Slugs Underground

Today’s Daily Prompt: Underground reminded me of a list of facts about slugs I included in the PNW GreenFriends Newsletter in August of 2015 (Page 20). Before compiling that list, I had no idea that 95% of slugs live underground. It is still near impossible for me to visualize that reality. Here is that list:

Did you know…

Only 5% of the slug population is above ground at any one time. The other 95% is underground digesting your seedlings, laying eggs, and feeding on roots and seed sprouts.

Slugs do play an important role in ecology by eating decomposing vegetation.

A slug lays 20-100 eggs several times a year.

Slug eggs can lay dormant in the soil for years and then hatch when conditions are right.

In favorable conditions a slug can live for up to 6 years.

Slugs used to live in the ocean, which is why they still need to keep moist

One individual field slug has the potential to produce about 90,000 grandchildren.

It’s been estimated that an acre of farmland may support over 250,000 slugs.

A cubic metre of garden will on average contain up to 200 slugs.

Slugs leave their own individual scent trail so they can find their way home.

A slug can stretch out to 20 times its normal length, enabling it to squeeze through the smallest of openings.

A slug has approximately 27,000 teeth – that’s more teeth than a shark.