Slug Fest

There's been a hummingbird hanging around my back porch the last few days, and there are squirrels and cottontail rabbits making regular rounds of my yard -- plenty of yummy things to eat there. My landlord, who lives in another house on this property, says they saw a deer in their backyard a couple of weeks ago.

Around Eastertime, I bought a yellow chrysanthemum plant and put it on the porch. This afternoon, I noticed it was looking poorly. Upon closer inspection, I discovered several bare stems, lying on the ground next to the plant. It looked as if someone had taken a knife and cleanly cut the stems from the plant, and then stripped all of the leaves off.

Then I saw a movement in the dirt, and there was this humongous slug, six inches long and about 3/4 of an inch in diameter, just moseying along. I presume slugs don't sniff, but if it could, this one was ... looking for something else to chow down on, I guess, since it had eaten my chrysanthemum. It was a muddy green in color, with black spots. After doing a little Googling, I concluded it was a banana slug, a species very common to the Pacific Northwest, especially in forested areas with lots of undergrowth (such as my backyard.)

I thought about taking a photo and posting it here, but decided to spare you ... so instead, if you want to see what it looks like, here's ariolimax columbianus, better known as the spotted banana slug. Named after the Columbia River, which runs only a few miles from where I live. (No, that's not my hand in the photo. Yuck.)

Comments

[Lewis King]

I looked at the photo at the link you provided. That is, by far, the BIGGEST slug I have ever seen! Did you move to a tropical rain forest? :-)

[Kitty]

Close ... I live in a temperate rainforest. :D

[Kathy]

I seem to recall a friend from Santa Cruz telling me that the banana slug was the university's mascot? See http://slugstore.ucsc.edu. Heh!

[Michael]

I'll be having nightmares now. :))

[Kitty]

Just what I need ... a slug T-shirt. :D

And Michael, I think I did dream about it last night. It's definitely been stuck in my mind. Although, maybe with a slug I shouldn't use the word "stuck". :P