Rust Slugs

"Give a man some food, and he'll eat for a day. Give a pest some food, and you've made a loooong problem for yourself."

Arion abstergo, commonly known as Rust Slugs, are a type of air-breathing slug that has a specific diet for iron, either the mineral or the metal. While in some cases they have been found to clean carrion that wasn't already stripped, they mainly go after the metal itself, eating away at rust particles from oxidized iron veins or by feasting on bits of iron-rich soil between water intake. This is possible by a unique chemical within the creatures stomach that breaks down rust and derives iron from it. This chemical is excreted when they're feasting, stripping the rust away from the clean iron, but that same chemical causes more rust in turn, making more food for the little pests.
This is increasinly a problem in the modern day as international travel expands the apperance zone of the creatures, as well as metal just being more widely used than ever from factories to automotive plants to vehicles themselves. If you're not careful, one un-cared for gear can turn into a whole infestation of the creatures.

---

---

Basic Information

Anatomy

Rust Slugs are relatively stout and short compared to other slugs, with a smooth rounded body with a rough layer of mucus over its back. It's "head" has three antennae and it has a sucker-like mouth with rounded saw-like microteeth.

Genetics and Reproduction

Like all slugs they are genetic hermaphrodites via interlocking genitals, although due to this nature some are capable of self fertilization as well. Rust Slugs during a breeding season can lay several hundred eggs. Gestation usually takes about two months and happens during warmer seasons.

Growth Rate & Stages

Rust Slugs grow quickly from their egg state, reaching reproductive age in a manner of months. This serves it well, since colder months kill them off in large swaths, so growing and reproducing quickly is important, as well as finding a warm place to hide for winter.

Ecology and Habitats

Rust Slugs work best in a humid, temperate environment where there's plenty of competitive animal life or iron-rich land. They feed off of iron content, and prefer the mineral/metal itself to the bodily mineral. They've become a larger pest in modern cities, snacking away at metal linings and inventions.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Rust Slugs feed mostly off of water and iron content, with clutches gathering at sources for either. In nature this leads to them being found at rivers or lakes commonly, but in mountainous or urban locations you can find them hunting after metal, with some iron refineries having to deal with full blown infestations of the shell-less mollusks. The chemical they secrete does seperate rust from clean metal, allowing them to snack at a rusted layer without harming the metal underneath, but that self-same secretion when exposed to air too long makes metal rust at a much higher speed. While that's great for the Rust Slugs, it's not so great for, say, the driver who doesn't know his Automobiles undercarriage is being eaten away.

Behaviour

Rust Slugs are timid creatures, hiding away in secluded and ideally warm alcoves when not looking for their primary foods. They tend not to cling together in the wilderness, instead spreading out to avoid mass attacks, but in more urban settings where there are less obvious places to hide they tend to group together more. Urban Rust Slug clutches also tend to hide their eggs under or within rusted machinery, hiding their offspring away and giving them a wealth of food to begin their life with.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

A careful and planned mind can use the slugs to help clean off rust from metal devices, as they secrete a chemical while feeding that seperates rust from non-rusted metal. However to do this one must carefully clean behind the Rust Slug and not let too many go to town, as that same secretion when exposed to air for long enough speeds up the process of rusting and does so in a volatile way that bores through metal more than it looks on the outside.
Some have tried to harvest this chemical specifically from the slug, but it is currently unknown what in the body induces it.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Mostly found in Boncly, Agartha, and Hippolyta naturally but due to urbanization and international travel they're found in metal-reliant cities all around Edda but not as commonly.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Alongside the typical sensory skills possessed by simple slugs, Rust Slugs seem to have an increased sense of smell for iron and metal, allowing them to travel and breed near iron-rich soils even when they aren't excavated and towards other metal objects.

Civilization and Culture

History

Rust Slugs used to be considered the same as Hippolytan slugs, a similar species with similar feeding habits, until 989 EE when Dr. Aubrielle Keyes, a travelling Limacologist, happened to notice their slime trail in the city of Paris. When she investigated further, being given a tour of one of the cities factories, she found a whole clutch of them with brighter orange coloration feeding on the rusted metal of damaged machinery.
After notifying her colleauges and spending some time in research, they were able to determine the differences between the slugs and the chemical secretion that really set Rust slugs apart, getting them classified as their own creature as well as advising the local companies in what to look out for and how to properly dispose of their machinery to avoid Rust slug infestation. Since then they've been spotted elsewhere, most likely aided by international trade and travel, as well as people noticing that the slugs gathered in iron-rich areas outside of their usual habitats.

Scientific Name

Arion abstergo

Lifespan

1 to 3 years

Average Height

1 to 2 inches

Average Length

Around 5 Inches

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Rust Slugs are commonly brown with more saturated orange backs and antennae. Some of them are orange to begin with, or hatch a more yellow color, but as they eat more rusted iron they grow that bronze/orange/brown complexion anyways.

Discovered by

Dr. Aubrielle Keyes