The rains seem to have caused my black motorcycle cover to be inhabited by what look like slimy slugs of some kind. They don't seem to bother other motorcycles either with or without a cover but there are always 2-3 on mine when I pick up the bike (I don't use it much). They seem to be eating away at the surface plastic as shown by white patches and they leave a kind of brown crispy residue probably faeces around. They are easily brushed off but seem to return. They don't move much or very slowly. They are flat, brownish grey and moist. I looked up on Google Lens but it comes up with only Mantis religious ootheca, but those would be rather static and my things seem to have some motion like curling when disturbed. See pic for any ideas. They are about 5 or 6 cm long.

I stand ready to be corrected but are they leeches ?

Common garden slug.

.

 

Looks like a leach to me....

 

Stick one on your arm and take a nap.

Tropical Leatherleaf (Laevicaulis alte sensu lato, tak nang.

5 hours ago, HeijoshinCool said:

.

 

Looks like a leach to me....

 

Stick one on your arm and take a nap.

I thought of leeches but no idea why they like my rain cover and why so abundant in a condo garden. Horrible thought. Just searched them and yes they must be leeches ughhhh!

Edited September 27, 20214 yr by Card

9 minutes ago, Card said:

I thought of leeches but no idea why they like my rain cover and why so abundant in a condo garden. Horrible thought. Just searched them and yes they must be leeches ughhhh!

Definitely not leeches.  This thing has tenticles/eye stalks on its head.

It is a slug - a Tropical Leatherleaf - as Pitufikken has already said.

58 minutes ago, G Rex said:

Definitely not leeches.  This thing has tenticles/eye stalks on its head.

It is a slug - a Tropical Leatherleaf - as Pitufikken has already said.

Thank you for backing me up. They are harmless but a good stepping on them, just pick them up and put them where you have your compost. ????????

"harmless but not good stepping  on them."

that is what it was supposed to say.

sorry I was to quick to send.

.

Guess I need glasses....

 

I didn't see any eyestalks.

12 hours ago, HeijoshinCool said:

.

 

Looks like a leach to me....

 

Stick one on your arm and take a nap.

Or makes a decent beer snack - roasted, grilled or deep fried.

Homeless snail.

11 hours ago, HeijoshinCool said:

.

Guess I need glasses....

 

I didn't see any eyestalks.

 

32 minutes ago, rwill said:

 

Very observant. Thanks to everyone for solving this mystery. I must say, though they do look a lot like leeches. I have gone from confusion, through disgust (I had visions of one crawling up my shorts as I tootled along on my bike) to final enlightenment.  Still can't figure why they like my bike cover so much as to inhabit and scrape at it, but that's slugs for you, hey? 

 

What did it taste like?

1 minute ago, Mutt Daeng said:

Thank you @pitufikken. I've seen a lot of these lately and like some others, thought it was a leech.

 

You shouldn't have bought that bike. It's too sluggish.

As others have said, they are a kind of slug. They are eating lichen and algae off your bike or its cover.

 

If you sprinkle table salt around, they will not go near it - even one grain is anathema to them. If you sprinkle it on them, they suffer a spectacularly unpleasant and messy death!

Edited September 28, 20214 yr by Grusa
spellcheck

Are they crunchy when you chew them?

Salt kills them. I have also heard that sprinkling crushed egg shell around deters them.

 

Maybe make sure your motorcycle cover is not touching the ground so they can't climb up.

 

Easy to make a beer trap, which will kill them. Can Google for that.

2 hours ago, phetphet said:

 

Easy to make a beer trap, which will kill them. Can Google for that.

A beer trap?  

Would probably catch me too..

On 9/27/2021 at 2:52 PM, pitufikken said:

"harmless but not good stepping  on them."

that is what it was supposed to say.

sorry I was to quick to send.

There is an edit function whenever you need it. It's in the dropdown menu when you hit the ... at the upper right of your post. 

On 9/27/2021 at 1:45 PM, G Rex said:

This thing has tenticles/eye stalks on its head.

Yes, just a bit hard to see against the dark background.

 

31 minutes ago, LawrenceN said:

There is an edit function whenever you need it. It's in the dropdown menu when you hit the ... at the upper right of your post. 

Thank you for telling me, you learn something every day.

It was not the first time I made a typo.

4 hours ago, LawrenceN said:

There is an edit function whenever you need it. It's in the dropdown menu when you hit the ... at the upper right of your post. 

But only works for a certain amount of time. Maybe a few minutes I think. I don't think you can go back an hour later and edit. Maybe a Moderator can confirm time allowed.

On 9/27/2021 at 8:20 AM, realfunster said:

I stand ready to be corrected but are they leeches ?

Yup.

 

Cute lil critters.

My wife said "tak".

 

Or slug in English.

Snail without a shell.

 

It emits a slime to glide.  Hence the dried patches of slime.

 

Harmless but gross.

 

 

it is an alien demanding from you to take it to your leader,

 Your inability to understand it's language which is not phonetic but patterns in slime which is how most sentient species communicate, has probably caused an intergalactic incident.

I hope you are happy with yourself.  

I am 100% sure it IS a slimy thing, you were talking about the PM weren't you ? 

On 9/27/2021 at 7:45 AM, G Rex said:

Definitely not leeches.  This thing has tenticles/eye stalks on its head.

It is a slug - a Tropical Leatherleaf - as Pitufikken has already said.

yes - but...this is a leech......