A Pet Slug: The Best Pets For Depression and Anxiety
If you struggle with depression or anxiety pets can be overwhelming. Actually, they’re overwhelming without depression and anxiety.
They’re expensive, time consuming, and take our energy. If you have kids, a job, or are going to school, you have enough things to do.
So I’m going to elaborate on a super low maintenance pet & cover some of the most common questions about having a pet slug.
Find a Pet Slug Home
First you’ll need to put the slug somewhere. You can use an aquarium and it doesn’t need to be very big.
You will want a lid since slugs will crawl right out of there. You could use a board and drill holes in it.
Just be mindful that a pet slug can squeeze through some pretty small holes.
A mesh covering that’s secured around the edges is perfect for pet slugs.
Put Things in the Pet Slug Home
Look around where you found the slug, they’re likely not far from the habitat they prefer.
Use dirt, leaves, and grass.
You should clean out the container and replace all of the soil and leaves about once a week.
As far as other things in the container that you want to keep longer; rinse with water and put them back in.
You don’t need any bleach, or harsh chemicals; just plain distilled water works great.
Put the Pet Slug Home Somewhere
Slugs are gooey and they like it that way!
Keep their environment humid. You can even put a humidifier right by their tank to make sure they’re nice and moist.
As far as temperature; room temperature works just fine (65º F or 18º C).
Feed Your Pet Slug
Most plants will do. You can even use plants you come across outside in their tank.
Fruits and vegetables are also perfect for slugs (more vegetables than fruit). Just rinse with distilled water before placing in the tank.
Take the fruit or vegetables out after about a day. Slugs can even eat dead animals or other slugs, but I doubt you want a dead animal in your house.
What do banana slugs eat?
They eat what most other slugs eat! Plants, fruit, vegetables, stems, and even fungus.
What do leopard slugs eat?
Again, they eat what most other slugs eat. Plants, fruit, vegetables, stems, and even fungus. Don’t forget the dead animals too.
That’s about all there is to having a pet slug.
If you’re going to have multiple slugs for the sake of getting offspring here is some information about slug mating.
Slug Mating
Slug mating is pretty interesting.
Slugs are hermaphrodites, having both male and female parts. They use pheromones to tip off other slugs that they’re ready to get it on.
A pair of slugs will wrap up together, extend their male parts (from their head) and coil them together.
They fertilize each other by swapping sperm back and forth. If you’re wondering if they can fertilize themselves, they can!
They will lay eggs that will usually hatch into tiny pale slugs within a month or two.
Banana and leopard slugs are popular pet slugs & they mate the same way; A slimy swapping sperm coil until they decide they’re done.
Occasionally they do bite each others penis off.. it’s called apophallation.
If you’re wondering about eating slugs, here are some things to know.
Eating Slugs
Are slugs edible?
Yes, slugs themselves are edible.
But, it is worth noting that they do eat dead animals and other things that we don’t digest well.
Sometimes they even carry some pretty serious diseases like rat lung worm so if you are going to eat a slug, I’d suggest serving it well done.
Slugs are interesting, cheap, and pretty low maintenance!
Plus, you don’t have to worry about them eating the couch when you go to work.
Here are more posts related to pets and mental health:
The 10 Best Small Pets For Anxiety
10 Supplements to Improve Your Mental Health
Best Medication for Panic Attacks & Anxiety
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