Two Garden Slugs

Large Black Slug, Arion ater, going for a chunk of mango in my back garden in Hayes, 7 September 2011.

I used to pick up the big slugs in my garden and throw them over the back fence into a patch of scrub and trees, but then I read that some of them eat the smaller slugs that do most damage to garden plants. Since then I have let them be, and there does seem to be a lot less slug damage.

The creature in the top photo is called the Large Black Slug, but actually varies in colour. Back in Newcastle, they were all jet black. Here, they are mostly this mid-brown, though some are more yellow.

You can clearly see its mantle, its breathing pore and the stripy fringe. At the end of the tail is a little lump of mucus that picks up bits of the environment; bits of grit and plant debris in this case. This slug eats vegetation and carrion, but will not actually attack living prey.

Below is a Leopard Slug, so-called because of its appearance, but this one is also an active predator and goes after the little slugs as well as carrion. A group of these spend the day under the rim of my rainwater butt, cool and wet. Welcome to the garden, Limax!

Leopard Slug, Limax maximus, in my back garden in Hayes.  25 September 2011.