Thursday 10 April 2008

Killing slugs with coffee

Normally, we only see slugs in the kitchen well after lights out, but the end of daylight savings must have confused this slug, because it was wandering around the kitchen floor at 7pm.



Photographing slugs is an art form in itself. It is a difficult, complicated and technical process. I am sure that if I visit the local library and look for books on slug photography, there will be shelves full of books describing how to position and light slugs, F-stops to use, shutter speeds, filters and all the rest.

If anyone can tell me the best way to pose a slug, I'd be grateful.

As per my recently posted slug killing instructions, I made up a cup of instant coffee and spread the coffee mix around the slug. Slug got black coffee only - no latte or soy decaf for him. No sugar either. Just plain black coffee dolloped around him. Slug seemed to sniff at the coffee, and then made a break for the high ground.



I was waiting for slugo to touch the coffee and then burst into flames, explode or maybe turn inside out, but he showed no signs of wanting to immolate or go to Allah. He just kept on slime-ing right the way cross my sea of coffee.



So I poured a teaspoon of coffee over his head. Again, he didn't burst into flames or anything interesting - he just vigorously shook his head and kept on slugging away towards the kitchen floor.



It was at that point that the experiment was terminated by me tossing slug into the rubbish bin.

Never fear - there are plenty more experimental subjects where he came from, and I don't think I have to worry about any invertebrate rights groups breaking into my house to set all my slugs free.

No comments: