OMG!! I would have died on the spot.........gross. What did you do?? As I am very squeamish about insects too, I dont even want to start to research that. I get grossed out by looking at mealies on the net, oh I just feel queasy.....lol.

Good luck, I will be watching this one to see what it was......one question...how round was it, like a pencil, smaller??

Yuck and Good luck....lol.

Tracy

Tracy, it WAS gross..what I did was shovel it up w/broom and dustpan, then toss in the yard..I didnt want to kill it, it was too big..yuck..
It was thicker than a pecil..maybe as large as 3-4 pencils..lol..and it looked gooey..plus left that residue in back..a trail of this stuff..also gooey looking..
I'd love to know how it got in my back room..it's not on the ground floor so it couldnt have crawled up the stairs..yuck..I'm thinking it hitchhiked a ride w/one of the new plants..I feel blessed it wasn't in soil while repotting..I'd have had a heart attack..LOL..Toni

That is even worse, that is like a monster bug, I would not have been able to go near it, so good for you....lol. I found 5 millipedes, the size of an average size worm the other night in my var.rubber tree, and I threw a fit, made dh take it right out of the house.....you dont even want to know what I did to the poor guy, but the darn things better be gone....lol.

I still shudder at the thought of what you had crawling around.....really I do.

Tracy

Geez Toni,

Gross! almost sounds like a huge slug! They have a slimy trail behind them and a little hump on their back at times. Not sure any around here are as big as you said though 6"-8"??? Wish you had a picture! Sound yucky though!

Whatever it was, I would have picked it up (with a small piece of newspaper) and placed him near a nice shady rock, lol.
Any critter, no matter what it is, if it gets into the house I'll catch it, usually with an upside down glass and piece of paper to slide under the opening. Bees, moths, spiders, unknowns. The cat brought in a baby mouse last week and let it go! Caught that too, took a while though, lol.

Once I saw a snake in the cellar! Hate to have had that sleeping in one of pots! How it got in the cellar is beyond me.
A bucket and a big piece of cardboard sure makes a good snake catcher, just don't let it get me, or I'll run just a screaming.

Billy Rae

Bug from another planet..Oh Lord, I HATE millipedes/centipedes, whichever are called thousand-leggers..I'll kill those b******** w/dh's shoe..LOL..they're too fast to sweep up and I'm not concerned whether it's wrong or right..Instant Karmas gonna get you..LOL. Some are as long as my hand and ALL those legs..to be honest, I'd rather see the bug from another planet than a thousand-legger..as long as neither are on me..
Well, back outside..I'm digging soil..then would like to get some plants outside..hope it doesn't rain tomorrow..sooo much to do..little time to do it..Toni

LOL, Billy Rae,
Could it be a slug? I thought slugs were round, but never saw one..
OMG, you take out mice, spiders and SNAKES..??? That'd mouse would be history..lol, so would the spiders..Weren't you scared of the snake? Can you ID poisonous vs non? Do u know its type? I wouldn't know a poisonous snake from a non poisonous. To be honest, I don't know what I'd do if a snake got in my house..probably call 911..LOL..
You are one brave girl..Toni

That does sound like a slug, but gosh I don't envy you - that is so disturbing!

I was repotting the other day and two Earwigs crawled out of my baby yucca - they were sleeping in the curled up parts of the young leaves.

I didn't know what they were at the time, but I looked them up in my houseplant book, and there was no mistaking those huge hooks on their rear ends. Ugh...I still shudder to think. Although the book did say they were excellent Aphid killers.

Slugs are like slimy short worms with short antennas and move very slow. they won't bite you, but they will slime you! Lol.
Sometimes when it's been raining out, my cat or dog will have one catching a piggy-back on their fur when they come in. Time for the jar!
I like to think I'm giving the trapped creators that get in a second chance, lol.

I don't know a thing about snakes but the snake in the cellar I know was just a common Gardner Snake and they aren't poisonous thank goodness. I know you would have been screaming if you were here watching me dancing around trying to get that darn thing trapped under the bucket!

Ok, getting chills on that one, lol

Billy Rae

Pep, it was quite disturbing, especially since I can't ID..still wondering if it's some type of weird plant bug..I'm going to look up slugs on Wikipedia..maybe they'll show pics...do slugs eat plants? Does anyone know?
Pep, I don't know if earwigs are beneficial or not..while browsing through a plant book, they listed earwigs as pests mentioning they eat roots.
Yesterday, while taking plants out of gh to set outside, I was lifting rocks I keep atop soil to help keep warmer in winter..while lifting rocks on one citrus, there were hundreds of earwigs..Yuck..don't know where they came from or how they found this plant..So, I hurriedly placed plant in direct sun, knowing they dislike bright areas and look for dark places to hide..

Billy, do you know what the slime is? Is it slug poop? LOL..
How do slugs get on your pets, or do kitty and doggie capture them? Mom, look what I brought you..lol

Yes, I'd have freaked out watching you tangle that snake, gardner or not..when we used to go camping, we saw some huge gardners..and I mean 4'..Dh said they were gardners and I believed him, but wonder if he really knew..

BTW, I do not go out of my way to kill bugs/rodents..if they're in my house that's one thing, but I never bother one outside. I enjoy lightening bugs, butterflys, and ladybugs..Toni

The slime helps keep them moist and it helps them to move better. It also helps one slug find another by way of slime trail, sniff, sniff, for mating, and best of all, they are both male and female.

The dog, or cat will accidentally pick them up in their fur if they brush up against one, say off of a plant, or from the grass at night.

Yes, they do eat plants, but not all plants. They LOVE hosta's for sure! if you ever see a hosta almost shredded, holes in the leaves, or lots of pieces missing, SNAILS! They can easily eat hosta's and other favorites down to the nub!

Billy Rae

Sometimes in the spring you might think you've lost your hosta (or other things too--they love brugs!) but then you look closer and they have, as Billy Rae said, 'eaten it down to the nub.' If you catch 'em in time and put some D.E. on 'em they'll come back fine (just read that plain cat litter works too, and I know the several iron phosphate baits that won't hurt your kids and pets and turn into fertilizer work great too. Slug-go and Escar-go fr'instance. Doncha love those names?) One time when I was a kid, back in western Washington state where the slugs are big and everywhere, I watched a garter snake eat one. Since then I've considered snakes friends, tho' that may be a little scary here where they have several kinds of very poisonous snakes. But the snakes are afraid of us and do their best to avoid us, and then go back to eating slugs and mice and rats. I like snakes! Not slugs, tho' and I kill them and snails with no hesitation. Try not to kill anything I know is helpful, but I tend to be less forgiving in the house.

Slugs and snails* are also alleged to be the natural pollinators of Aspidistra flowers, though I don't know if this is just a guess based on the placement of the flowers, or if people have actually seen them do it.

This possibly explains why, when I bought an Aspidistra a week or two ago, it was accompanied by two slugs, down inside the plastic pot where I couldn't see them and didn't find them until I went to repot. The Aspidistra in question didn't have flowers, though, so maybe they were early. Or late. I suppose it's difficult to be on-time when you're a slug: no place to put a watch.

*(no word on puppy dog tails.**)

**(I know, the rhyme is SNIPS and snails and puppy dog tails. So sue me for re-imagining the rhyme.)

Banana slugs can get to about a foot long. Some are yellow, some are brown, others any color in between. It sounds like you had a slug. The first time I saw a banana slug was in a Japanese garden in San Francisco. Santa Cruz has a banana slug as their mascot.

Here is a link that might be useful: banana slug pics

Billy, after looking at several pictures, I'm beginning to think it was a slug..gross things that they are..still would like to know where it came from..that creature couldn't have fit in any plants I've recently received, since most were 4" pots.
Yes, they are male and female until apophallation strikes..removal of the male part..Oops, lol
Can you imagine how many human women would? forget it..LOL
The pics I saw of slugs all looked fairly big..I work in the garden and have never seen anything that looked like that creature..I remember tomato caterpillars when I was a kid..they were common in our neighborhood..green, long..guess they hunted tomato plants..

Green, slugs enjoy Brugs? Amazing..and they're so toxic..What type of snake at the slug? Was it a poisonous type of snake? You said snakes are afraid of us..all types of snakes?

Sub, lol..no place for a watch..snips and snales and puppy dogs tails..
How big were the slugs you saw? What color? And which state did your Aspidistra come from?

Mentha, the problem is, the creature I saw was transparent color..Wow, the one pic of the banana slug really looks like a banana..weird..Can definatly see where it gots its name..LOL..

Anyway, I'm 99% it was a slug..I don't know if it'll live in my zone, but it's on its own now, so wherever it ends up, good luck, slug..as long as it doesn't get back in my house..lol...Toni

I put most of my plants outside for the summer and Im dreading the bugs i will find when I bring them in for the fall.

I hear soaking the soil will force the creepy crawlies up for air, but then what will i do? I cant stand to look at them.

Toni,

Slugs hide under rocks and things during the day if it's warm, they survive wherever it's cool and damp, otherwise they will dry up.Raccoons will roll them in dirt first, (like you would bread fish) before eating them to avoid the slime, lol, gross! Try stepping on one in your bare feet, that's NOT fun!Takes forever to get the slime off!

The slug you had on the carpet might have come in by way of pot, pet, or your clothes! If it rains and you go outside, better ck your britches before coming back inside!

Billy Rae

Spiritual, I have the same problem every autumn. I HATE spiders..especially, those big, black, thick-legged things..oh God, I'd rather deal w slugs..lol..
I run hose through the soil, it's true bugs rise..then I hurriedly aim the hose so spider falls off the edge..It's a job, but I don't want spiders inside, and every yr they sneak in..a few plants had webbing everywhere, and it wasn't mites..no sireebob..They are regular spiders. Some succulents are a lot of fun chasing spiders like Haworthias where spiders hide under leaves..and no matter what u do they run on the other side of the pot..maybe it's not a good idea bringing plants out..LOL

Billy Rae, in all the yrs we've lived here, I've truly never seen a slug..or anything that looked like the critter in the back room. Oh goodness, those raccoons are smart..lol..who wants to eat slime? I can imagine stepping on one, all gooey and slimey..thank goodness I rarely if ever walk around bare-foot.
It could have come in w/Sam, but the thing is, he never goes in the back room..in fact, it'd be a feat for him squeezing his 172lb body between the table and fridge. Do these critters hang on plants? How would they get on my clothes? I can't sit on grass outside, hmm. Any pots sitting outside are washed w/hose before coming in..so I'm thinking the only other option is it came in w/my last order of plants..so reassuring..lol..Well, thanks guys..now I wish I had taken a pic..if I knew they were slow I would have, but thought the thing would chase me around the house..LOL..Toni

I have had a couple brought in the house by way of shoe (top of) or jeans. If a slug is in the moist grass, or on plant or a bush and you rub up against any of them, the slug will stick! They ate ALL the leaves off my only two Columbine plants, grrrr, all that was left was flowers!

Maybe Sam shook it off, like after a bath and the slug went flying, lol.
I watched a slug hanging by a long string of it's own slime (like a spider going somewhere) almost halfway up the siding of the house, it was lowering itself down to the ground (slow) before it became too warm I guess, crawling would have taken too long to get to a safe place before it got to warm. I'm not a bug freak or anything, but I thought that was pretty smart, lol.

Billy Rae

Billy, so slugs eat plants..oh boy..
Sam gets bathed outside..then rinsed w/a hose..so I really don't think he brought it in...Then again, my dh takes him to the woods nightly, so maybe he carried it home from the woods..but I'm still wondering how it got in the back plant room..
Well, I'm 99.9% sure it was a slug now that everyone's been so helpful.
This yr we had so many cicadas in and out..I will not kill a cicada even though I fear them..actually, feel sorry for the poor bugs..what type of life is that???
So, when one got inside, which was almost nightly, I swept it up w/the broom and dustpan, (that broom and dustpan are multi purpose, lol) I carefully carried them outside..those I couldn't find that hid behind plants would die that night..don't think they can live indoors.
But they're bad news too..at least 5 perrenials are dead this summer, and I'm almost posititve they killed them. Including an 8 yr old white-flowered butterfly bush..one of my fav perrenials..gone..we finally dug it up..ah bugs..I love them..lol
Billy, you should write a bug book..LOL..How do they produce slime to hang by? Do u know? It is made similar to the webb of a spider? Toni

Toni, I do think it was a slug. We have a lot of hostas mulched with pine nuggets, nd they eat holes in them every year despite my use of Sluggo. I've NEVER had one in the house, though. Actually, in all my years of houseplants, I've only had one outdoor bug incident where they came from a potted houseplant that summered outside. My big ficus tree hatched out a huge ant colony in my dining room one February. YUCK! I didn't put plants out at all for years after that, but I've kinda gotten over it now.

Water, yeah, I think it's a slug, too..trasparent in color but a slug..
You wonder why/how ants attract themselves to a certain plant, then decide to move in like a they're renting an appartment..LOL..How did you rid them? Did you use an insecticide or something else?
Ironically, the other day I was taking plants outside and noticed my desert rose had a ton of ants..I immediately checked for scale/aphids, but didn't see any..The odd thing is the plant was sitting on a shelf w/other plants, yet no other plant has ants..I wonder why they selected this one plant..a second desert rose sits next to the first..I've never dwelt w/ants before, Water, so if you have a solution can you please help me out? Thanks, Toni

Well I am certainly happy I wasn't visiting you! LOL
The vision of that thing is enough to make you run the other way. Slugs do like damp places.

I was watering my outside plants, this thing jumped at me, and here it was a little frog, with suction cup feet, that could really jump. Would you believe it was in a hanging basket.

One never knows what lurks in our plants.