Slug/snail repellant that's not harmful to cats/wildlife?

[lucysmam]

Our new house backs onto train tracks and then the river behind them so there's a fair bit of wildlife about (squirrels/ducks mainly along with lots of other birdlife). We also have a stray cat who is living in the back garden & tbh will stay there until I find him a new home.

What sort of slug/snail repellant can I use that won't be harmful to them? (I plan to plant in big plant pots, in case that makes any difference at all).

I have read about crushed egg shells because they're sharp but would have to start saving them now to actually have enough to use.

tia

I that WD40 sprayed on the plant pots prevents them from being able to crawl up them...

If your gonna use pots you can buy copper bands that go around the pot & will deter any slug / snail crossing it.
Beer traps also work well but they do smell a bit.
But the best method is to go out on warm wet nights with a torch & sharp knife ( think slasher movie)

Really! I'll have to google to make sure it wouldn't be harmful to the animals first but that'd be handy as we have a full tin of the stuff under the sink

Clean your garden up.

Go on a slug egg hunt - any old bags of compost, compost bins etc - dig around and destroy them!

Nothing works except pellets (which are harmful) or just picking them after dark.

ooh, Gooner, I don't think I could do that!

I will probably regret this but am off to google slug eggs so I can get out there & get rid over this week.

I have two unopened bags of compost that we brought from our old house...are they likely to be in those?

The garden's actually very tidy, only some leaves to rake up & a couple of dead looking shrubby things to take out of the corners.

Dp uses eggshells .... for the hardcore ones....beer in ramekins

You might be ok then. If there are no holes, should be ok. The eggs just look like little white balls.

The slugs might come from the neighbours!

ok, I expected much worse than the little bubble looking things that are slug eggs! But now I know what they look like I can have a proper hunt tomorrow so long as it's not peeing it down again. Then I'll get out tomorrow night with a torch & scoop up any adults that are out there.

Fingers crossed there won't be as many as there were at the old house, the garden there had been left for so long before we moved in that we really struggled getting it under control and there were loads of slugs/snails out there.

Lots of things you can do/use.
They don't like raked soil or grit/gravel. Crushed eggshells are good too.
For plants in pots you can use cooper bands to deter them or Vaseline.
Beer traps are good if a bit nasty.
Encourage birds (perhaps not with a stray cat though!)/frogs/hedgehogs as they all eat slugs.
And if you must use something then ferric phosphate pellets are not harmful to wildlife, but I would try the other options first.

www.haywardm.supanet.com/predators.html

Thanks for that link Pannacotta, I think encouraging their natural predators might be better left for when the cat has a new home though, I don't want to be responsible for him catching any of them (unlikely as it seems after watching him wobble his way along the back fence stalking a squirrel in the trees...daft thing kept almost falling off ).

I'll invest in some vaseline and start saving egg shells. Along with slug and slug egg hunting they seem the least likely to cause damage to anything else.

Thanks for all your advice

Finely crushed egg shells work to deter slugs if you put them around the plants.

Do you eat grapefruit? Put the upturned empty skins in the garden and the slugs will lurk underneath - makes them easier to find so you can dispose of them... Might work with oranges too.

You can buy hedgehog houses & food online.

Beer works well, we used to put them in the waste ground behind the houses when we'd caught them.

Nematodes will eat the slugs before you ever see them, and cause no harm to other garden visitors. Snails are best hand picked by torch light on damp evenings and destroyed. Note that Nematodes are most effective above a consistent 5 c, so in the interim you could try sinking a jar filled with beer (cover it loosely with a pot tray to keep rain from diluting it), I get a fair few drinking to their deaths this time of year.