What Happens If You Put Salt On A Slug
Camila Farah
If enough salt is poured on the snail it will die of dehydration fairly quickly.
When you pour salt on a snail or slug the water is very rapidly pulled out of the cells of the snail s body by a process called osmosis. The largest organ in their body is their skin. When you put salt on the skin of a slug osmosis means that the water held inside the slugs body is dragged out because in basic terms there has to be a balance between the amount of water. If you ve ever poured salt over an unlucky gastropod you ve probably watched aghast as they bubble appear to melt and eventually shrivel up and die.
The salt causes water to leave their bodies and they shrivel up fast of course i ve also seen postings about shriveling screaming shrieking oozing etc so we may be talking more of wicked witch type of thing here lol. Subsequently question is why do slugs dissolve in salt. Salt kills slugs and snails pretty rapidly. Rather than by a complex chemical reaction salt acts as a snail and slug s kryptonite by dehydrating its slimy exterior.
Humans can handle salt without the same thing happening because our skin. Gardeners know that one way to rid themselves of lettuce eating snails and slugs is to sprinkle them with salt. I would compare pouring salt on a slug as being in some ways similar to a banned abortion method where salt was injected into the womb and a fetus would die from lung damage from inhalation and having it s skin burned off by the salt. Salt essentially draws the water out of their skin an osmosis effect and they die within minutes of dehydration says dr gordon port senior lecturer at newcastle university.
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If you use enough salt the slug will lose so much water that it dehydrates dies and winds up looking pretty shriveled.Source : pinterest.com