How do you dispose of live slugs and snails?

[RaffertyFair]

If you go out in the evening and collect the little blighters - how do you dispatch what you collect? Bearing in mind I like my neighbours, so hurling them over the fence is not an option

I currently add them to the slug pubs that I also have in situ but snails slither out ...

I have just watered in nematodes so have a longer term strategy but there are still lots to pick off .

@Shayne11 I presume you take the tubs home with you again.....?!

This thread is one of the weirdest I've ever read, stabbing slugs, cutting them in half, suffocating them in a nappy bag, putting them in salt wtf 🤢🤮

I did a hole and bury them. Can slugs burrow their way out?

I dug a pond in the hope of introducing frogs to eat the blighters. Three years down the line I do have frogs but suspect they might be vegan as my slug/snail population has soared so I snip the horrors in half or move them to a hard surface and stand on them or if conditions are perfect for a safari I use a bucket of salt water to collect them in. Throwing them into the road to play with the traffic or into a neighbouring garden or park is doomed to failure. Even if they don't make it back they will breed and their offspring will spread out. Nematodes are hideously expensive and have to be reapplied, slug bait is poisonous to other creatures, slug pubs work and seem a kind way to go if you have a free source of beer but who do you get to empty them? Rotting bodies in stale beer is not a pleasant sight and where do you pour the sludge?

Mrsmuddlepies they live happily underground so you are not reducing the population.

Lol at vegan frogs...we had a toad and we also have a frog and the toad left!!! I was thinking of building a pond but I dunno now.

I have a strainer 🤢 so I strain the beer and bury the dead slugs in a particular area.
I only use the beer traps in the growing season so say May-Sept really as I start all my annuals in pots which are easier to protect. Once they go in the ground I have a few sacrificial plants and they and the beer traps help a bit

Unfortunately I’m having to reassess what I can and can’t grow. Certain plants are irresistible to slugs and I give up

Tip them into next doors 6ft high jungle

I encourage frogs and toads to eat them and I put rings of crushed up eggs shells or coffee grounds around the bottom of the plants they really like. (They hate crossing sharp things)

dragonegg my snails must be made of tough stuff, frequently find scaling the rough cast of the house or garage.
I’m mean but i’ve resorted to stepping on them. They’ve wrecked two bean plantings this year, desperate measures.

I'm wondering if the people on this thread who think that killing snails is cruel eat lettuce...

We lob them into the lane at the back of our garden.

Salting slugs has the very same effect as slug pellets as in it melts the slug alive. The only difference being you are not directly killing the slugs or seeing them melt away as you do with salt. I guess people don't like to witness and have a guilt trip as a results of their actions.

Stabbing them with a special knife !
I don’t kill or remove mine. My garden is pretty wild so I have hedgehogs, and lots of birds. I only get very small slugs in my pots, I can’t think when I last saw a snail, and I have a hosta !

*AsMuchUseAsAMarzipanDildo

@jux this is what I have long suspected. Keep seeing them thinking “I recognise this arsehole”*

How about painting their shells with Tippex then you can see who finds their way back

We’ve had terrible slug issues this year.... that was until I started letting the chickens out during the day..... no slugs now

I am impressed by the tiger stripe slugs. Slugs are also excellent for eating fox poo.

Wish they'd eat cat poo!!

I don’t particularly like cats and find them a pest when they crap in my garden, could you imagine the uproar if I suffocated it in a bin bag though. (I wouldn’t because I’m not cruel).

...but you've got to admit though, it's tempting isn't it?!

Going against the grain here but I feed them, a few green leaves, left over veg etc and they mostly stay happily in one corner away from everything else. We have hogs and birds in the garden too so I think they see off some them.

Meh, I have loads of birds visit my garden but they’re not match for the slugs (which hide in the pots and decking anyway). Ditto frogs. I avoid slug pellets because of the frogs so I squish small slugs (the little brown ones do the worst damage) and snails that I find under pots and only grow slug proof plants in the beds. Squishing a slug is not nearly as grim as squishing a vine weevil!

They are tough critters, those weevils

Going against the grain here but I feed them, a few green leaves, left over veg etc and they mostly stay happily in one corner away from everything else. We have hogs and birds in the garden too so I think they see off some them.

I was considering this. What do they particularly like?
I also have some sacrifice plants which I put a beer trap near to.

Slug pubs and then empty the corpses onto the compost heap.

I've been threatening to give up on the veg and just cook the snails for a few years now but I'm a bit worried about liver fluke. Can it survive cooking, does anyone know? Or garlic?

Lots of posters say they take them to the park - have you thought of feeding the ducks? Slugs and snails would do them far more good than bits of stale bread. Best not to take too many at once - the sight of six ducks chowing down on a bucket of slugs is one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen and could scar a young child for life.

@Siameasy - spring/dark greens are the favourites in our garden and a big bag about 70p at the grocers/supermarket easily lasts a few weeks just putting out a couple of leaves a night, or the leaves off cauli and brocolli. Brocolli stalks and carrots are a bit hit and miss but eventually they go. Apple cores. Broken leaves off plants. A handful of cat biscuits goes down well too if we've run out of veg leftovers. Random things I've found ignored include potatoes, sweetcorn and spinach, but its trial and error really. I also leave a shallow dish of water topped up in their corner so they dont head across the garden looking for water. And a few plant pots on their side for hiding places. Friends laugh at my snail and slug resort but it keeps them in one place and saves chucking leftovers in the bin so all good.

😂 🙈 @PencilsInSpace

I have decided to approach my slug/snail problem from a variety of angles. New job:

I am going to check under all my patio pots morning and evening and tip them into my green bin. Last night: 12 slugs, 1 snail. This morning: 17 slugs, 1 snail. Depressingly, one of this mornings slugs was found IN MY HALLWAY. 😑

@HuggedTheRedwoods I might try that idea too.....

I collect them and take them to the banks of a local waterway that are covered with plants. It’s about 600m away from the house and across a busy B road. If they can make their way back to my garden in one piece, they deserve to stay there! I also have a sacrificial hosta in a pot which is a magnet for them so it’s easy to gather loads in one go.