Largest slug ever

This slug was so large that when I showed my daughter the picture, she thought it was a snake…

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You must be getting a lot of rain, we don’t see these guys until spring usually unless we go out to Olympic Rain Forrest. There the
Banana slugs easily got to about 6-8”

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I get them larger than that on a regular basis. Delicious when cooked with butter and garlic.

Kidding- but how different could they taste than snails? I used to have only slugs on my land but now have very pretty but petite (compared to west coast versions) snails- I believe they came here in a load of woodchips. Recently it appears they may have somehow interbred with my smaller slugs and I now have slugs with a slight shell. If something similar happens between my snails and banana slugs it might be interesting.

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One of the few good ones. Limax maximus - Wikipedia

Probably the same. I read once that fancy restaurants serving “escargot” save the shells and reuse, cycling in fresh slugs. With all that garlic, who’d ever know? Probably urban legend but worth a try for the adventurous.

Make sure not to go for slugushi that is, slug sushi. This may give you a parasitic infection, because slugs any snails are often infected by a nematode that normally causes lung infection in rats.

In other words make sure you cook them really well.

A meningitis-causing nematode, Angiostrongylus cantonensis , which normally infests the lungs of rats, has a larval stage which can only live in molluscs, including slugs. This nematode was once known to be a problem only in tropical areas, but it has since spread to other regions. Live slugs that are accidentally eaten with improperly cleaned vegetables, such as lettuce, or slugs which have been improperly cooked, can act as vectors for the parasite.[25][26]

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Thanks. That explains why all the snails I’ve ever eaten had the texture of rubber.

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we have a spotted grey slug here but its very small . our big ones are yellow/ tan and about 3in. at the biggest. they do alot of damage in a wet year here. they have a bitter excretion in their mucous that birds wont even eat them. if you touch them its hard to get the mucous off your hands. nasty buggers.

It is listed as a major agricultural pest by the Institute of Food and Agricultural Science Florida.

A meningitis-causing nematode, Angiostrongylus cantonensis

Hmm…doesn’t sound like it meets my definition of a “good one”. But it did meet the bottom of my shoe. :slight_smile:

I think I prefer to hybridize fruit…

Yup, more than I’d like the last few weeks, including 2 big storms. .

Good comments in this thread. I just posted it because I thought it was a bit grotesque and new to me, but it was interesting to see some of the info about them.

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