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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be pissed off I am being outwitted by a slug/snail?

92 replies

GingerWrath · 28/09/2011 20:10

We have lived in this house for three years. Most mornings I have come down to a lovely silvery trail in my kitchen that has sometimes ventured onto the hall carpet. This morning it was all over my oven mitt and up DD's brand new winter coat, hanging in the hallway!

I have searched high and low for this little blighter, pulled appliances out and I CAN'T BLOODY FIND IT. It's driving me doolally!

AIBU?

OP posts:

Original poster

GingerWrath · 28/09/2011 20:41

I think my worst nightmare is they'll find their way upstairs.

OP posts:

fatlazymummy · 28/09/2011 20:44

Lager doesn't work apparently.Only bitter. you can also add yeast to it as they love that. Also make sure you don't leave any dog/catfood lying around as that is a magnet for them.

Original poster

GingerWrath · 28/09/2011 20:46

I have yeast, lager with added yeast I will try. Maybe they are trying to visit our giant African land snails?

OP posts:

Egg · 28/09/2011 20:50

Ugh we had a plague of them for 3 years until we moved house to the other side of the road! I used to put salt down each night which helped but when babies started crawling it wasnt practical having to Hoover every morning before they could be allowed to roam. My sister once slept downstairs on sofa and woke in middle of night to find one next to her head. They never ever came upstairs though, thankfully.

noblegiraffe · 28/09/2011 20:51

Can recommend Tiger beer in an old margarine tub.

Original poster

GingerWrath · 28/09/2011 20:55

Next to her head?!

Going to see how I go with the cheap lager/yeast concoction tonight. Will post a body count (hopefully).

OP posts:

TastyMuffins · 28/09/2011 21:20

I have had this problem a couple of times, they disappered after the house was renovate but came back again a couple of years later. I found the best thing was leaving the lights off and then checking the room carefully an hour or two later. Great big huge slimey ones. Salt outside the house helped too.

Mandy2003 · 28/09/2011 21:37

What I don't get is the broken trail business: what do they do, spend half the night cartwheeling around the floor??

Joolyjoolyjoo · 28/09/2011 21:45

Another slug sufferer here. They come into my back-kitchen bit where the fridge and freezer are. I hate them! I have taken to leaving the light on in there (they don't seem to like it) or doing raids at midnight, shovelling them up and flinging them up the drive. I'm sure my neighbours think I am nuts (especially as I'm usually also muttering "You are NOT wanted here. this is MY house! Get!" at the same time as the slug flinging) But I can't sleep knowing they are sliming around the base of my fridge- bleurgh.

Lynzjam · 28/09/2011 21:46

I'm really enjoying this thread

I shall check back in the morning to see how the lager trap got on.

Sorry I've nothing to suggest. I just get the occasional wormy thing and wood louse in the hallway!

fatlazymummy · 28/09/2011 22:01

mandy they double back on their own trail, that's why it appears broken.

Tiggles · 28/09/2011 22:16

The house we have lived in for the last 3 years seems to have permanent slugs. Put out about 6-8 of the blighters every couple of weeks.

Now slightly concerned about looking inside the kettle - will it be full of scalded slugs

peterpan99 · 28/09/2011 22:22

ah the wiley blighter!
It'll take a stealth mission at night to catch it, then take it far far away, and it wont come back
(just like to point out the far far away isnt a euphemism for death)

SpaghettiTwirlerAndProud · 29/09/2011 07:07

Any joy this morning?

Original poster

GingerWrath · 29/09/2011 07:18

Nope, NADA. Just a lovely silvery trail round the skirting board!

OP posts:

VeryLittleGravitas · 29/09/2011 08:19

Don't waste good beer on the slugs, cheapo nasty economy stuff works just as well. Slugs prefer bitter to lager but will happily drink both.

Original poster

GingerWrath · 29/09/2011 08:22

Well they didn't like Tesco value stuff, picky little buggers.

OP posts:

Parasaurolophus · 29/09/2011 08:26

In our last house I would find them at night when I woke up with the kids. I would kill them all, and the next night there would be an entirely different family. One night would be thin brown ones, then fat black ones the next night, and then the reddish ones the following night.

I finally left salt around the doors that faced the garden and they stopped coming in. DH complained about the salt - but it wasn't him killing slug families at 2am. It is very hard to fall back asleep after that.

Shodan · 29/09/2011 08:35

Is it just me or are the slugs particularly large this year? I saw one on my fence yesterday that was a good 5 inches long.

TakeThisOneHereForAStart · 29/09/2011 08:37

I think I read the same book OP

We had four slugs in our kitchen once, got the two big ones within one night, but the two smaller ones were made from pure sneaky evil and they outwitted me for weeks.

Eventually I got them both, the smallest one was the worst offender and the hardest to kill, with a combination of salt and floor cleaner.

I put a big salt line right across the kitchen and checked which half the trails were on the next morning, salt around the edges of the kitchen, in every gap and crack in the skirting board and found the evil little git lurking in a tiny hole in the back door step. He was doused with a pile of salt and from then on we were slug free.

Original poster

GingerWrath · 29/09/2011 08:41

I think the book was Shaun Hutson! Killer Slugs

OP posts:

MurunBuchstansangur · 29/09/2011 08:43

I feel sick.

TakeThisOneHereForAStart · 29/09/2011 08:47

That was it. Picture of a man screaming in agony and a giant slug slithering out of his mouth on the cover.

My Nana recommended it to me. She thought it was brilliant. I had to chuck it out halfway through because the cover alone made me feel ill.

StopRainingPlease · 29/09/2011 08:51

How do you know whether it's the same ones coming in? Do you recognise your slugs?

DontCallMeFrothyDragon · 29/09/2011 09:03

Another slug sufferer here. :( Been trying to catch the blighters for a while, but will try the salt trick. Absolutely hate the things.

Never had a flying/jumping/cartwheeling slug, mind...

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