SLUGS

[wintertimeisfun]

last few weeks come downstairs to see one or lots of slug trails in the front room & always in the same spot. dh and i have turned the room upside down but can't find the critters. i have found three, by chance and not at the same time, slithering up the wall (i hate put them outside with a spoon). i have bought this slug catcher thing that you put beer in but the thought of drowning them and having to empty the bastard makes me feel sick so have not done it. Someone else suggested putting half a grapefruit in the front room. we have a cat so i don't want to put down any poisons plus poisons would really hurt them...i would prefer them to die drunk & happy :0) anyone else had this problem

[Finola1step]

An watching this thread with interest. Had a few slugs in over the past few months. Came down this morning and the mat by the back door has been slug slimed. Worst I've ever seen. Like as if the slug got in from under the door, had a good old nosey around the mat and then got stuck in the middle. Just sliming around in circles. The dirty fecker.

[DingbatsFur]

Salt.

[FunkyFucker]

Salt around the corners of the floor...

[harticus]

Salt is a horrible way for them to die - they instantly dehydrate.
Beer is the best way - they get pissed and drown.

[WorraLiberty]

You may not like the thought of drowning them but believe me, they breed like rabbits so you're best to do it before you're overwhelmed.

I kept finding them on my kitchen floor, so had to put salt everywhere.

[bearleftmonkeyright]

Putting them outside will not make a jot of difference. You need salt in all your nooks and crannies. Worra is right. They breed really quick. I kept trying to put them outaise and it just got worse and worse before I succumbed to salt.

[bearleftmonkeyright]

I actually trod on one in my bare feet. That tipped me over the edge.

[SoftKittyWarmKitty]

I used to get loads in my kitchen - big, fat, ugly fuckers. The landlord put slug pellets behind the appliances and it hasn't been as bad but we still get a few. We also get them at the bottom of the stairs and in the living room. The other week I was watching TV and went to pick my handbag up off the floor in the living room and there was a juicy slug right next to it. No idea where it came from, it's almost like one minute it wasn't there and then it was, like the Tardis. I pick them up with some cardboard from the recycling pile and chuck them outside. Grim.

[wigornian]

Cam down one morning int he dark - trod on one in the kitchen - bare feet. It burst! I shudder now to recall it.

Lights on first now!

[wintertimeisfun]

i will try the beer thing before salt. how does salt work? do they eat it and then disappear to die? don't like the idea of that. we have floorboards so possibly they are coming up from underneath. they leave weird trails. the trail starts and stops ie in the middle of the room almost as if it flew in, had a snoop then flew off :-D i guess it only secretes slime when ie 'excited' as opposed to the whole time it moves around. creepy little suckers. i haven't trodden on one yet but am counting the days. i go to work some mornings in the middle of the night and as they love the dark i am aware when running downstairs for the loo that it may well happen, either that or trip over the bloody cat

[ScarerStratton]

I trod on a massive one last night, and it burst. Isn't it difficult to get the slime off.

There was one in a kitchen cupboard the other day, artfully draped over my flour sifter. I hate them, I've now made a salt ring round the edge of the kitchen, the room is old and damp, and due for renovation soon. I'm pretty sure they're getting in via an air brick, but I can't get to it until the units are ripped out.

Hate the slimey little fuckers.

[plentyofsoap]

I had them in my student house years ago, but only in the living room. It was if they just magically appeared, no trace of how they arrived. Sorry I have no answers but I hate them and I go all funny when I go near them. Happy to deal with dead people at work though, slugs never.

[wintertimeisfun]

wigor that is bloody disgusting, bad enough accidentally treading on a snail and hearing the crunch (i like snails so always upsetting) but that, really foul

[wintertimeisfun]

plenty do you work in a morgue? old people's home, hospital....just being nosey. i've never seen a dead person

[harticus]

With salt all of the moisture passes out of the skin by instant osmosis which is why they go all frothy and die in front of your eyes.

Seriously - drown them in yoghurt pots of beer - at least they go happy and you just have to chuck out the pots with the dead slugs in them.

[hallowisitmeyourelookingfor]

I have the trails sometimes by the front door and at the bottom of the stairs. Have no idea how they slide in, creepy fuckers, but I do a line of salt about once a week in the problem areas and it keeps the trails at bay. I have never found any dead ones though. They are a slimy mystery.

[TunipTheUnconquerable]

Slugs mean damp so if possible deal with the damp problem. (We have an intractable damp problem and an intractable slug problem at one end of our house )

Finding their way in and blocking it with tape can help. They go really thin and can get through tiny cracks, it's disgusting.

They are looking for food so not eating in the living room helps. (We haven't managed that, sadly.)

Don't be sentimental about not wanting to hurt them, honestly. They are little slimy bastards. Beer traps have never worked for me but salt and slug pellets do.

[wintertimeisfun]

thanks for all your tips. i don't feel so alone with the problem now, i thought it was just bad luck.

[elfycat]

We have slugs in the utility room which is where we keep the fridge so we have a nightly battle with them. I have trodden on them in bare feet (ick). We have a beer trap but they prefer the cat food... so I hurl them out each night and hope the gravel deters them a little.

I second the concept that dead human bodies are nicer than slugs. I have never shuddered at handling bodies (nurse here if you wonder how many dead-body-handlers there are on MN)

[wintertimeisfun]

has anyone used slug pellets indoors and has a cat? just wondering if they are ok with pegs. oddly enough the only place i have seen their trails is on the rug where our feet go (where we eat) as we are slobs and like to sit in the lounge and watch tv/eat our supper (rebelling from my days living at home, my parents would never let me do it..). i have started to hoover there pretty much every day ie no peas/veg' for them to nibble, buggers still come though

[wintertimeisfun]

ah, we have a cat and yet i have not noticed any evidence of any slugs tucking into her food. i wish she would eat the bastards

[5madthings]

we have a slug problem in our dining room. they do.indeed come up from under the floorboards, they can flatten themselves and fit through tiny tiny gaps.

the only thing that stops them.is putting salt down all the gaps in the floorboards.


everynow and then i forget and i come down to an invasion, if i feel nice i scoop them up with a dustpan and brush and throw them outside...if i have stood on one barefoot in the dark or i have the rage as they have slimed all over the floor or clean washing etc then i salt that bastards.

[5madthings]

btw toads eat slugs. for a while we had a resident toad in our garden...the slugs vanished!

[TunipTheUnconquerable]

The slug pellets I used to use were v poisonous to pets, children etc (which is why I can't use them now as youngest dc is 4).

[plentyofsoap]

Winter can't say job wise as may out myself, but like elfy dead people are far nicer to deal with than slugs. Nothing to be scared of, slugs though....