# Why do slugs climb? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 26, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-slugs-climb/590415 "2011-07-26T19:11:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-slugs-climb/590415/1 "2011-07-26T19:11:22Z")
My girlfriend’s house has a smooth wall out the back. Sometimes there is a procession of slugs slowly climbing up the wall. They are all in a line (I assume that they are all following the trail left by the first one) and they are going up two storeys. What the fuck are they doing? Escaping ground water? Migrating? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-slugs-climb/590415/2 "2011-07-27T02:43:47Z")
The [great gray slug](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_gray_slug) climbs in order to suspend itself from a thread of mucus so that it can mate. (And by the way, its mating habits are well worth reading about. I bet you don’t know what “apophallation” means, do you?) Your slugs probably aren’t totally aware what they’re climbing up. They’ve just got to climb, man! ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-slugs-climb/590415/3 "2011-07-27T02:52:42Z")
> [@Sal\_Ammoniac](#): > > TAnd by the way, its mating habits are well worth reading about. Do yourself a favour, [watch it](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhVi4Z6CjZk). Truly bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-slugs-climb/590415/4 "2011-07-27T02:53:56Z")
> [@Sal\_Ammoniac](#): > > (And by the way, its mating habits are well worth reading about. I bet you don’t know what “apophallation” means, do you?) My wife loves her invertebrates. I once followed her down the rabbit hole of slugs, snails, and liver flukes. Never again. If Satan were capable of creating new life, he’d bypass these as, really, they are truly too gross for polite people. CS Lewis showed us that even the Prince of Darkness has some standards. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-slugs-climb/590415/5 "2011-07-27T02:55:44Z")
Perhaps they want to get high? Just a thought. When we lived in Japan on the 5th floor of an apartment building we often found tiny frogs on the balcony and outside walls. 5 floors! that’s a hell of a climb for a frog. Maybe they would have climbed higher, but ours was the top floor. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-slugs-climb/590415/6 "2011-07-27T03:21:05Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Do yourself a favour, [watch it](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhVi4Z6CjZk). Truly bizarre. You said it. That has got to be the weirdest mating ritual I’ve seen. The male organs at the neck are completely unexpected. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-slugs-climb/590415/7 "2011-07-27T04:16:15Z")
I always found [banana slugs](http://takingoff.org/wp-content/gallery/lucas/banana_slug_2.jpg) to be quite appealing. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-slugs-climb/590415/8 "2011-07-27T11:01:19Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > Perhaps they want to get high? Just a thought. > When we lived in Japan on the 5th floor of an apartment building we often found tiny frogs on the balcony and outside walls. 5 floors! that’s a hell of a climb for a frog. Maybe they would have climbed higher, but ours was the top floor. There are ants at the top of the Empire State Building. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-slugs-climb/590415/9 "2011-07-27T11:05:25Z")
[Cole Porter] Slugs do it, snails do it, Even educated whales do it. [/Cole Porter] ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-slugs-climb/590415/10 "2011-07-27T11:27:26Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Do yourself a favour, [watch it](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhVi4Z6CjZk). Truly bizarre. I just spent 4 minutes watching banana slug porn … and it involves essentially tentacles :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-slugs-climb/590415/11 "2011-07-27T11:30:49Z")
No word of a lie, I was halfway through eating a banana when I opened this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-slugs-climb/590415/12 "2011-07-27T11:48:28Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Do yourself a favour, [watch it](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhVi4Z6CjZk). Truly bizarre. Mind = blown. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-slugs-climb/590415/13 "2011-07-27T13:22:31Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > If Satan were capable of creating new life, he’d bypass these as, really, they are truly too gross for polite people. This is my favorite post, ever. (And I, too, fearlessly, shamlessly love invertebrates. But slugs and all the other slimies: blurgh) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-slugs-climb/590415/14 "2011-07-27T16:29:34Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Why do slugs climb? Because it’s there. .