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Comment by codedokode | Hacker News Reader

Small snails look cute but 8-inch snail sounds a bit scary. Also how do they avoid being eaten by predators if they are slow and vulnerable?

Also I recently saw small slugs which were crawling on the sidewalk along with worms who get to the surface after rain. I wonder what those slugs were planning to do given its middle of October and temperature is merely 10°C (50F)?

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Some things eat them like opossum and foxes, but the snails spread bad parasites so animals might learn to avoid them.

They can fertilize themselves so you only need one. And they lay 1600 or so eggs a year in batches of around 200.

They are breeding machines.

"but 8-inch snail sounds a bit scary"

Avoid Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.

I've lived in Seattle for 12 years and have never seen a slug here let alone a large one. I have seen those sidewalk worms after the rain, though

Long time Vancouver, BC resident. My pre-school daughter would fill a pocket with 5 inch banana slugs. Delightful to discover later in the house.

You should see a lot of slugs if you go into the forest. They are out there!

Banana slugs are long but not particularly large. Also, you only rarely see them in cities

> Also how do they avoid being eaten by predators if they are slow and vulnerable?

They mostly don’t. They just breed fast enough to compensate.

These giant snails are actually also really cute

> Also how do they avoid being eaten by predators if they are slow and vulnerable?

That's why they evolved shells.

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