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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Am I a sadist and don't realise it? (lighthearted)

74 replies

Anewcareerforme · 09/08/2017 17:44

I'm a keen gardener although only have a small but very lovingly looked after patio garden with hundreds of plants. I have anacondas slugs in the multiples of thousands and they all eat my precious plants which I spend hours carefully looking after. I have tried everything, bar nuclear war; mine are staunch tee totallers, they don't eat any pellets organic or not, they happily dance around on copper tape flock to wool and relish coffee grounds and nematodes make no difference. Perhaps I need to antagonise Kim Jon Un. So now everyday I go out and I pick the disgusting revolting hideous things up and drop them in a pot of salt, and watch with fascination and delight as they writhe around.
My DH thinks it cruel.
Im normally gentle animal loving I wouldn't kill any kind go bug etc but not these disgusting things. Am I a sadist in disguise?

OP posts:
Mumof56 · 09/08/2017 18:28

Never mind, I see you have. A sprinkle of it around the base of the plants was all I was thinking

GunnyHighway · 09/08/2017 18:29

They're slugs, fill your boots!

user1492692527 · 09/08/2017 18:31

Please don't use slug pellets in case a curious young cat decides they're something nice to eat. How about beer traps? At least they die happy then!

Fluffypinkpyjamas · 09/08/2017 18:32

Op is training to become a teacher. I wouldn't want her in charge of any child.

GodIsDead · 09/08/2017 18:39

@ferretygubbins Grin genius

EnidButton · 09/08/2017 18:40

...and watch with fascination and delight as they writhe around.

That's warped behaviour. Confused

QuestionableMouse · 09/08/2017 18:45

Fucking hell. That's grim.

Crunchymum · 09/08/2017 18:50

Killing slugs who destroy your garden, OK I get it.

Enjoying watching them die, Shock

Your friend, there are no emojis.

TooGood2BeFalse · 09/08/2017 19:00

No..you are a little off normal.

One thing to set repellents but to actively enjoy watching a painful death by salt (did you know it's an excruciating death for them??!!) is really disturbing.

caffeinestream · 09/08/2017 19:07

What the fuck is wrong with you?

PicardsCombOver · 09/08/2017 19:18

I have slugs in my house that i place gently outside. I'm going to make them a little SlugBnB with an old Tupperware I think. Sorry to hear your slugs are eating your veg. ferrety your post has made my day, thank you.

ForexTrader · 09/08/2017 19:48

No this is not "lighthearted" Yes you are a sadist.

SleepyHeadThisTime · 09/08/2017 19:50

Must be a character trait of people who enjoy gardening - my mum has a pointy stick trots around the garden with about 11pm 'collecting' slugs on. If I had any interest in gardening personally I'd use beer traps - as another poster said, at least they'd go happy.

AllToadsLeadToHome · 09/08/2017 19:56

Do you know that slug nematodes are made by putting slugs in a bucket of water? I found an article on it once when I was looking for some to buy (nematodes, not slugs).

nooka · 09/08/2017 20:00

As the OP said that her slugs were teetotal I think it's safe to assume that she's tried beer traps already.

I understand where she is coming from. Slugs really can destroy plants, it's not just a nibble here and there like many other insects, you can come out in the morning and find your lovingly tended plants are just stumps.

We used to have masses of snails and I admit I let ds pick them all off and squish them after trying collecting and moving them and finding they just came back. It's a losing battle unless you kill them (and in large numbers).

SumThucker · 09/08/2017 20:03

We used to have masses of snails and I admit I let ds pick them all off and squish them

Hmm I teach my children compassion.

HipsterHunter · 09/08/2017 20:04

Can't you just chop them in half with scissors? Much quicker death.

Urglewurgle · 09/08/2017 20:15

When we were kids we used to get them come into our house, they'd slide under the front door. Vile. I stood on one barefoot once and it squidged between my toes.

My little sister made a sign that said 'no slugs please' and left it on the front step. That seemed to work.

Or maybe it was the salt.

Can you track back to where they're getting in and block their path with salt there?

catkind · 09/08/2017 21:45

I can't muster a lot of sympathy for slugs. They're a pest. Don't think they're bright enough to be in agony, they're just a few instincts and a lot of slime. I wouldn't feel any more guilty for killing slugs than I do for pulling up weeds or swatting flies. Except actually I'm too squeamish and use animal safe slug pellets instead.

Allegedly though the huge gross spotty ones are leopard slugs and eat the slugs that eat your plants. So if you have those leave them be.

Shestolethewitchesredshoes · 10/08/2017 07:13

I don't know how or why! But we get slugs crawling about our kitchen floor during the night. We have slate tiles so can see their slimy trails and once or twice, I have had the severe misfortune to step on them. In the dark. Bare footed whilst trying to sort out a cup of milk / glass of water. It's a feeling that you never recover from. I don't understand how they get in!
In absolute frustration I poured salt around the perimeter of the kitchen, dining and hall ways - I hope this would deter them from coming in to my home. It resulted in a gruesome display of half melted slugs all around my house. There must have been about 20 of the fuckers. OH & Kids said I was cruel, mean etc. They set about cleaning/setting up some sort of counter slug saving society (DD was 6 at the time and highly emotional about pretty much everything). So I lost. We still get slugs. I've learned to switch the lights on before I enter their (no longer my!) kitchen at night. But it's all the motivation I need to keep saving every spare penny for that house deposit. I can't wait to be out of this slug house!

So no. I don't think yabu. Please pop over at about 2am with your bucket of anti slug salt solution. 😇

notsobeachready · 10/08/2017 11:23

Killing myself laughing at some of these responses!!

I'm with you OP, we can be unhinged and a general danger to the safety of the human race together Grin

Anti-sluggers, unite.

caffeinestream · 10/08/2017 12:13

I don't think it's killing them that's the issue. They are pests.

It's the fact that OP dumps them in salt and likes to watch them die a painful death that's a bit Hmm

madja · 10/08/2017 12:24

You could get them drunk and leave them out for the foxes. Slugs love beer. If you put a cup of it out they will drink it and fall over drunk ready for the animals that like eating slugs!

madja · 10/08/2017 12:27

Yeah, sorry, beer has been mentioned. Missed that.