Good News

Earlier today (technically yesterday now), I was preparing to write a post about the departure of the slugs due to the cold weather, for on Thursday I checked their usual daytime hideaways and all the slugs were gone! I had been expecting it, but I was still disappointed, because I've grown so fond of the slimy little creatures. They were not appearing at night either; one or two may venture out into the freezing, blustery  darkness, but that was all, and they'd stay on the ground too. But today was wonderfully warm, reaching the high sixties or low seventies, and so when I made my rounds of the backyard I found that Hotel Slug was occupied by a single resident (whereas the previous day all the holes had been empty), and there was another slug under a flower pot. Elated, I went out that night to investigate, and lo and behold, the slugs had crawled out of their hideaways and were munching on leaves and even mating! Nevertheless, I still froze out there and consequently I had to cut my "slugging" session short, but I did get some photos of a mating couple with a characteristic I hadn't seen before, and I enjoyed seeing the others crawling around too. The weather's still too cold for them to climb the walls of the shed or go up onto the porch; that would just require too much energy and they've got to conserve; but at least they're active again. I think perhaps they were very hungry because most hadn't eaten last night.

I'll keep you all posted (no pun intended) on the situation as I monitor it in the coming days. We're supposed to have some warm weather for at least a few more days, so hopefully the slugs will stick around a little longer. I have yet to determine whether the majority will hibernate or die. Some will die, naturally, but the strong, healthy ones might burrow somewhere and wait out the winter. I think this behavior is dependent on the species. What does Lehmannia valentiana do? I'm not sure how to find out short of crawling under the house or overturning every single brick, pot, and stepping stone. I suppose all I can do is track the slugs as long as possible and then trust that I'll see them again (the same or a new generation) in the spring. But it would be nice to be able to make a (visual) note of what this particular species does during the winter...