You would be surprised. When I was an undergraduate, I had a job in a neurophysiology lab working on Hermissenda crassicornis, a nudibranch sea slug. I spent two years dissecting out the little creatures’ central nervous system (while alive) and recording action potentials from their photoreceptors.
Your statement about the slug’s nervous system made me chuckle. A few neurophysiologists have spent their entire lives trying to understand it!
As a native of the PNW I abhor slugs. Fortunately in Alaska, we don’t get the giant slugs. Unfortunately in Alaska, we have billions of small slugs. Considering the time effort and money I put into our short growing season, I have no compunction against dispatching them with alacrity. Depending on what is at hand, I will either salt them or snip them in half with my special slug dispatching scissors.
I will salt slugs in the garden without worry, as I live on a Rock in the Gulf, and rain is pretty much a daily occurance.
Considering the vast amount of greenery around, if they would just leave my delphiniums alone, and refrain from hiding in the “socket” of the salmonberries, I would live and let live. However, the suckers have the ability to mow down an established delphinium (big perennial) in a single short Northern night, and they make berry picking/snacking an adventure, so I will continue my all out war on slugs as long as I am able.
If you find yourself slimed, use a dry cleansing powder (Comet, Ajax, Bon Ami) and rub briskly, brush off the crumbly stuff…no more slime. Using water simply makes the slime, um, slimier.
Every Time I’ve done it with the slugs I’ve found, they just kind sorta implode. They pull in – to nothing. No puddle, no slime, no moucous. Then again, I guess I may have over salted the thing.
I’m still baffled about how it just goes to nothing. NOTHING!! I mean I thought matter could not be created nor destroyed. Did I mention it goes to NOTHING??
Ahem: For good, simple slug control, mix 1/2 household vinegar and 1/2 water in a spritz bottle. The slightest amount sprayed on a slug causes instant writhing, followed quickly by the melting death. Much more convenient than salt, and not damaging to garden plants. Keep the spritz bottle filled and handy to where the slug problem is, and spritz 'em to your heart’s content.
