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AIBU?

To think it's not normal to have slugs in the kitchen and I'm not making a fuss about nothing?

76 replies

lecce · 20/04/2013 21:28

Came down this morning to see a fairly big one on the kitchen floor . Surely no one wants to see this, right? I have a phobia of them anyway. I avoid saying the word (it made me cringe to type it just now and I can't look at it now I have.) I avoid walking past them if I can and cannot imagine ever touching one.

Our last house (we moved 2 months ago) had them coming into the kitchen . I thought it was because it was Victorian, rather than modern. It was the one and only thing I hated about the house and used to make me scream each time it happened (every now and then).

Dh has always been unsympathetic . He knows about my phobia and the first time one came into our last house I absolutely screamed the house down. It was my worst nightmare - one of those things in my home. I had never had it happen before and was totally unprepared. Dh came running downstairs but, when he saw the problem, was dismissive. That is how he has always been. He will get rid of it but always makes a comment (snappy or sarcastic, depending on his mood). If one came in while he was out, I would have to pour a heap of salt on it and then leave it. That would also provoke a comment 9 times out of 10.

This morning, when I saw that this is happening in this house too, I got very upset and tearful. Dh said sarcastically in a fake teary voice, "Oh, I wish we hadn't moved here, it's ruined. Oh no!" Then told me I needed to forget about it.

AIBU to be upset that they get in and to be even more upset with dh's reaction?

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ilikemysleep · 20/04/2013 22:07

We get them (Edwardian house) in the dining room and occasionally the kitchen, mainly in Spring and Autumn. We have no cellars and I think that contributes, they come up through the tiny holes around the radiator pipes. They also, believe it or not, squash themselves completely flat and get in under our patio doors. I console myself with the knowledge that if we have to have pests, they are not a bad one to have - carry no diseases and are easy to remove. I pick them up in kitchen roll and put them in the bin - I can't actually kill them, especially if they are babies, as most are.

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GreenPeppercorn · 20/04/2013 22:07

Oh and I think you can get a tape from DIY shops, I think it is copper or aluminium? Not sure, but I think it can prevent them.

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CaffeDoppio · 20/04/2013 22:10

I tried that Green. It doesn't work. I knew it wouldn't before I parted up with the fiver to buy the bastard stuff! Seriously - food is what they want. Give them food. Problem solved.

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WorraLiberty · 20/04/2013 22:10

Try to work out where they're coming from/breeding.

We had them last year for the first time ever and it turned out, they were coming from behind the unit under the sink...as it must have been damp.

We chucked a couple of slug pellets behind it, and so far so good.

As for your phobia, anyone who screams/cries/shakes about slugs, spiders or any other creature...really needs to take control of themselves and get the phobia seen to.

It's not enough to let it continue and expect those around you to take control for you.

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GreenPeppercorn · 20/04/2013 22:11

ilikemysleep I have to ask, how do you know that most slugs are babies?

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WorraLiberty · 20/04/2013 22:13

Green you can tell by the size of them whether they're babies or adults.

I think ilike was saying most of hers were babies?

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GreenPeppercorn · 20/04/2013 22:13

Ah Caffe I didn't actually use it myself because they don't personally bother me but someone recommended it to me after I had mentioned bare foot squishing one betwixt the toes whilst warming a bottle

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FacebookWanker · 20/04/2013 22:14

On the plus side, it cured me of my fear of spiders. I used to sleep with a mosquito net and check my shoes before butting them on because I was so frightened.

I'm not strange. Honestly.

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deleted203 · 20/04/2013 22:14

Your DH sounds like my Ex! You can't help a phobia and having a go at someone or mocking them sarcastically is less than helpful. (I'm horrendously claustrophobic).

When we went honeymoon I had the most horrendous panic attack on the plane about the fact that I was shut in a metal box with people sharing my air (and we couldn't just open a window ). Stewardesses were very kind to me and getting me to breathe into a paper bag to stop me hyperventilating. Ex announced loudly in a superior voice, 'This is stupid...it's all in your head'. When I raised my head and screamed 'I KNOW IT'S IN MY FUCKING HEAD! IT'S A PHOBIA YOU MORON!' he didn't speak to me for the next 3 days because he was mortified and furious at my behaviour!

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GreenPeppercorn · 20/04/2013 22:14

Worraliberty but then, how big do the grown ups get?! Like a foot long?! I'm jesting just a little but how do you know it isn't just a small adult brown slug or a baby black slug? The mind boggles

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GreenPeppercorn · 20/04/2013 22:16

Where those medium sized speckled greeny ones come in the line up I cannot imagine....

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b4bunnies · 20/04/2013 22:17

slugs in the kitchen. it happens. twice in my fifteen years in this (1960s) house, gone to the kitchen in the dark, bare feet, and stood on a juicy slug. urgh.

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CaffeDoppio · 20/04/2013 22:17

Shit Green - that's turned my stomach and reminded me of when I did exactly that last summer. Barefoot - stepped out of back door onto patio - cold slimy squelch.............. - Oh yuk - it's like it happened yesterday!
I do agree with worra about getting 'phobias' under control. Nobody can do it except you. Yes, you can do it. You might think you can't but you can. You are bigger in mind and body than any insect/worm/whatever that you think you are afraid of. Take control and take your life back.

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Lousmart · 20/04/2013 22:18

Very common. Can I ask, do you have a cat? I've not read all the replies so sorry if this has already been mentioned. Slugs love cat food! If you have cat food on the floor, lift it up at night. What also helps is a low voltage plug in night light in the room they like to roam! They don't like light! Egg shells, gravel and sharp stuff near where they come in stops them too. Very, very common though, but very gross and annoying too!

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CaffeDoppio · 20/04/2013 22:19

Green - the grown ups - well, mine anyway - can easily be four or five inches long. And a fetching colour that sits somewhere between 'dogshit brown' and 'ravers neon orange'. Bad. Very bad.

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Lovelygoldboots · 20/04/2013 22:20

I have done the barefoot squishing as well. It really is gross. The thing is, I have come down in the middle of the night to find 10 of them in the kitchen.....but they are never there in the morning. They are clearly superior beings. I just don't want them on my worktop

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GreenPeppercorn · 20/04/2013 22:21

Sorry Caffe It was many years ago in the fog of newborn 3 am haze where you could stand on a rhino and carry on, yet I remember pulling strings of slime off my toes whilst doing the bottle with my other hand. (Sorry OP!)

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FacebookWanker · 20/04/2013 22:22

When I was reading up on them, I read that cat litter helps. Dehumidifies are supposed to be a miracle cure, but it didn't work for us.

They enjoyed our cat's food....

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CaffeDoppio · 20/04/2013 22:22

Here comes that vomit again.............

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GreenPeppercorn · 20/04/2013 22:23

Ooh YY to whoever said cat food. If cat had ever left a scrap in his bowl they would be in there eating it. Gawd i'm starting to make myself feel slightly boaky.

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Trazzletoes · 20/04/2013 22:32

We get a couple of them in the kitchen floor every night over summer. I tried salting one once and could practically hear it screaming in agony.

Never again. I now get rid of them like a spider - glass and a postcard.

If you can afford it, you need to get some nematodes every 6 weeks.

When we had our washing machine replaced there were loads of the little evil baby tiny slugs everywhere. Disposed of them but the big ones come in underneath the door and through the air bricks.

I have found them in the dishwasher before and even some trails over the cutlery in the cutlery drawer

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GreenPeppercorn · 20/04/2013 22:35

Look, I find it really distasteful to hear baby slugs being referred to as evil. You can't possibly assign an adult emotion such as "evil" to a baby slug. Really you need to look at the parents of the said slug and have a word with them. It takes a village....

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BoffinMum · 20/04/2013 22:41

He is so looking for a slug in his pants drawer, that man.

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CalamityJ · 20/04/2013 22:43

I moved into a share house and was told not to leave any washing up on the draining board overnight or slugs would be on it in the morning. Sure enough most mornings there they'd be. I looked in the cupboard below the sink & there was a big hole in the bottom of the cupboard where the sink tap had leaked. There was also a bag of soil (why??). That was how the slugs had been getting up from the foundations onto the draining board. I removed the bag of soil and called the landlord who repaired the cupboard. No more slug problem. What was wrong with the others living in the house share?? Why didn't anything of them do anything about it?? I guess they didn't have as much of a problem with slugs as I do. YANBU

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yonisparechangemr · 20/04/2013 22:44

Getting rid of slugs: Get ducks!!!

I got 6 last year from a farmer friend cleared the lot!

Getting rid of Dh shitty attitude hmmm maybe some immac in his shampoo and tell him he is being irrational about his fear of balding?

Disclaimer: I do not really want u to do this! B4 I get bombarded with naughty poster stuff xxx

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