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Archive for October 26, 2012

Snail and Slug Eggs

Snails and slugs are very similar, except for a slug’s lack of a shell.  Both are hermaphroditic, possessing male and female reproductive organs.  In some species an individual may behave as a male for a while, then as a female. In a few species, self-fertilization occurs. Some species mate and lay eggs in the spring, some in the fall. Most snails and slugs that hatch in the spring can begin egg laying in the fall. The eggs of both snails and slugs are tiny, white or cream-colored, round and laid in roughly one-inch diameter clusters of 30 or so eggs. Look for these clusters under rotting logs, where they are protected from drying out as well as from freezing.  (Remember to place the log back exactly as you found it.)