, so how on earth does the penisless slug get the sperm packet? Or is it possible to pull off some kind of turkey baster trick to get the slug fertilised?

I've been looking for a malacologist with lab experience with this species but it's not proving very fruitful.

I will upload the video, maybe it can provide some information.

[vallery]

Hi pinkunicorn ,

I would love to see some pictures of your slugs on this thread. Mine are not all that big. My poor little pinkie passed away (he was pink and black). The baby I have though is growing really fast and he can move super fast. Your thread is really helping me with information. Thank You.

vallery

[pinkunicorn]

Vallery, have a look in my picture topic, I posted the video there. It's quite bizarre how the mating failed.

I'm sorry to hear of the little pink one passing away. Makes me think of my little Odie... sometimes they're not strong enough to make it.

I've had the terrarium in the horizontal position now for days, so they've not been able to even attempt mating even if they wanted. There was a little escapade with Garfield's mate, she managed to get out of the terrarium when it was on its side. I didn't have a proper lid, but had constructed a temporary cover from plastic bags and tape. It did hold for a few nights, but on the last one there apparently was a slug-sized hole. The resulting search party required sofas being turned over etc. to locate the slug... thankfully I found a slime track and also the animal itself, attached to my Deroceras tank!

But anyway, they're still tailing each other almost every night and looking like they want to mate. I'm going to look into a tall, properly closed enclosure next week, and perhaps find a solution to the problem that's seen in the video. The "no penis" problem, that is.

[pinkunicorn]

I've been in contact with the Dutch Malacological Society (NMV) and my sluggies might appear on their journal about this little problem, hehe. They were interested in this and I'm very hopeful there will be a land gastropod expert who could help poor Garfield.

[pinkunicorn]

Garfield and Arlene (RIP) will appear in a funny little story in the January/February edition of Spirula, with cute pictures included, hehe. It's all things molluscan mostly in Dutch with some bits in English, so our Dutch-speaking members might be interested in the magazine in general (their other journals are in English, though). www.spirula.nl