European slugs

[trochanter]

Hello snail lovers!
I have been reading this forum for several month and finally decided to post some of my thoughts.
There are 15 adult Lissachatina fulica, 2 Oxyloma sp. or Succinea sp. and 2 juveniles of Arion circumscriptus at this moment in my house.
My true love are slugs (particularly European). I’ve noticed that there are some people in this forum that keep slugs. So it would be good to share information.
Now I’m trying to find out the best conditions for keeping European slugs in captivity. Under term “the best conditions” I mean such conditions under which slugs could normally grow, actively eat and reproduce. Of course slugs live in similar environment as snails, but there are some differences.
Also I’m trying to find species that is most suitable to keep at home. It has to be large enough (more than 4 cm. when fully extended), active (under certain humidity slugs can be active at day time), eat food that could be easily obtained at any season (grown at home or bought at shop), breed easily.
So any information on successful keeping of European slugs is welcome.
If everything that I’ve wrote here sounds stupid for you, I promise not to bother you anymore

[Kevin]

I keep several species of slug, including European species, Leopard Slugs (Limax maximus) is a good species to keep, so is Arion rufus/ater, both get to about 20cm, L. maximus are carnivorous and cant be kept with other slugs, Ive even experienced them attacking and injuring each other, even with plenty of food (I feed mine cucumber, bird seed, small amounts of dried cat food, grapes etc...they arent found of lettuce as much as other slugs) L.Maximus is difficult to breed in captivity, they need a tall enclosure if you wanted to breed them, they have unusual breeding behaviour, hanging from a thread, theres a good picture somewhere of leopard slugs breeding that I posted for someone in the pictures part of this forum.

Are you also interested in non-European species? pancake slugs (Veronicella sloanei) are getting more popular, I breed this species, a care sheet on them can be found here

www.petsnails.co.uk/index.php?action=species&species=veronicella_sloanei#start

I also keep 3 other tropical species, two from Africa, Unknown Velvet Slugs (Veronicellidae) and unknown Yellow Slugs, which have just laid eggs, and a leaf-veined slug from New Zealand, which needs to be be kept cold.

Keeping european slugs in the best conditions is fairly straight-forward, I use coco humous as a substrate, which is alway's damp, with moss, and at least one damp hiding place for the slugs to stay during the day, my species usually lay they're eggs under a small hiding place, I mist them regulary, at least once or twice daily, remove uneaten food and make sure theres always food available to them.

[apple]

Very interesting.
I´ll go for snail and slug hunt next weekend.

[sezzy5889]

What species of slugs can you keep together?

[Kevin]

sezzy5889 said:

What species of slugs can you keep together?

Any native species that isnt carnivorous should be ok to keep together

[gabi]

And Leopard slugs got eaten by the spanish red slugs ones in our garden.

[apple]

Leopard and spanish red slugs are both native in Austria?

[gabi]

Nope, only the leopard. The spanish one got here to other reasons I cannot explain (miss lot´s of words ;D)
The spanish ones are killing the leopards while trying to mate with them. They are biting them through mating so bad, that they die.

[apple]

That´s wierd....

[Deleted]

hi trochanter! welcome to the forum ;D weve never had a lithuanian before.

i would say most species of Limax make good pets; especially flavus, maximus and cinereoniger. the good thing about pet slugs is that they eat a wider range of food than snails, but need to be kept more damp so they dont dry out. i used to love collecting different types of slugs, they are very interesting.

[fatslug]

Leopard slugs will always eat mushrooms, (of any variety), as will most slugs

[sezzy5889]

so you can keep like leopard slugs and arions etc together then?

[Arno]

pandatazz said:

, L. maximus are carnivorous and cant be kept with other slugs, Ive even experienced them attacking and injuring each other, even with plenty of food

Welcome to the forum ,Trochanter.

[Kevin]

sezzy5889 said:

so you can keep like leopard slugs and arions etc together then?

No, I posted that any ones that arent carnivoures should be ok together, I mentioned in my first post that Leopard Slugs are carnivorous, I wouldnt even recommend keeping Leopard's together with members of the same species, unless theres plenty of room.

edit:

snailwatcher said:

pandatazz said:

, L. maximus are carnivorous and cant be kept with other slugs, Ive even experienced them attacking and injuring each other, even with plenty of food

Beat me to it Arno ;D

[trochanter]

pandatazz said:

I keep several species of slug, including European species, Leopard Slugs (Limax maximus) is a good species to keep, so is Arion rufus/ater, both get to about 20cm, L. maximus are carnivorous and cant be kept with other slugs, Ive even experienced them attacking and injuring each other, even with plenty of food (I feed mine cucumber, bird seed, small amounts of dried cat food, grapes etc...they arent found of lettuce as much as other slugs) L.Maximus is difficult to breed in captivity, they need a tall enclosure if you wanted to breed them, they have unusual breeding behaviour, hanging from a thread, theres a good picture somewhere of leopard slugs breeding that I posted for someone in the pictures part of this forum.

Do you have captive breed and mature Arion ater? This species is very rare in my country. I have seen it only few times in the wild. Limax maximus is more common, but you can find it only in some parts of Lithuania. I kept two specimens of Limax maximus for several months and then released them back. They were not very active and refused all kinds of food except dry dog food and mushrooms.

pandatazz said:

Are you also interested in non-European species? pancake slugs (Veronicella sloanei) are getting more popular, I breed this species, a care sheet on them can be found here

www.petsnails.co.uk/index.php?action=species&species=veronicella_sloanei#start

I also keep 3 other tropical species, two from Africa, Unknown Velvet Slugs (Veronicellidae) and unknown Yellow Slugs, which have just laid eggs, and a leaf-veined slug from New Zealand, which needs to be be kept cold.

Yes, I like not only European slugs. Pancake slugs are very beautiful, unfortunately it is impossible to obtain them in my country. There is little assortment of exotic species in pet shops here. I was very lucky to find Lissachatina fulica.

[Kevin]

Do you have captive breed and mature Arion ater? This species is very rare in my country. I have seen it only few times in the wild. Limax maximus is more common, but you can find it only in some parts of Lithuania. I kept two specimens of Limax maximus for several months and then released them back. They were not very active and refused all kinds of food except dry dog food and mushrooms.

I havent any spare Arion ater at the moment, when I looked for slugs regulary a few months back I found them quite often, I dont know if its too cold to find them now though?

Yes, I like not only European slugs. Pancake slugs are very beautiful, unfortunately it is impossible to obtain them in my country. There is little assortment of exotic species in pet shops here. I was very lucky to find Lissachatina fulica.

Ive never found slugs in petshops either, all my slugs ive ordered over the internet.

[sezzy5889]

Whats Arion ater, do you have a pic?

[Kevin]

sezzy5889 said:

Whats Arion ater, do you have a pic?

They can be other colours as well, they're very similar to Arion rufus.

[trochanter]

pandatazz said:

I havent any spare Arion ater at the moment, when I looked for slugs regulary a few months back I found them quite often, I dont know if its too cold to find them now though?

I think I had asked in wrong way. I just wanted to find out did you breed and grow up till maturity Arion ater in captivity?

[sezzy5889]

so whats the difference between Arion ater and Arion rufus?

[Kevin]

trochanter said:

pandatazz said:

I havent any spare Arion ater at the moment, when I looked for slugs regulary a few months back I found them quite often, I dont know if its too cold to find them now though?

I think I had asked in wrong way. I just wanted to find out did you breed and grow up till maturity Arion ater in captivity?

Mine hasnt laid eggs yet. I have only had eggs from pancake slugs, velvet slugs, and yellow Tanzanian slugs, they're usually laid under a log, or piece of bark.

[Kevin]

sezzy5889 said:

so whats the difference between Arion ater and Arion rufus?

"It is notable for its wide range of colour variation, often black or dark brown, but with grey, orange-brown or almost white variants. Orange-brown individuals have been regarded as a separate species, Arion rufus, (or as a subspecies, Arion ater rufus) and indeed some internal differences in the genitalia may be observed after dissection. However, the correlation of colour with internal characters is unreliable and common practice is to recognise one species."

So Arion rufus is just a orange Arion ater, you can only tell for sure if you dissect the slug though

[section8angel]

........... nice Rofl

[sezzy5889]

ewww, so Arion rufus only come in orange but can they be different shades because i get them in my garden sometimes bright orange sometimes a chocolate colour?

another question do you know why they get balls of slime form on their back end?

[sezzy5889]

sorry i have all of a sudden become interested in slugs