Anyone know how to get rid of slugs in my kitchen?

[FreePeaceSweet]

Sometimes I see them on the work tops and find slug trails on my pots and pans in the cupboard. I know you can buy slug pellets but these can't be used around my 2 yo dd can they?

I don't know, but will watch with great interest as I am similarly cursed. Ours are big fat yellow ones...

I trod on one. Barefooted.

aaarghh [runs round shaking head in horror]

There's only one solution. You're going to have to move house.

Boak. Am not looking forward to finding slimy trails indoors on my return from holiday.

Tried salting the kitchen doorstep? It's a good deterrent, but you'll need to repeat it after rainfall.

They seem to come in under the cupboard kickboards somehow. Hester we are cursed. Our last house had them too. In the living room.

I get them in my hall sometimes, so put a load of salt down, leave it a couple of days then hoover it up. It seems to keep them away for a while.

I might pull up the flooring and chuck a lot of salt down and/or pellets.

they like damp conditions but usually come in from the garden.

Things to look for:

dampness (in a kitchen is usually caused by plumbing leaks, may be under the floor)

entrance way - probably an air brick, may be broken, or holes in wall where kitchen waste pipes have been put through and hole not made good

Kitchen unit kickboards can usually be pulled off without difficulty. They are usually clipped to unit legs if you have them, or screwed/nailed to edges of sides of units if not. Pull yours off and have a look.

If you have a wooden floor, suspect damp under it. An old house may have bare earth, not concrete. Either way it should be well ventilated to prevent it getting damp (but see above re plumbing leaks).

Once you have got the kick plates off, clean out whatever you find, and you can sprinkle slug pellets. Once you have put the kickplates back your child will not be able to get at them. Sprinkle them rather than putting in heaps. This is easier for slugs to eat, and more difficult for DC to grab a handful. You can also put pellets under the floor through the holes you find, and sprinkle outside the wall where they are getting in. It takes time for the local population of slugs to drop, but it will over a matter of weeks, then you will only get the adventurous few that are willing to travel.

The damp is a worse worry since it may be causing the joists or floor to rot.

Thanks Piglet. We do have a damp problem in the kitchen but its near the ceiling. I suppose that doesn't matter though. Thanks for the great advice. :o

I had this last year. Horrible. Eventually put down lines of salt all over - along the back door, inside and out, the windowsills, bottom of the cupboards. Basically drew a protective barrier around my kitchen. Spent about three weeks cleaning up dead gooey slugs every morning, which was unpleasant, but after that the problem was solved. I also found where they were getting in (little hole by the back door I hadn't spotted before) because of all the dead slugs I found there, and plugged it.

People do look at you funny though for the vast quantities of salt on the floors and windowsills :o

I have also trod on one barefoot. It crunched. We only get them occasionally & only on the kitchen floor. Its gross.

a line of salt just inside the back door

A strip of copper around the door frame or wherever slugs come in.

I came on this thread to post about my slug problem and was glad to see some great advice, thank you PigletJohn. Also relieved it's not just me _ I thought my slovenly (actually I'm very clean and tidy) ways were to blame. Ha

We did have copper tape down but i took this up as we are trying to sell our house and it's a bit of a give away!

I got, i mean DH got most of them one night last week when I got him up at two in the morning to pick them up and i put them in plastic bags and threw them out. Still have some slime trails tho', but beer traps have not trapped anymore. Just worried about the idea of them breeding, we did catch some teeny tiny ones last week.

I really, really hate the little feckers. Last year i don't think we had any at all, probably because it was so hot. But a few summers back, when it was really damp and I had lots of plants growing near to the house it felt like we were under attack. I went to the loo (at the back of the house) and there were a dozen or so climbing up the walls. Yuck.

My main concern is that I've gotten it into my head that they are dangerous and can make you ill if touched or eaten. Not that I'd eat them but DD would put one straight in her mouth if she saw one. Am i making that up? DH says I am.

this too is a problem that i have and makes my skin crawl!!!!! i dont mind spiders but geting really phobic about the slug thing - since i found one half way inside and half outside squeezing itself through the tiniest of holes between the kitchen floor and back door....the only positive is that it has put a stop to late evening snacking as too scared (how pathetic am i) to go back into the kitchen in case i see some and then spend the next 10 mins jumping up and down ,waving my arms and making silly squealing noises - this is a particualy pointless thing to do as i am a single mum so there are no other adults in the house to hear my distress......salt didnt work but think put it in wrong place. have blocked up hole that i found the one squishing itself through but they have found another route in....yuk yuk yuk......on an equally yuk subject i have a flower bed outside my front door that one/some local cat uses as a litter tray which means that as you open the door on a summers day (remember when we had them)you are greeted with the smell of cat poo, lovely!....tried putting down pepper and shop bought repelan stuff but still have the prob. Any advice? thanks x

just found this on another thread ...

uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060611153354AA4NiX3

very helpful, especially about the trails. they follow them like railway tracks apparently.

Will read thread with interest. Spotted a slug snail a week or so ago in my kitchen. Found a slug last night. Will there be more?

I hate slugs.

Thanks for posting that link MYMU. I never knew that about their trails. Icky but fascinating.

If you have pet food down they will be attracted to that too - I now leave my cat's food in the lean to so I don't get trails in the kitchen. Salt or egg shells are only solutions I've ever heard of...

You have to find out where they are coming in and block it off. Otherwise they will be invading every night for years. T'is worth doing, even if it means pulling out the kitchen units. Block it off, dry it out, put a load of pellets down before rebuilding the kitchen. And if you have pets slugs can make them ill with lungworm if they are not wormed regularly.

"...can make you ill if touched or eaten. Not that I'd eat them but DD would put one straight in her mouth if she saw one. Am i making that up? DH says I am."

You can cook then in garlic butter if you want.

A slug is just a snail selling Big Issue.

I would also be wary of putting down slug killer near the kitchen - if they trail it indoors and it is poisonous...

I too have ongoing problems with slugs in the kitchen, especially after a night of rain. At first I thought they were getting in through the sink plug hole, so I left the plug in. Didn't work! They are still turning up ... two to six a night. Salt, of course kills them ... but what a sticky mess to clear up. The issue is to stop them coming in. From my reading I suspect I have two sources: 1) Slugs coming in from outside, 2) Slugs from eggs laid somewhere beneath the wooden floors or behind the sink unit.
Not solved yet, but here's my plan using "slug and snail bait" as sold by gardening shops Scatter in the following locations: under floor boards, behind or under sink units (drill small holes and pour a spoonful through), outside or under the house near where the water pipes or drain pipes are. Remember to renew every week for say a month because eggs are not killed by the pellets. If you are afraid of small children getting at the pellets just make sure they are in a location they can't reach into. Like a small tube held down by heavy bricks. Most pellets are flavoured with a bitter taste to repel pets and birds. The beer in a bowl trick is also a good idea because if you site it away from the kitchen area it attracts slugs away.

I've found them in my dishwasher too! . I salted one once and swear I could hear its screams. Couldn't do it again. Ours come in through the air bricks as well so have pelleted outside. I can't remove our kick boards because there's some weird extractor fan thing down there...

Hey! Looks like I may have done it!
Laid down "slug and snail bait" pellets in all the likely places ... behind the sink unit, under the house where the pipes come in ... under the floor beneath the sink area. Only two slugs the first night, well to the left of the sink unit (where I hadn't 'baited') So put some bait that end of the unit and no more slugs so far! BTW, one of the last slugs was very small, suggesting I was suffering from eggs hatching inside rather than new insurgents from the garden.