How to Care for Slugs

Most people would love to have a pet that does not require a lot of care. One such pet you can choose to have, however uncommon, is a pet slug. Slugs are relatively easy to care for. They don't need walks, don't eat lots of food and don't keep you up by barking during the night.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Give your slug a home. Place it inside an aquarium with a well-ventilated top, such as a screen. Keep the temperature between 50 and 70 degrees. Slugs thrive in cooler temperatures and do not like it hot.
2. Line the bottom of the aquarium with damp soil or shredded bark. Some pet shops sell a substrate designed specifically for pet snails and slugs.
3. Decorate the aquarium however you'd like. You could use rocks, twigs, pieces of bark and other natural items. Include something that the slug can crawl under and hide.
4. Mist the inside walls of the aquarium, the substrate and the decorative items to keep them moist and humid. Slugs can die in dry environments.
5. Feed your slug vegetables or leaves. You can place food on a flat rock or inside a small, shallow dish. Add calcium to the slug's diet by placing a cuttlebone inside the tank or sprinkling food with a calcium powder.
6. Clean the slug's home regularly. Discard and replace the substrate once per week and remove uneaten food daily.

Tips & Warnings

• Keeping a slug is very similar to keep snails, as they are very much alike (a snail is not much more than a slug with a shell).
• Add some moss to the slug's aquarium to help keep it damp.
• Do not place a shallow dish of water in the aquarium. You give the slugs all the water they need simply by keeping everything moist.
• Do not use a mist bottle that has had chemical cleaners in it. It is best to buy a new water bottle to be used only for misting your slug's aquarium.
• Do not feed your slug vegetables and plants not thoroughly washed. Most vegetables have likely been sprayed with chemicals designed to kill slugs and other insects.
• Do not put too many slugs into one aquarium. Overcrowding can lead to illness or even death.