Winter is Banana Slug Season in Santa Cruz County

How to Find the Banana Slug in Santa Cruz Redwood Forests

Fall and winter are banana slug seasons in Santa Cruz County. Santa Cruz County is known for its redwood forests which are homes to a species of mollusk known as the "banana slug." Banana slugs are large, yellow ground slugs that inhabit the floors of the redwood forests in and around Santa Cruz County. Like all slugs, banana slugs thrive in a moist environment, which means that the onset of the rainy season in Santa Cruz is the best time to go for a redwood forest hike and to go banana slug spotting.

Also present in Santa Cruz's redwood forests are bay trees, which drop elongated yellow leaves in the fall. These yellow bay leaves are similar in appearance to banana slugs, and it is probable that the presence of these yellow bay leaves played a strong role in the evolution of the distinctive appearance of the banana slug. Because the banana slugs will tend to blend in with the bay leaves covering the forest floor, banana slugs can be very difficult to spot. In a bed of yellow bay leaves, the human eye will tend to glaze over the banana slugs, thinking that a banana slug is just another bay leaf. As such, it is crucial that you proceed slowly and cautiously when searching for banana slugs. If you search too quickly, you may possibly miss the banana slugs altogether or may even injure or kill them if you trample upon them accidentally.

Since banana slugs will tend to emerge from hiding when the weather is moistest, a mildly rainy day is the perfect weather in which to go searching for banana slugs. You will need good weatherproof hiking boots as well as a rain poncho to stay dry, but these efforts will be well rewarded with the discovery of many banana slugs as you hike through the forest floor. On a very good day of banana slugging you can see tens or hundreds of banana slugs, depending on how carefully you look and how long you spend looking.