If you decide to have such an unusual pet as a snail, you should familiarize yourself with their features in more detail. First of all, you need to decide what type of snail you like. It is possible to breed both grape snails and African snails at home. From the point of view of aesthetics and exotics, African ones are much more attractive. But they also practice the cultivation of grape mollusks.

It should be understood that they are grown not only for beauty, but there is also a whole business for breeding and selling shellfish. From one animal during reproduction, we get about a hundred new individuals.

Achatina - giant African land snails

The natural habitat of Achatina is in East Africa, but representatives of this species can also be found in many European countries. African Achatinas have gained popularity as terrarium pets and are also bred for human consumption. In many countries with warm climate, including in Spain, they are serious crop pests.

They live in places where it is warm enough, damp and there is constant access to food. They thrive in tropical climates.

African snails can live at home, it is not difficult for them to create an optimal local climate in a terrarium.

The size depends on the species - Achatina is the largest snail in the world, its shell grows up to 200 mm, and its weight can be 400-500 grams. At home, slugs also reach large sizes - adults can have a carapace length of 70 to 170 mm and a width of 30 to 80 mm.

Achatina care at home

These clams prefer warm, humid areas, especially places around bodies of water. Terrarium

must maintain a temperature of 20-30 ° C and an air humidity of about 80-95% (specific parameters depend on the subspecies). For more demanding species, a device for additional heating is needed, for example, heating elements placed on the outside of the terrarium.

Mollusk activity depends on temperature environment, sunlight and humidity. In the cold season, they are active around the clock. In the hot season, they are active mainly at night or during rain.

They can become inactive for many reasons: insufficient moisture, low temperature and illness. Such an Achatina is closed in a shell with a limestone cap.

The average life expectancy of an animal is from 3 to 5 years, but there are individuals who live up to 9 years.

How to care for snails at home? Their nutrition should be taken very seriously so that they receive all the elements necessary for their life. This phytophage feeds on various plant species. Achatina feels the taste of food and her diet should be varied.

What do snails eat at home?

They use fragments of various plants, as well as special additives:

• beans;
• pumpkin;
• vegetables: cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, celery and parsley, zucchini and zucchini;
• fruits and berries: apples, pears, plums, bananas, blackberries, raspberries, grapes and strawberries;
• watermelon, melon;
• you can give her an additional boiled egg;
• soaked dog and cat food (such additives are used once a week, not more often);
• dry mix should consist of oatmeal, dry granular food for rodents, dry food in the form of flakes for fish, dry skimmed milk, wheat bran;
• sometimes they eat baby biscuits and baby rice porridge.

All food must be fresh - without rot and mold, they must be thoroughly washed. Given the fact that fruits and vegetables are often sprayed with snail repellant during cultivation, it is best to peel them before serving them to your pet.

For ease of cleaning the terrarium, it is better to put food in a bowl. Some people also give their pets a cup of water.

Achatina must be carefully looked after.

They need a continuous supply of calcium, special preparations can be purchased at pet stores. You can give the so-called calcium phosphate, fodder chalk - sprinkle everything that we feed pets with this powder.

A lack of minerals causes snails characteristic behavior associated with scraping and eating the top layer of shells of other animals. Subsequently, such a broken and weakened part may burst, and as a result, pathogenic microorganisms may penetrate through the cracks or internal organs protrude. In adults that lay eggs, the demand for minerals is even greater.

What foods are undesirable to give

Do not give Achatina parts of plants such as:

• lettuce, spinach;
• onion and garlic;
• radish;
• chicory;
• cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli - due to the oxalates they contain, which, by binding calcium, can disrupt the functioning of the body, which leads to slow growth and cracking of the shell;
• citrus fruits (oranges, kiwi, grapefruit).

How to keep snails at home - arranging a terrarium

The terrarium should allow the slug to move freely and burrow into the substrate. Its height should not exceed 40 cm, as young terrestrial individuals can crawl along the top of the terrarium and sometimes fall.

The lid of the terrarium must be well fixed because, due to the fact that, due to the surprisingly large muscle strength, it can be moved by snails. In the terrarium, you should not use any elements made of copper, since this metal, in combination with mucus, reacts.

The most important element of the terrarium is the substrate - acidic peat, which can be purchased at pet stores. It must be sterilized in the oven the day before placing the pet bed. The height of the substrate layer should correspond to the height of the shells of the largest snails, because it serves them for burrowing. On average, it is about 10-15 cm. The base should be constantly wet, but not flooded, for this purpose it is sprayed with water once a day, preferably boiled.

To increase the walking area, you can place decorative plant roots in the terrarium. You can also add a small tradescantia to enhance the look of your home. However, do not be surprised if the plant is soon eaten. As a decoration and a very dietary ingredient in the diet, you can buy potted weed in stores.

The terrarium cannot stand in direct sunlight. You do not need additional lighting, only diffused daylight will be enough. If for aesthetic reasons you decide to add light, then it should be a low-power fluorescent lamp, separated from the rest of the terrarium so that Achatina could not get on its surface. An alternative would be lighting located outside the terrarium.

One or two house snails?

These animals have sexual dimorphism, that is, there is no difference between the sexes. This means that each individual is both a boy and a girl at the same time. If you get two Achatina, then sooner or later they will both lay eggs. The number of eggs depends on the species - from tens to hundreds of pieces from one individual. The incubation period and breeding of young animals does not cause difficulties, but you must decide how you will then keep such a number of pets.

Additional facts about Achatina:

• Achatina should not be released into wildlife they need care. They are not resistant to diseases carried by snails in our climatic conditions. On the outside, they won't be able to survive the winter.
• Their mucus contains allantoin, a bacteriostatic substance, on the basis of which preparations are made for those suffering from asthma and tuberculosis.
• Mucus also contains collagen, elastin and glycolic acid, which provide tissue regeneration and accelerate wound healing.
• These are edible shellfish.
• The simplest species in cultivation is Achatina Fulica. They do well at home at room temperature, eat little and grow very quickly.
• In some countries, the cultivation of Achatina is prohibited because they cause huge losses in crop production.
• During World War II in the tropics, Achatina were a rapidly renewing food source for soldiers.
• This pet can bite or rather scratch. However, its bite is almost invisible.
• In the United States and other countries where the climate is optimal for the reproduction in nature of this genus of mollusks, their breeding is illegal.
• The animal grows throughout its life, but grows faster when young and if it has access to a large amount of food.
• The average travel speed is 1 mm/s.

If you decide to have an unusual pet - go for it! Perhaps snail breeding will become your favorite hobby for many years to come.

Unusual pet: slug

Slugs belong to the class of gastropods. They either do not have a shell at all, or it is very small. Slugs live on land, in fresh and salt water. But usually the word "slug" refers to terrestrial mollusks, and aquatic ones are called freshwater and sea slugs, respectively.

Slugs closely resemble snails, except for the lack of a shell. They have two pairs of tentacles: one has eyes, and the other has organs of smell. The slug's leg has strong muscles. During movement, these molluscs secrete mucus, which allows you to reduce friction and not damage the leg.

Some types of slugs hibernate in winter. Their body contains a large amount of fluid, so it is difficult for them to survive in the dry season. Usually slugs can be seen after rain, as well as in damp and humid places. Slugs are most active at night, after sunset. During drought, they often burrow deep into the ground.

Slugs eat fallen leaves, mushrooms, fruits, vegetables, and some plants. Some types of slugs are carnivorous: they eat snails and other slugs.

They themselves often become prey for frogs, toads, snakes, rats, birds, beetles, etc. But many animals refuse to eat them because of the unpleasant taste of mucus. In addition, they are very slippery and can run away from a predator.

Some people keep slugs, like snails, as pets. How to take care of them?

First of all, find as much information as possible about what your pet needs. As housing, you can use a plastic container (at least 20x20 cm) with a secure lid. The lid should have small holes for ventilation. Enough substrate must be placed at the bottom of the container so that the slug can move freely. Garden soil can be used as a substrate, and fallen leaves and stones can be placed on top. The substrate must always be wet: without it, your pet will die! Therefore, you will need to regularly spray the container with clean water.

Slugs feed mainly on fruits, vegetables, rotting plants and leaves. Do not overdo it with fruits: they contain too much sugar, this is bad for the slug. Put a small amount of food in the container and replace it every day with fresh food. You can also buy special dry food for snails and slugs: it contains all the substances and elements necessary for your pet. The substrate must be changed once a week to keep the slug's housing clean. You can put small sticks in the container so that the slug can crawl on them.

When you move the slug to clean its housing, take it very carefully in your hands, make sure that its body does not touch sharp edges. It is best to handle the slug with clean, damp hands. Never place the slug container in direct sunlight.

Some interesting facts about slugs:

• The slug is actually a snail without a shell;
• Most slugs are herbivorous, but some carnivorous species exist;
• They feed on rotting plants;
• Slug eggs can hibernate for several years, and then the young will hatch when favorable conditions occur;
• Slugs are hermaphrodites;
• At good care slugs can live up to 6 years;
• Slugs are able to stretch the body and crawl through even very small holes;
• Slug tentacles can regrow if they break for some reason;
• Slugs don't have a backbone.

Keeping slugs is interesting!

Color variation from straw-yellow to bluish-greenish.

Slug for laying eggs. Note that eggs can be seen in the "well" at the bottom center of the photo.

So far, none of the eggs have hatched. Will wait. But I do not know whether to rejoice or not to rejoice at unexpected eggs: after all, laying eggs in slugs is the inevitable death of an adult. But these slugs are still some special, we'll see.

they are really very interesting and amazing I would like to see your collection in full

The other day little Cubans hatched:

They live separately from their parents (I shifted the masonry a few days ago), the ventilation holes in their container were covered in the same way with gauze (pulling it as tightly as possible and securing it with tape), but somehow dumb. they are so small - they can easily crawl under the gauze and get confused there.

Slugs - what is it? This land gastropods. shellless. Their closest relatives are shelled gastropods, we call snails.

Snails can also live on land, but most of them still live in the water. Despite the lack of a protective shell, naked slugs often become a real disaster for the garden.

This article will help you get acquainted with their biology, and how a snail differs from a slug, as well as why they appear and what they eat.

What do they look like?

The structure of a naked slug(slug) looks like this. The body of a slug consists of three parts - a head, a body with a mantle and a leg, see the photo on the right.

The body is elongated, slightly flattened from top to bottom. The head is raised and clearly visible, she bears two pairs of tentacles - long, eyes and olfactory receptors sit on them, and short labials, which serve for touch and taste. Mouth in front of head.

Behind the head on the back is a convex "collar" - this is the mantle, inside which is the lung, and on the right side is a breathing hole. The anal opening is located nearby. The leg is the lower surface of the body on which the mollusk crawls.

The skin of the slug is thin, naked and always covered with mucus. Covers usually have protective coloration - sandy, brown, gray, brown, and sometimes small white and black spots are distributed over a brown background.

The mucus helps the clams glide, cools them down, and protects them from enemies.

Sizes vary from 20 cm to 2 mm depending on the type of slug.

How do they reproduce?

Let's talk about how slugs breed. They are hermaphrodites by nature. each individual bears both the male and female reproductive system.

But for laying eggs cross fertilization is necessary, so that the slugs find each other by smell, and after a short mating dance which can be an interesting sight to exchange sperm.

After that, each lays 20-30 eggs in moist soil. After 2-3 weeks, small slugs come out, which feed first on soil organic residues, and after 1.5 months they grow and begin to reproduce.

After a single mating, egg laying continues for a month or longer. During the summer, each slug can lay up to 500 eggs.

IN middle lane adult slugs laying eggs in last time, die in autumn. Eggs hibernate; in early June, juveniles appear and after a month of active feeding, they start breeding.

The life cycle, like the development cycle, can speed up or slow down depending on the weather. Sometimes slugs that have not had time to lay their eggs in the fall overwinter in the soil, and start laying in the spring.

09/30/2016 at 15:27

And I breed snails, though African ones. Now the slug lives at home. Normal. Huge. brought from the garden. Experimented this year. I collected a bucket of snails and slugs, took it to the corner of the site. Released next to the fence. Before that, I put two wooden sticks, 25 cm wide. About a meter long. I put a small piece of slate to the fence, not very tightly. Any cover is possible. And she threw pieces of kiraich, stones, old pieces of concrete. They are loose. I put three plastic plates. She loosened up a tiny piece of earth. And in the plates I put vegetable peelings, carrots, pumpkin, zucchini, the first leaves of cabbage, lettuce, tops. Tomatoes, buttocks of cucumbers. Grass tore, mowed grass put them slides. A handful of dog food sometimes. Usually three times a
month. All! Friends, experience has shown that snails and. slugs did not crawl further than half a meter! Half a meter from their corner of paradise, I have a garden bed with cucumbers, pumpkins, sunflowers grow, and they all adore sunflower leaves))) periodically laid a leaf for them, quickly ate them) snail eggs (ariantha arbustorum) and slugs are very similar, you can find them in loose earth. Put in a bag and freeze, a week in the freezer, then you can throw it away or it
pure calcium for pets, as well as the number of the clan will noticeably decrease and the crop is intact and there is no need to poison anyone. After all, if you look closely, this is a miracle of nature, a fantasy ..

29.11.2015 at 10:31

We try not to bring the plot to a state where resistance to slugs becomes ordeal. I cultivate the land with a cultivator, which loosens it very efficiently. The same, in the sense of loosening, is done by the spouse at the stages of planting care. The result is no big clods land where moisture could accumulate, which reduces the number of slugs.

11/10/2015 at 13:19

Slugs on cabbage are very tormenting. If the leaves lie low to the ground, and the summer is rainy, then you can fight them only by cutting off the lower leaves. I was surprised to read the previous post that slugs live in the cellar. This means that the cellar is also damp, it must be dried.

About slugs, the layman's idea is rather boring, but are slugs so simple? The description of slugs will tell us about the appearance, lifestyle and habitats of creatures.

At the word "slug" everyone immediately has negative emotions. Who do we represent? A slimy, shapeless creature, disgusting to the touch, always crawling somewhere... but do we really think that nature is so stupid that it created a useless animal, good for nothing? Or do slugs have their own mission on our planet? Let's not argue, just let's study these creatures in more detail ... According to the scientific classification, slugs are representatives of the class of gastropods.

A feature of these creatures is that, unlike snails, their shell is either completely absent or reduced.

On our planet today there are several hundred various kinds slugs, but they all belong to one of three families: Soleolifera, Sigmurethra and Onchidiacea.

The body of slugs consists of one leg, also called the sole. It merges with the head of the clam. With the help of this organ, the animal feeds, moves, and reproduces. The upper side of the body is covered with a mantle, which is presented in the form of a plate. Under it are the anus and reproductive organs of the animal. In general, the body of slugs is symmetrical on both sides.

Two pairs of thin movable "horns" rise on the head of a banana slug.

As for the size of these creatures belonging to the gastropods, they cannot be called large. The average size of slugs is only a few centimeters. However, such representatives of these animals as the blue-black slug, banana slug and large roadside slug can grow up to 30 centimeters!

The color of slugs can be varied: from inconspicuous, almost transparent tones to bright, juicy shades. In nature, there are anthracite-black, bright yellow, orange-red, brown, chestnut body colors of slugs.

The habitat of these animals covers vast territories. They live in humid and temperate zones. They are found in Australia and New Zealand, North America, Central and Western parts of Europe, as well as in the Caucasus. Slugs take a fancy to forests, fields, meadows, caves and gardens.

These animals are rather slow, they make their movements due to the contraction of the foot-sole. And in order to avoid damage to this delicate organ, a special secret is secreted from the slug, which acts as a lubricant.

By the way, sometimes these secretions also serve as a deterrent "weapon" that helps prevent death in someone's mouth: the secret of some slugs has a very unpleasant odor, and this warns its natural enemies that it is not necessary to eat it!

Slugs feed mainly on plants. They eat foliage, soft stems, fruits and flowers. Some species diversify their diet with mushrooms. But there are also those who use living organisms as food: earthworms, small slugs, and sometimes even newborn mice and chicks!

Slugs breed once a year. All representatives of this group of animals are hermaphrodites. Each slug can lay up to 70 eggs. The development of embryos occurs about 5 weeks, after which small slugs are born, which are already fully formed. The life expectancy of slugs in nature is only 1 to 2 years.

natural enemies These gastropods are salamanders, ducks, storks, frogs, pigeons, raccoons, noses, chickens, waders, ...

Slugs and their fight

Slugs

Familiar aliens

If the slugs were about the size of a person, then they could well correspond to the ideas we have about aliens thanks to science fiction writers. After all, it turns out that they are not like people. This is what slugs look like. Let's start with the fact that they do not have a head, but they do have a "face". On this so-called "face" we first notice two long tentacles, which we call horns. At the ends of the horns are the eyes and organs of smell. The eyes are rather primitive, it is believed that slugs do not distinguish the contours of objects, but only determine the degree of illumination. Therefore, if it seems to you that the slug that is in front of you has directed its horns in your direction, this does not mean that it is looking at you, it is sniffing you.

On their "face" you can see a mouth. This is a very important organ for slugs because food is their main occupation. There are two smaller tentacles near the mouth, and they also have organs of smell (it is very thin in them and plays a big role in their life) and taste.

Slugs are real gourmets and do not absorb all food, although they are polyphagous pests. It is estimated that about 150 plant species can serve as food for them. But if you lay out all 150 species in front of them, they will use their organs of smell and taste, sniff and taste all 150, choose two or three of them, and maybe even one most suitable, and only then will they start eating.

Especially willingly they eat cabbage, lettuce and strawberries. Bulky cavities are eaten away in potato tubers and carrot roots. Onions, garlic and sorrel do not attract them at all. Great harm slugs are applied to seedlings and young seedlings. Sometimes you wonder why cucumber, pumpkin, or bean sprouts take so long to germinate. And they cannot ascend, because they have become the prey of slugs. Most often, seedlings suffer from them under adverse conditions that slow down germination.

Although slugs prefer tender young leaves, their mouthparts are also well adapted to cope with fairly roughage. In the oral cavity there is a hard jaw with a sharp edge, with which the slug scrapes tissue from the leaf, and a thick tongue covered with hard sharp protrusions is a real grater.

Immediately after the "face" is the neck, and then the back. On the neck is the genital opening, and on the side are the respiratory and excretory openings. The entire lower body of a slug is called a leg. Its lower side is covered with a denser skin, and on the front of this leg, just below the mouth, there is a wide narrow gap - this is the opening of the leg gland. When the slug crawls, mucus is constantly secreted from it and paves the path for the delicate sensitive body, smoothing out the roughness of the surface. With the help of this viscous sticky mucus, you can also move along vertical surfaces. The rest of the body, called the back, contains all the internal organs.

The main thing is not to overheat.

The skin of slugs is very thin and covered with a large number of grooves. Of these, mucus is also constantly secreted, which should keep the skin moist. Although slugs have primitive lungs, two-thirds of their respiration takes place through moist skin. In addition, mucus reduces body temperature and protects against overheating.

The body of a slug is 85-90% water. It is as if inflated with water, thanks to which the body and all internal organs maintain their shape and location.

Therefore, slugs do their best to prevent even a slight drying of the body and usually prefer to be in cool places where the surface of the earth is always slightly damp. In contact with wet ground, their bodies absorb water and maintain the water balance at a constant level. They cannot stand drought and when the upper layers of the soil dry up, they try to dig deeper, moving along the passages and minks dug by animals more adapted to underground life. Cases are described when slugs were found at a depth of up to one meter.

They don't like heat or cold

Temperature determines a lot in the life of slugs. For their active life, a rather narrow interval is optimal - 15-19 °. At a temperature of 24-25 ° they feel uncomfortable and stop eating, and at a higher temperature they die. In the morning, when the sun rises and the air begins to warm up, they must urgently seek shelter. And here they are rescued by the sixth or seventh sense, which tells them in which direction to move - the sense of a gradient of humidity and temperature. It is this that brings them to a damp and cool shelter. In the evening, it also suggests that you can leave it and go in search of food. Slugs crawl out of their shelters not only in the evenings, but also during the day after rain.

circle of life

Under favorable conditions, the development of embryos in eggs occurs quite quickly, and after 11-13 days, newborn slugs emerge from them. At first they are so weak that they cannot eat plant foods and feed on humus, which is why adults prefer to live at such a time on fertile rich soils.

When young slugs get stronger and can eat plants, they begin to grow and develop rapidly. The law of nature embedded in them makes them hurry. After all, by the end of summer they should become mature and have time to lay eggs. However, their development is highly dependent on the weather. If it is hot and dry, they may not have time to lay their eggs, and then they will have to spend the winter and do their duty on next year spring. If, on the contrary, it is humid and cool, then their development is so accelerated that by the autumn the second generation of slugs has time to hatch.

In our middle lane, annual slugs predominate. Among them, the most common species is the net slug. It got this name because of its color: on a light background, there are many dark spots that form, as it were, a grid. Annual slugs live, as a rule, 5 months from spring to autumn. After laying eggs, they die.

mating dances

Another feature of slugs is that they are hermaphrodites, that is, they contain both male and female organs. However, they do not mature at the same time. First outweighs the masculine, then comes the turn of the feminine. Some inconvenience is that slugs cannot fertilize themselves; in order to continue the race, they have to exchange sperm. This happens during the male period of life. At this time, each slug is looking for a suitable partner by smell. When he finds it, a kind of mating dance begins. First, two slugs synchronously move in a circle against each other, gradually approaching. Finally, their bodies are intertwined, and there is an exchange of sperm. Then comes the female period, and 10-11 days after fertilization, the slugs lay eggs, trying to hide them in damp, cool shelters. Egg laying occurs for quite a long time - a month or more, depending on the weather, 30-50 eggs at a time. And just one slug can lay up to 500 eggs.

Why do they love the night

Under natural conditions, slugs always choose habitats with a dense vegetation cover, under the canopy of which a damp, cool atmosphere reigns. Usually these are meadows, deciduous forests, river banks. There, their number, in accordance with the natural law of equilibrium, is maintained at a constant level. They move to garden beds only if something very attractive to them is planted there, for example, cabbage or lettuce. For the sake of delicious food, slugs are ready to endure all sorts of hardships. Compared to life in the meadow, life in the garden is not sugar at all, it is much more troublesome and full of dangers. Frequent loosening destroys natural shelters and dries out the soil. Here slugs are rescued by their extraordinary sensitivity. In addition to the organs of smell and taste, they have a sense of the gradient of humidity and temperature, which helps them to exist in the extreme conditions of a garden bed, devoid of dense vegetation, open to the hot rays of the sun. The nocturnal lifestyle of slugs is not at all explained by the fact that they love darkness (light, apparently, plays a small role in their life), but by the fact that at night the air becomes more humid and cool.

Usually the life cycle of slugs is like this. In the spring, young slugs begin to hatch from the overwintered eggs. The development of the embryo in the eggs begins when the soil temperature reaches 5°C, but young slugs, very sensitive to negative temperatures, come to the surface only at the beginning of June, when the danger of frost has passed. At the end of summer they lay eggs and die. Eggs, on the other hand, tolerate negative temperatures much better than adult slugs. They withstand freezing down to -11°, and slugs die at -3-4°. This is the standard cycle, but it can be interrupted by the weather, slowed down or accelerated. Therefore, sometimes both adult slugs, which did not have time to lay their eggs, and young slugs of the second generation, which did not have time to mature before winter, overwinter.

Slugs are most harmful in the second half of summer, when they become adults and require a lot of food to ensure the maturation of a large number of eggs in their bodies. Moreover, the eggs of slugs do not ripen in the stomach, but in the back. They don't have a belly at all.

This is how these creatures live, unusually vulnerable, with soft, unprotected bodies, having only smell and taste of our usual senses, and yet prospering. Their offspring does not dry out, but multiplies, and the almighty man - the conqueror of space - breaks his head and does not know how to protect beds with cabbage and strawberries from them.

With an eye on the weather

Sometimes the weather helps us in the fight against slugs. In severe winters with little snow, when the soil freezes strongly, slugs and partly their eggs, wintering in the uppermost soil layer (0-3 cm), die. In this case, the next summer, the number of slugs is much less than usual. The spring drought is also unfavorable for them, which leads to mass death eggs and young. But warm rainy autumn and rainy spring promise a real invasion of slugs.

The number of slugs is determined by three critical periods for them: the first - the end of summer, the beginning of autumn - the period of oviposition; the second is wintering; the third is spring, when juveniles hatch. Main critical conditions in the first and third periods - humidity and temperature, in the second - the height of the snow cover and freezing of the soil. The most effective way to deal with slugs is chemical - baits poisoned with metaldehyde. But our task is to consider alternative methods suitable for use in ecologically oriented farms.

Ecological methods of struggle

The main difficulty. One of the main challenges in developing non-chemical methods of slug control is the wide variety of slugs. species composition. In each individual place, you can find up to 10 species. For the most part, these are annual slugs related to the reticulated slug. By appearance they are quite difficult to distinguish, since the color can change depending on external conditions. Experts determine the species by location internal organs, that is, by performing an autopsy. Despite resemblance, slugs belonging to different species differ greatly in behavior and food preferences. Behavior can be attributed to the speed of movement. One of the most “fast-moving” is the net slug. In one of the experiments, he covered a distance of 70 cm in 4 days, during the other, the length of the day's journey was about 80 m. This means that if you cleared your garden of slugs, then from nearby meadows or other uncultivated lands, the so-called reservations , where slugs always live, their relatives will soon come to you. They will be attracted by the smell, which they are able to capture with the help of their antenna horns at fairly large distances. Obviously, garden plants as a source of food for slugs are preferable to wild ones. Therefore, they uncontrollably crawl on their scent from their native habitats.

Traps. Differences in food preferences big influence on the effectiveness of traps. Slugs are a problem not only for gardens, but also for a number of field crops. Abroad, many experiments have been carried out to identify the most attractive and most repulsive plants. It was then that a significant difference was established between the species of slugs. True, they all ate cabbage, lettuce and strawberries with great pleasure. There was no difference in this respect. The challenge was to find something more palatable for them that could distract them from the cultivated plants or lure them into a trap.

During the experiments, the reaction different types slugs on different baits differed several times. Even the most attractive bait did not collect more than half of the slugs of one species.

Very effective tool against slugs, beer traps are considered. However, their effectiveness largely depends on the quality of the beer and on the addiction to it of those types of slugs that live in your garden. Here for gardeners opens up a wide scope for experimentation. Namely, to check in practice different varieties beer. Maybe you'll get lucky and find a beer that the slugs will like. Then your life will be a little easier. Slugs are known to love sweets, so the appeal of beer traps can be increased by adding some sweetened water to the beer.

Very popular are the simplest traps such as planks or pieces of burlap, under which slugs clog to escape the sun. During the day they are removed from there and destroyed.

We're trying to scare it off. Other direction experimental work- search for plants that repel slugs, and identify the reasons for the attractiveness and unattractiveness of different plant species. Slugs have been found to avoid plants containing essential oils, phenols, alkaloids, flavonoids, and bitter substances. For example, they refused to eat medicinal sage, thyme, geranium, oregano, watercress, white clover, basil. However, the treatment of lettuce with extracts of these plants did not give a positive result. The reason is the rapid evaporation of essential oils. But when their favorite salad forms a flower arrow and becomes bitter, they lose all interest in it.

In one of the experiments, they went for such a cunning trick. The cumin seed extract was not treated with plants, but with wood waste mulch that covers the ground. The mulch held the essential oils and prevented them from evaporating quickly. Slugs avoided crawling into such mulch, and if they crawled, they lost their appetite. This method is applicable, of course, only in small areas, for example, in one garden bed.

How to make life difficult for them. An important place in the fight against slugs is occupied by preventive measures, the purpose of which is to create unfavorable conditions for them, or, in other words, to make it difficult for them to exist. This does not mean that you will destroy all the slugs in your garden, but you will certainly significantly reduce their appetite and fertility.

The main thing is not to create a moist atmosphere for slugs that they love. To this end, the beds should be watered in the morning, and when the slugs crawl out of the shelter in the evening, the soil will be dry and hard.

In Germany and Switzerland, oilseed rape crops are severely affected by slugs. In one Swiss laboratory, researchers came up with an idea to distract slugs from rapeseed. It turned out that they are happy to eat dandelion, shepherd's purse, wood lice, cruciferous (with the exception of mustard). The experiments were carried out in laboratory conditions. During the first two days, the slugs ate almost all the plants offered to them, but then they switched to the most attractive food for them - rapeseed ... We use rapeseed as a green manure. Why not try using it as a distracting plant, by sowing, for example, on cabbage? The difficulty lies in the fact that slugs eat rapeseed seedlings as soon as they unfold a couple of leaves. Outsmarting the slugs is not easy. Maybe grow rapeseed somewhere inaccessible to slugs, collect young shoots there, put them in vessels with water and place them on a cabbage bed. Just scattering rapeseed on the ground is probably not enough.

Lettuce can be used instead of rapeseed to save cabbage. It is sown early in spring under a film, while the slugs have not yet left their shelters, and in mid-late May, lettuce seedlings are planted with cabbage seedlings. Slugs will happily feed on the more tender lettuce...

It is important to remember that if... Thickened plantings also create favorable conditions for the life of slugs. Under a dense canopy of leaves, they feel at ease - the hot rays of the sun do not penetrate there and a warm, humid atmosphere reigns there. On more sparse plantings, the soil between plants warms up and dries out - these are not the same conditions.

If you have a lot of slugs in some area by the autumn, then, naturally, they laid their eggs in the soil for wintering. It is easy to see this if you stir up the top layer of the earth, with the naked eye you can see there heaps of milky-white translucent balls with a diameter of 1-2 mm. Before the onset of frost, until the snow has fallen, you should turn over the entire earth in this area with a rake so that the eggs, and at the same time young wintering slugs, are on the surface. Then there is a chance that some part of them will die from frost.

Sometimes desperate gardeners are ready to water their land with anything to destroy the slugs hiding in it. But at the same time, one should not forget that the soil is also a living natural formation, and before you are going to poison the slugs, think about whether you will poison it too.

Dry and hard soil will spoil the slugs mood and appetite. In general, it is advisable to water not from a watering can, but under the root or through a root dug into the ground with its neck down plastic bottle with a cut off bottom so that the top layer of soil remains dry.

The beds on which the plants most beloved by slugs - cabbage and lettuce - are planted, should not be covered with mulch. Mulch is a great hiding place for slugs, weather protection, and food. If the slugs are very annoying, then it is better to completely remove it from the garden. This measure is especially important on cold and wet soils. And you can apply such an insidious method - use dry and caustic material for mulching: wood waste, spruce needles, straw. Good result yields crushed eggshells.

Various caustic substances can also be used as an obstacle to slugs, which are poured in a strip around the beds or in a ring around the base of the stem (at a distance of at least 10 cm) or between rows. These can be mustard powder, freshly slaked finely ground lime (200-250 g per 10 sq. M), finely ground ferrous sulfate powder (100 g per sq. M), a mixture of ash and bleach 1: 1 (200-250 g per 10 sq. m). Tobacco dust sprinkled around the plants, or even on the plants themselves, protects them from damage. There is evidence that slugs do not tolerate copper compounds. If a thick rope or a strip of dense fabric is wetted in a solution blue vitriol, it will become an insurmountable obstacle.

A good result is also given by a mechanical anti-snail barrier, following the example of those used by foreign gardeners. There it is sold ready-made, but you can make it yourself. This is a fence type of a metal corner, the upper edge of which hangs from the outside ...

Who else will help us. On gardeners' estates, as a rule, there are hedges that play the role of mini-reserves. Many birds, animals and insects live there, among which there are many enemies of slugs. These are hedgehogs, shrews, moles, toads, lizards, ground beetles.

They hunt slugs and birds. For example, rooks, thrushes, starlings. If you do not use pesticides and take care to attract these animals and birds to your site, they will help to cope with such unpleasant enemies of your beds as slugs.

N. Zhirmunskaya , candidate of biological sciences

(Novelties for the Garden No. 1, 2005)

Slugs and their fight

Of the terrestrial mollusks, naked slugs cause the main damage to garden plants. Their shell is underdeveloped (hidden by the mantle) or absent altogether. There are two pairs of tentacles on the head, the upper ones with eyes. The head smoothly passes into the trunk and leg. The skin is soft, moist, mucous. In the front part of the body there is a leg gland that secretes a quickly hardening sticky mucus that protects the delicate skin of the mollusk from drying out, overheating, damage, and predator attacks. On the same mucus they move. The presence of slugs on the site is easily detected precisely by the presence of its residues on the soil and plants. They breathe with a lung - a special section of the mantle, supplied with numerous blood vessels. Hermaphrodites, each individual has both male and female reproductive organs. They are very moisture-loving, live and breed only in low and damp places, shady and dense plantings, near forests and bushes. Dry places are avoided. They thrive especially in wet years. With the onset of adverse conditions, they crawl into more wet places. During drought, they are able to hide in the soil, sometimes at a depth of up to 1 m.

They feed mainly in the evening and at night, in the morning they hide in the soil, under leaves and other shelters. But on cloudy days rainy weather can eat during the day. They are illegible in food, they eat a variety of plants, but prefer more tender and juicy ones. Therefore, garden crops suffer in the first place. Potatoes, beets, carrots, rutabaga, both tops, and root crops and tubers are most harmful, not only in the soil, but also in storage. Cabbage, which is gnawed during the day, is especially badly damaged, hiding in heads of cabbage. They eat holes in strawberries. Onions, garlic, cucumbers, peas, lettuce, turnips, beans: buckwheat, sorrel, flax, and other crops are somewhat less damaged. From ornamental plants they eat calendula (marigold), nasturtium, dahlias, asters and cloves.

On the leaves of plants, slugs gnaw through large holes with uneven edges, and on root crops they eat holes and stripes. They also eat flowers, buds, young shoots, roots. Their attack is especially detrimental to seedlings and seedlings. Of the weeds, burdock, dandelion, plantain, cruciferous are primarily eaten; less often sow thistle, wheatgrass, nettle, tartar. They also feed on decaying plant and animal remains, fungi, and lichens.

Although slugs are polyphagous, their different species still prefer different cultivated plants. So field and arable primarily harm field crops and strawberries, agile - cereals, reticulated - field, garden, garden and berry crops, a large slug - damages vegetable plants and fruits, brown and arion - garden and garden plants, bordered - field and garden. The greatest damage to agricultural crops is usually caused by arable, net, agile and bordered slugs.

Slugs lay their eggs in the ground. From them, young individuals are hatched, outwardly very similar to adults. In plowed and reticulated slugs, only eggs hibernate, from which juveniles are hatched at the end of May. And in the fringed, yellowish and agile one, wintering is mainly carried out by young individuals born in August - September, and partially by adults.

The fight against slugs is quite difficult. They are poisonous, so wild birds they are eaten only by rooks, jackdaws and starlings, and from domestic ones - chickens and ducks. But the latter at the same time can greatly damage the vegetables growing on the beds. by the majority predatory insects are not eaten, except for ground beetles. Partially eaten by moles, shrews, hedgehogs, lizards. But the first ones are pests themselves, and they are being fought, and the rest of the animals in the plots are found sporadically, or completely absent. They are partly eaten by frogs, but they still prefer insects, and they are usually located in the areas as a "passage", that is, temporarily. Toad slugs are most diligently destroyed.

Slugs are not afraid of chemicals, or the concentration of the latter must be very high, which is not harmless to humans, animals, beneficial insects, and the plants themselves.

Passive control measures - drainage of sites, creation of diversion ditches for water. Thinning and clarification of garden and horticultural crops (care). Weeding weeds, especially in early summer, since slugs on cultivated plants pass from them. Cleaning up dead plant residues.

ACTIVE CONTROL MEASURES

Capture and destruction of slugs on baits from pumpkin, watermelon and other vegetable peels and peelings, specially laid out or lightly buried in places convenient for this.

Catching on artificially laid out shelters, under which slugs hide for a day (from below) - pieces of polyethylene, linoleum, boards, etc. objects. During the day, they are picked up, turned over and cleaned off the slugs in soapy water.

Trapping in buried vessels with beer poured to the bottom, into which they gather, attracted by the smell, and drown.

Pollination of beds with slaked lime - 30 g per 1 m2, or its mixture with tobacco dust (1: 1) - 20 g per 1 m2.

Pollination of beds with mustard powder.

Spraying between rows with a solution of mustard - 100 g per 10 liters of water.

Processing is best done in the evening, and catching - in the morning or afternoon. All of the above methods of dealing with slugs help reduce their number on the site, but they do not fundamentally solve the problem.

The main enemies of slugs, as already mentioned, are toads. Take care and protect the toads! by the most in an efficient way Slug control is an attraction, or rather, simply picking up in the vicinity and bringing toads to the site. You can just in the hands. It won't cause any warts. It's a myth, just a fantasy. And in vain many people (especially women) are afraid of these animals. Yes, indeed, they are ugly and poisonous, but this poisonousness is passive. You shouldn't eat them... Otherwise, they are completely harmless, you can safely take them in your hands. True, before eating, the latter should still be washed afterwards.

Toads can live quite far from water in summer. Their skin, unlike frogs (in order to know exactly who was brought), is dry and covered with warts and outgrowths containing, as already mentioned, a poisonous secret. The hind legs are much shorter than those of frogs, so the toads move from paw to paw, very slowly. They jump very rarely, and for a very short distance, no more than 20 cm, and only frightened by something.

These are very useful creatures, and since they themselves move slowly, they are forced to feed on inactive creatures. First of all, slugs, also caterpillars crawling on the ground and lower leaves of plants (mostly harmful), as well as earthworms. In the latter case, they are slightly harmful, but the benefits from them are much greater. They hunt at night, and in the morning they hide in some kind of shelter, usually the same thing. Therefore, in order to reduce the number of slugs to a harmless amount, you should collect all the toads you meet in the vicinity at the beginning of summer and take them to your site. And in order not to run away, dig shallow holes for each in shady places not used for planting (one digging with a shovel is enough) with a gentle entrance. Half cover them with planks, bricks, etc. to make a shelter. And put in each one of the collected toads. The latter should be at least 10-15 pieces. to medium garden plot(10-12 acres). And preferably more. Since, unlike frogs, toads move slowly, they live in the presence of shelter settled, in one place. Then, eating at night, if they do not allow to get rid of the slugs completely, then at least they will maintain their number at an almost harmless level. This way of dealing with slugs will be absolutely environmentally friendly. However, this method also has one serious drawback, in April - May, all toads from your site will inevitably go to the nearest suitable reservoir for breeding and will not return back. Therefore, in early June, the toads will have to be collected again and so every year.

V. Starostin , Ph.D. Sciences

To discourage slugs

Slugs and snails are common garden pests. On hot and dry days, these gastropods hide in the dark, damp and cool corners of the garden. They crawl out to hunt in the garden and vegetable garden at night, along with dew, and also in rainy weather during the day. Pests gnaw on leaves garden plants, leave their sticky mucus on them and spoil the ripened crop.

Slugs are gastropods without outer shell. Their body is covered with soft skin with numerous glands that abundantly secrete mucus. The wide lower part of the body serves as their “leg”, with the help of which they move slowly.

Every year in early June, slugs begin to cause significant damage to seedlings of vegetables and flower crops, strawberries, etc.

Then they move on to cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage. Even without observing sticky mollusks with our own eyes, we can easily guess their presence by characteristic irregularly shaped holes in the most tender and juicy parts of the leaves, especially cabbage and strawberries. At the same time, first of all, they damage the largest berries and eat the most tender leaves.

They are especially dangerous for young plants. But the harm from slugs is aggravated by the fact that they are carriers of fungal plant diseases, and primarily bacteriosis.

Slugs cause the greatest harm in the second half of summer, in wet years, mainly in lowland areas, on loamy and clay soil, on thickened crops, where the soil does not warm up enough.

In nature, slugs have a lot of enemies (frogs, toads, lizards, ground beetles, etc.), but gardeners ruthlessly exterminated this living creature on their plots. Slugs are hedgehogs' favorite food. But try to remember when you saw this most dedicated defender in your area.

Slugs are ubiquitous and multiply rapidly in rainy summers. In the spring, the female lays up to 500 eggs, and the young that emerge from them after two weeks eat everything.

In summer, they do not bypass the thickets of grass, where you can hide well from the sun's harmful rays. They feed at night, damaging not only the aerial part, but also the underground part of the plant. During the day, they hide under lumps of soil, under the leaves of plants, between the leaves of a head of cabbage. Their appearance is known by the traces left - silvery drying mucus.

Since it is quite difficult to deal with the invasion of slugs, it is easier to prevent it after all. First of all, it is necessary to create conditions unfavorable for pests and deprive them of their daytime shelter. This means that all excess boards and stones, heaps of weeded weeds must be removed from the site, the grass on paths and borders must be mowed, and especially wet areas must be dried.

When planting plants, try not to plant them too tightly. It is very important to periodically cut off the lower leaves of lettuce and cabbage, as well as loosen the soil, since mollusks can hide in cracks in the ground.

Together with the harvest, one must not forget to remove all plant debris from the site, including fallen leaves under the trees. Thus, you will deprive the slugs of shelter and food for the winter. Grass should also not be allowed to accumulate in nearby ditches and damp places.

Mechanical means of control involve the collection of pests by hand, as well as the installation of traps for them. It is most convenient to collect snails and slugs with tweezers.

Since pests prefer dark and damp places during the day, appropriate traps are prepared for them. For example, cabbage leaves, burlap, rags or boards moistened with fruit juice or beer are laid between the beds and on the paths. During the day, pests will crawl into traps, and in the evening they will only have to be collected. This should be done 5-6 days in a row.

In addition, such traps can also be organized - shallow containers are dug in at ground level, filled with strong saline or soapy water, and covered with burlap. Upon contact with soapy or salty liquid, the slugs die.

It is even better to use the most delicious food for slugs - lettuce leaves, large branches of dill, melon peels, fallen dahlia flowers, etc. Attracted by the smell, slugs will gather near them at night, and in the morning they can only be collected.

And this is news to many. A significant effect is the use of the desire of slugs to "eat" beer. Often in the periodical press advice is given to pour some beer into low jars and arrange it overnight on the site.

But it is much more effective to put fresh burdock leaves in a bowl of old beer for a short time, and spread them over the beds closer to night. By morning, all these leaves will be covered with slugs.

Effective double pollination of plants (especially cabbage) with an interval of 15 days with a mixture of tobacco dust and sifted wood ash, taken in equal proportions.

And after a hot sunny day, it is necessary to periodically sprinkle (or rather, pollinate) the soil around plants and paths with ash, crushed superphosphate, ground pepper, etc. with immediate loosening of the soil to a depth of 3-5 cm, since it is at this depth that pests hide during the day.

A mixture of sifted wood ash (0.5 liters) is best suited for this purpose, table salt(1 tablespoon), any ground pepper (1 tablespoon) and dry mustard (1 tablespoon).

This should be done late in the evening, when the slugs went “hunting”. After about an hour, this treatment is desirable to repeat. Crawling to rest after a night robbery, in contact with these substances, the slugs are burned, damaging the skin. On the same day in the evening, it is necessary to pollinate again with the same mixture through a gauze bag, but not the ground, but the plants themselves.

Effectively in the evening spray with a solution of vinegar those plants on the leaves of which appeared big holes(0.25 cups of 9% vinegar per 10 liters of water). The same effect is given by a solution of ammonia (2 tablespoons per 10 liters of water).

In the presence of a large number of slugs in the potato area in the fall, it is necessary to loosen the soil twice here, because. at the same time, both adults and their eggs die.

The fact that garden snails and slugs have very soft bodies can also be used against them. To do this, it is enough to scatter dry porous material near the plants - crushed eggshells, shells or fine gravel. Since such a surface is unpleasant for mollusks, they are unlikely to get close to plants.

By the way, in this regard, pests really do not like lime and superphosphate, since these substances absorb mucus and moisture from their bodies, complicating movement. However, it should be noted that in rainy weather, the effectiveness of such a tool is reduced.

It is useful to mulch the beds with finely chopped spruce or pine needles (spruce branches) or simply lay out small spruce branches. In addition, coniferous needles can be scattered on the lower leaves of cabbage. Dried nettles have the same effect.

And a completely impenetrable barrier for slugs is a strip of coarse-grained river sand or crushed eggshells with sharp edges along the beds.

And, of course, if necessary, use modern facilities protection of plants from slugs and snails - granules "Meta" and "Thunderstorm".

But they should not be scattered over the entire area, as is often recommended, because. it is a very strong poison. It is enough to put 3-4 granules of the drug around each stem. They will blur into a common spot, deadly for slugs. But you can use this drug no later than 3 weeks before harvesting.

And if slugs are wound up in a cellar or a vegetable store, then the places of their accumulation are watered with a solution of table salt at the rate of 250 g of salt per 1 glass of water.

And, perhaps, the most important thing. In no case should we forget that it is necessary to fight slugs constantly, because. they will still appear on your site from time to time.

V. A. Loiko

Slugs belong to the order - gastropods, there are many varieties of them. The most common species are field slug, net slug, and sometimes you can meet the blue slug.

The mollusk has a symmetrical, elongated, slightly elongated body. Can change shape due to muscle contractions. Like all representatives of the gastropods, the body of the slug has three sections: the head, legs and visceral mass.

If you look closely, you can clearly see the annular groove that separates the leg and body of the slug. The head is equipped with tentacles, they are responsible for smell and touch, leathery folds around the mouth.

An interesting fact: the mollusk has only one jaw, and the teeth are located on the tongue, their number is several thousand, and they work like a grater.

What does it breathe with

He breathes in an unusual way, the air passes into the lung through a hole in the back. It is located behind the head, in the form of an oblong shield, the role of which is to cover the lung (mantle cavity), equipped with a rather dense network of blood vessels.

Below the mantle is a thin, almost transparent plate (a rudimentary shell), which was left to the slugs as a memory from their ancestors from ancient times.

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What do they eat

Slugs cause tangible harm agriculture, since for food they can serve quite a variety of food. Cucumbers grown in the field, cabbage, strawberries, beets, melons and wheat are the first to suffer. Also, slugs are frequent guests in the greenhouse, here they feast on tender sprouts of seedlings of vegetables and flowers, and in the cellars they also eat root crops.

Slug varieties

Giant blue slug sometimes also called the "Carpathian slug", it got its name due to the limited area in which it can be found. Lives in deciduous and coniferous forests Carpathian Mountains on the territory of such countries as: Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic and Ukraine.

The intense blue color of the slug depends on the diet. IN natural environment feeds on blue russula. Such a feature, for an experienced mushroom picker, serves as a guide to find a clearing with russula.

It lives under a layer of foliage, the litter of dead moist bark serves as an excellent home.

After the slug lays its eggs (beginning of autumn), it dies. After overwintering, young individuals emerge from the eggs in spring. Comfortable conditions for them: air temperature from +18 to +22, and soil moisture 20-30%.

Therefore, decorative breeding at home for the blue slug is unacceptable.

field slug has a color from whitish to brown, the body is spindle-shaped (from 4 to 6 cm). Sometimes in nature inhabitant of wet meadows, valleys and forest edges. But a great appetite can bring him closer to a person: a garden, a vegetable garden, cultivated fields.

It eats: leaves, juicy young stems, fruits of wild and cultivated plants, especially loves strawberries.

reticulated slug can be identified by its characteristic color: the brown body is decorated with many white and black spots, has dark tentacles, its body length is from 2.5 to 3.5 cm. Habitats are very extensive: they hide among fallen leaves, in the upper layer of loose soil, under shrubs or thickets of moss. More often you can find slugs not one by one, but in whole groups. It is believed that such cohabitation can protect the mollusks from detrimental drying out. The mass accumulation of slugs in a certain area creates a special humid microclimate.

Living in the garden, it often eats cabbage, eating huge holes in the outer leaves, getting to the very head of cabbage. With favorable weather conditions, can cause significant damage to winter seedlings.

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You will be interested - all existing ways to deal with slugs