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Post by pinkunicorn on Jul 4, 2012 19:59:51 GMT
Well well, Odie's injuries are now explained. Caught the little guy gnawing on his tail, tsk. Hopefully the selection of gourmet mushrooms I bought today will make him stop, along with the fish and algae flakes. Maybe he's growing at such huge pace and needs more nourishment. But I'm glad it was Odie himself doing it, like your slugs Oscar, and not Garfield harassing the babe every night. That'd be just horrible if it went on and on.
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Post by prowljazz on Jul 5, 2012 6:39:08 GMT
Thanks I'm Going to have to try that with Prowl and The JazzMan
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Post by pinkunicorn on Jul 26, 2012 14:29:04 GMT
Some random pics I've taken. A D.invadens baby with a bizarre mantle. Despite the odd shape the little one is growing, slowly but steadily. I was cleaning up old food and suddenly noticed I had a snail missing! After searching for 15 minutes on all fours I went to the kitchen and happened to look in the trash can. There's my little Foxy! Garfield being cute on an oyster shell:
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Post by vallery on Jul 26, 2012 20:41:12 GMT
Hi pinkunicorn , Your Snail Album is great. I love the variety of pictures you have posted. The Aspersas are beautiful, you can't find them here in Canada wish you could. I have read they could be found in Calgary Alberta Canada but my sister and one more snailer from the forum that lives there have looked but no luck. So far I have shockingly found a leopard slug in my outdoor snail sanctuary, then four more plus one wee baby. I had no Idea such a slug existed. One is actually pink and black. I plan to keep two, the pink and black and one white and black plus the baby, but all in separate tanks because of the crazy mating habits. My cousin is going to relocate the rest plus anymore I find in the snail sanctuary, to a nice grass land near by were no one walks around in, Leopard slugs are not native to Canada and classed an invasive species, you are told to call a number to tell you found any and where and they will be destroyed, I could never do that. I feed mine mushroom and cucumber, fish flakes and powdered eggshell and cuttle bone as they have a small shell under their skin near their heads and need calcium. They are crazy over mushrooms gobble them right up. Slugs freak me out for some reason but I am warming up to them, I have a few smaller species of slugs I recently found which I can't identify. Keep your great pictures coming you have a great thread. vallery
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Post by pinkunicorn on Jul 26, 2012 21:17:17 GMT
Ooh a pink form! I've only seen pictures... they come in a huge variety of shades. I really like this species and am awaiting a package next week. I'm also hoping for babies, which will be interesting to see if they manage in the current snailery which is not super high. But I got some branches awaiting so they can try to mate. Garfield, and little Odie too (RIP), are crazy for mushrooms, but also gobble up blueberries.
It's quite awful if they try to eradicate this species, even if it is invasive. It's a fungi feeder and not a big pest, so I'm not sure if it can be harmful to the ecosystem like fulicas in Florida for example. L.maximus does hunt but it's not primarily a predating species either. Plus it takes two years to mature. Hopefully your guests can live without bothering anyone or anything in an unpopulated area!
Post pics of the smaller slugs? I'm curious now... maybe they are Deroceratinae!
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Post by vallery on Jul 26, 2012 22:04:10 GMT
Hi pinkunicorn , Not the best pictures I will try to get better ones these are pretty dark. This is one type. vallery Attachments:
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Post by vallery on Jul 26, 2012 22:06:01 GMT
:)This is the second type. This is all I have found aside from the leopard slugs. vallery would you know from these pictures what type they might be? Attachments:
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Post by vallery on Jul 26, 2012 22:08:16 GMT
I am posting two pictures for you of one large leopard slug and one of the baby. vallery Attachments:
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Post by vallery on Jul 26, 2012 22:09:09 GMT
The baby vallery Attachments:
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Post by vallery on Jul 26, 2012 22:50:55 GMT
Hi pinkunicorn, I read your last post on my England to Canada in 6 days. I am sorry if what I said about the frisky snail was insulting. I honestly didn't mean it to be. vallery
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Post by pinkunicorn on Jul 28, 2012 0:08:39 GMT
Oh no! No it wasn't, don't worry! I was just reminded of a silly and ignorant comment someone made on another forum, suggesting that snails have very boring sex lives and comparing someone else to a snail... that ignorant person clearly had never seen snails go for it, in groups or for 12 hour marathons. There's always bound to be another individual up for it, even if your little fella got rejected a few times before getting lucky.
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Post by vallery on Jul 28, 2012 0:12:17 GMT
Hi pinkunicorn , I am so relieved I didn't say something insulting. Thank you for letting me know. Were you able to Identify the first two types of slugs I posted for you on your thread. vallery
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Post by pinkunicorn on Jul 28, 2012 1:09:42 GMT
The slugs... the first ones are definitely Deroceras slugs. They are probably subadults born a few months ago and will mature soon, so keep an eye on any mating behaviour. The only real way to tell Deroceras slugs from each other, apart from a few specific species, is dissecting or observing mating. I linked an article describing the mating of several species, which I used for ID'ing my slugs too. I'll look it up again, somewhere in this topic... Judging by colouring they might actually be the same as mine, D.invadens. It has been reported in your area. Deroceras is originally a European genus and only a handful of species have spread around the world, invadens among them. If it is this species you will recognise it immediately from the mating. It will look like the slugs are trying to beat the crap out of each other with their penises. Quite amusing to watch, I've been waiting my latest generation to mature but they seem to grow up a bit slower than their parents. The second one looks like it is from the Agriolimacidae family, same family as Deroceras genus is. But I'm not sure. How big are they? Can you do a close-up with a bit more light of the skin and the mantle? It looks like there is some stripes on the mantle, but what about the rest of the body? Also, I just found this: www.doingnaturalhistory.com/?p=37There is a commenter reporting the presence of L.maximus in his backyard for 25 years! Really doesn't sound like an invasivespecies that needs to be exterminated but it seems to have found its little corner in the local ecosystem. Your leopard slugs are so beautiful. The infant in particular, he looks very young! Takes two years to mature so you can keep them in the same box without fear of eggs. How long is the adult, about 14cm guessing from the picture? My Garfield was 18cm extended when I last measured and I think he has gotten "fatter" since, which means there is more of him to extend...
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Post by pinkunicorn on Jul 28, 2012 1:20:44 GMT
Here: www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.4003/0740-2783-23.1.137The name D.invadens is from the 2011 taxonomic review separating the previous D.panormitanum into two species, invadens and panormitanum, so they speak of the latter only in the article (unless it's been revised). But the aggressive mating is D.invadens'.
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Post by vallery on Jul 28, 2012 2:34:56 GMT
:)Hi pinkunicorn, Wow! Thank you so much for all of the information. I will try to get better pictures and measure the length of the leopard slugs, I now have 5 big ones plus the wee baby. I try to get better pictures of the ones you said may be from the Agriolimacidae plus their size. I will definitely check out the sites you left for me thank you. I have been on here most of the day trying to find identification for the weird snails I found that I posted. But nothing. Your photographs are so great. What type of camera are you using? vallery
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Post by pinkunicorn on Jul 28, 2012 12:54:44 GMT
Thanks! I mostly use my cellphone camera, which sometimes works better than a real camera for some reason. Samsung Galaxy S1 in the older pics, and for about a month now Galaxy S3. Which is actually pretty good for everyday photos as it has a flash and a decent video recorder. But... you can see the pic quality is a bit blurry when looked carefully up close, like with all cell cameras.
There is a clip of my little Deroceras invadens slugs mating btw. I posted it on page 2 of the topic, you may like to see it to geta good picture of what to look for in mating behaviour, in case your little slugs are D.invadens. I'm hoping to make a better video with my new video camera, once I catch the little ones at it... so far I only saw one confused little teenager slug try to get the attention of an older slug, and that was weeks ago! A bit odd, I expected eggs already. Maybe the early summer babies mature slower than the early spring babies.
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Post by vallery on Jul 28, 2012 16:17:24 GMT
Hi pinkunicorn , I checked out page two. The description of them mating is pretty wild. Those little slugs can also move pretty fast when they want to. My home-care guy is coming today and he said he would bring his camera, he takes great photos, It always takes me ten shots just to get a half decent one. So hopefully he remembers to bring it and I will have some better pictures to show you. I'd like to get a nice shot of the pink and black leopard slug I just can't seem to get the color it happens all the time with my camera when looking at the screen before taking the picture it looks great but the pictures aren't coming out the natural color, happens with my snails and my snake, it works out fine with my spider but she is black. So hopefully I will have some good pictures today. vallery
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Post by pinkunicorn on Jul 28, 2012 23:36:29 GMT
Great, hopefully we can ID them too! What I really love about my Deroceras slugs, btw, is that they are really active compared to any other slugs or snails I have seen. Especially with 100+ little guys sharing house, there's always slugs socialising, or eating or doing something that is quite interesting to observe. And they also do it during daytime. They're plain looking but full of adorable personality, truly. The sad thing is they're not long-lived but it's quite easy to start a population and maintain it if you hatch a few eggs of each batch that gets laid. I highly recommend keeping them as pets, since they also don't take up a huge amount of space. All my adults and subadults live in a large PetPal box that has sticks, leaves, bark and other decor to make the most of the small tank as far as sliming area is concerned. They do poop a LOT though! Here Mr. Cyclops sends his greetings from the whole family!
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Post by vallery on Jul 29, 2012 2:35:43 GMT
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Post by pinkunicorn on Jul 29, 2012 22:51:21 GMT
"Yousa thinkz I haz a fat bum?" "Hrmph... yousa getz da eekveppmentz, okays?" "See? I iz no fat, I iz LONG!" This sluggy really likes mushroom. It didn't take long for her entire head to disappear inside the shroom. Little tentacles poked out once in a while... Going deeeeeeeper in... The shroom after the sluggy was done.
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Post by pinkunicorn on Aug 4, 2012 0:11:35 GMT
Must show off momma's new little slimeyfaces. They don't have names yet, though. Garfield is meeting the new roommates for the first time. Some biting and tailing followed. Two of the new slugs were very interested in Garfield... This morning I found this... And this! Looks like they had a good romp last night. Although it doesn’t look like it was very successful... maybe they need a higher place to hang from. Two albino fulis, one rodatzi and one standard fuli. Cuties! Here’s just a pretty slug face.
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Post by pinkunicorn on Aug 4, 2012 0:14:48 GMT
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Post by pinkunicorn on Aug 4, 2012 16:46:31 GMT
Aspersa baby under the microscope. He started pooping as i hit the video recording. Although it looks like the video is all black... need to see what's up with it. It would have been an amusing video.
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Post by pinkunicorn on Aug 14, 2012 0:10:00 GMT
I found some incredibly small babies in a baby slug box where I had kept my single C.lubrica but with a different shaped shell. I'll take pictures tomorrow with the microscope hoping they're still alive after a few days in the care of my partner! I was really surprised to find them and was almost throwing them to the trash as I was cleaning.
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Post by pinkunicorn on Aug 14, 2012 15:52:24 GMT
Here's my microsnail. I've no clue where it came from! Does anyone know what it is? This pic is taken with a microscope, at 80x magnification. It's the size of a needle thread hole, basically, of a very small needle thread hole. I got a little video as well, will post once I've processed it.
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