To use slug pellets?

[Letstryagainshallwe]

I'm sick of the slugs and snails all over my front and back garden. They climb the front door and the windows and its just nasty. I left my kids paddling pool in the garden over night (accidentally) and the next day it was covered in them. Everything I've read though has said not to use them. But I doubt my children would be stupid enough to eat them and if a cat eats them then more fool them really. Surely they wouldn't be ok sale if they were that bad??

Bump

You can get slug pellets that aren't poisonous to cats and dogs. Use those.

Get some nematodes instead

They contribute to the declining hedgehog population. When hedgehogs eat slugs poisoned by pellets it also poisons and kills them. All sorts of animals that eat poisoned slugs are affected; little owls, grass snakes, slow worms etc.

organic slug pellets wont hurt other animals. or nematodes which are fantastic.

It doesn't sound like you want to kill them because they are munching through your precious garden plants.

Slugs in the garden are just part of the great outdoors. You can't provide a sanitary world.

littlebunny is absolutely right, I help to rehabilitate rescued hedgehogs, if they continue to decline at the current rate they will be extinct in 40 years.

Organic slug pellets aren't completely harmless either, just measured/tested in a different way - I have got a paper on it somewhere, if I can find the facts (and I remember) I will post back.

There are less than a million hedgehogs left in the U.K. I haven't even seen one since my childhood.

I don't want slugs in my plants though. Can I move them all? Or are they expert spawners and it's a losing battle?

Salt and dried tea bags or garlic

Please don't use any pellets - they really are horrible for the food chain. I presume you've tried all the other tricks like beer traps? That's my particular favourite.

Nematodes are the only thing that work. I've tried copper tape, the gel that's meant to stop them climbing up pots etc - all useless. Nematodes are brill but do require a bit of planning as you need to use them regularly to keep your garden slug free.

I've never seen a hedgehog.

Can you go old school with a dish of ale and a line of salt? I agree with others though, pellets are just awful to the ecosystem as a whole, and you can't stop them all anyway as they'll keep coming back from next door.

Maybe look at where they're coming from and see if you can move their homes? Slugs like small, dark, moist spaces so clear any rubble and move plant pots away from the most annoying areas.

Slug pellets are harmful to lots of other wildlife as well as pets. You can get pet-friendly ones but they don't really work. Nothing is actually that effective at getting rid of slugs, to be honest.

Although slugs and snails are bit gross, your only issue with them is that they don't look nice or crawl on a paddling pool left out overnight. You don't mention them eating your plants (and lots of slugs don't do that anyway). To be honest I would just try to ignore them. I don't like them either but it's not the end of the world if I have to pick one off the outside of the patio doors now and again.

YABU. They not only kill hedgehogs but lots of other wildlife. Lots of other alternatives if you don't want slugs.

They aren't that effective and they arentoxic to wildlife and pets and kids.

Best thing is to get a bucket and go outdoors every evening for a week. Look under leaves and just pick them up and put them in the bucket. Have a competition with the kids on how many you can catch.

If you do this every night for a week then once a week during the growing season you'll have dramatically fewer. They can be binned or released into the local park

I live in london and have never seen a hedgehog. I couldn't pick them up as I find them gross, the snails and slugs that is. I don't ever see them climbing all over my mum or sisters door when I go there so I think I have a bit of an investation around my house as there is loads!! My door step is covered in them when it rains and they get in the wheelie bin aswell and all round it.