Help....slugs everywhere

[Bramble88]

Just looking for some advice really. I have noticed the last couple of days that there are slugs everywhere in my back garden!
Whats the best way to deal with them and what could be causing them? Please help 😣

You need some visiting badgers and hedgehogs, OP! Ours love slugs. Failing that, maybe put down some beer traps?

Will do, this morning there is at least 8 on my drive! Gives me the ick!!

I know what you mean, OP! We live in a very old place and they occasionally even get inside - yuk! I seem to remember a few threads on MN over the years with good slug advice, so it might be worth you doing a search. One of my DCs says 'oh, they're just snails without homes', but I'm not convinced!

Have you tried nematodes OP? They're basically a biological slug killer that won't harm any DCs or pets.

Here's a link- www.nematodesdirect.co.uk/6-nemaslug?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7pqfuvXR4gIVKL7tCh00NA9XEAAYASAAEgI1SfD_BwE

They work well for us, I am unreasonably terrified of slugs this means me and DS can enjoy the garden.

Will definately give it ago! They really freak me out 🙈 but there seems to be so many!

Make a small garden pond - you can do this with a washing up bowl. Once you have a toad or a frog in residence, you won't have a slug problem.

You need blackbirds. Put up some bird feeders, you can probably buy blackbird specific bird food.

Place marking as I'm having a similar problem.

Except mine are getting into the kitchen too. I found three massive ones on the kitchen floor last night (and a handful of woodlice too).

We only moved in two weeks ago and I reckon the kitchen is damp. It has a really old fashioned wooden back door too (just like an ordinary internal door with a mortis lock).

I'm going to douse the garden in slug pellets and put copper tape around the door and water inlet.

Do beer traps actually work? I have a couple of cans in the fridge...

Don't use slug pellets if you can help it, Billy.

The beer traps drown the slugs but they die happy and don't harm other windlife. We call it Badger Tequila, because they drink the beer along with the slugs. We don't put much out though, because the brocks can and do get drunk.

Windlife?! Wildlife.

No chance of badgers here I'm afraid, we're a midterrace in the middle of the suburbs.

The wildest things we get are grey squirrels and the very occasional hedgehog.

Why no pellets? We don't have pets and dc is old enough to know not to touch them

BillywigSting, because birds might eat poisoned slugs and die, so better to try more ecological methods.

Slug pellets can be harmful to cats passing through and to all garden wildlife either directly or if a slug is then eaten. There are more natural remedies, less toxic to the environment. Encourage your occasional hedgehogs too.

There are slug pellets which are not harmful to pets or other wildlife - ASDA do one & there are others.

groceries.asda.com/product/pest-control/asda-organic-slug-killer-pellets/910000971317

Metaldehyde is banned from next year.

Helpful RSPB advice here

I use this one - Growing Success, which is mentioned in the RSPB piece.

www.gardenhealth.com/growing-success-slug-killer

I have lot's to, they don't bother me

We have a pet safe bottle of pellets but will check before I put them down. Have just taped the step a D vent brick with copper tape, anyone had any success with it? Or have I just been accosted by an angry spider for no reason?

Nematodes work for me. I used it twice in 2017, once in 2018 and this year haven't seen any slugs (but I will probably give the garden a nematode dose later this year). I buy mine from Amazon