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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

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Original poster

New house - slug trails

31 replies

amanaplanacanalpanama · 14/08/2016 08:42

We've just moved into a new (old!) house. I've seen a couple of slugs which i thought were because we'd been playing outside. I hoped thought we'd somehow brought them in. Every morning though I have to spend time cleaning away slug trails. They don't seem to lead anywhere so i can't identify their entry point. I don't doubt there are lots of nooks and crannies for them to squeeze their slimy little bodies through. Yeuk! What can I do? I'm struggling to live like this. It makes me feel disgusting. All the bloody spiders were one thing but bastard slugs too?? Too much!

I've got a toddler so can't put any pellets down. I hate the thought of him crawling around where the slugs have been. And what are they coming in for anyway?

I knew we should have gone for a new build.

OP posts:

Original poster

amanaplanacanalpanama · 14/08/2016 08:45

They're in the living room btw. Haven't noticed them anywhere else...yet.

OP posts:

pieceofpurplesky · 14/08/2016 08:57

Watching in anticipation ... I have the same op

ineedamoreadultieradult · 14/08/2016 09:00

We had this. We put pellets down outside the house all the way round where the wall meets the floor if that makes sense. No more slugs in the house and about 1 or 2 dead slugs outside each morning. Could you do this with toddler and just make sure they are closely supervised outside? Even for a week to get on top of the problem.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeG0es · 14/08/2016 09:04

You could put slug pellets down after your toddler is in bed and hoover them up before he gets up, or put them behind near y furniture where he can't get at them. We've had this on and off for years and now have cats, who we can't shut out of the affected rooms, its a pain.

Morasssassafras · 14/08/2016 09:23

Sprinkle salt around the edges of the room.

You can also try coming down in the middle of the night and catching the bastards.

ineedamoreadultieradult · 14/08/2016 09:24

Salt would be harmful to toddler as well. You honestly don't need to put anything down inside the house creating a slug pellets barrier around the outside of the house will do the trick.

Original poster

amanaplanacanalpanama · 14/08/2016 12:27

Great suggestions thanks. I'm off to buy some pellets. Is it possible that they come through cracks under the floor though? We've got carpets but floorboards underneath and probably gaps small enough to get through. Oh how I long for lovely concrete floors!

I may do a stealth mission tonight to try to catch some of them in action.

Sorry you're suffering with the problem too purple.

OP posts:

MumOnTheRunCatchingUp · 14/08/2016 12:55

What will you do with them if you catch them tho??

Pick them up?

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeG0es · 14/08/2016 13:05

I scoop them up with a dustpan and fling them to the far end of the garden.

I think they do get in through gaps in the floorboards, possibly via airbricks. Our most recent invaders have been some way from an outside door. They can squeeze through the tiniest gaps though, we get them by the back door sometimes and it's a concrete floor there so they must be getting through the tiny gap under the door.

WaitrosePigeon · 14/08/2016 13:07

They are absolute bastards.

I got so sick of it in the end I murdered them with salt.

I then put salt at the obvious holes and I've not seen any since.

ineedamoreadultieradult · 14/08/2016 13:14

They may come up through floor boards or in tiny gaps in doors etc but they all come from outside they don't live under the house as there's nothing for them to eat there so as long as you surround the house especially near doors and airbricks you will get rid of them. Ours were climbing up a plant we had outside near our bathroom window so we moved that away from the house, they can crawl up bricks as well but obviously prefer a nice plant to a scratchy brick wall.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeG0es · 14/08/2016 13:15

We can't do the surround the house thing because of the cats unfortunately.

TwoLittleBlooms · 14/08/2016 13:25

Eugh! I am hoping to find a safe alternative - we regularly find them in the lounge and often about 10 in the kitchen - babies and big monster ones - feeling sick just writing this! I currently put salt along all sides of the house on the outside and along skirting and kickboard edges in teh kitchen - but not ideal with a toddler or a cat. I daren't lay pellets around the outside of the house with the toddler. I have heard - though not yet tried but will be doing - copper wire and sandpaper laid where they may be coming in - going to get some so will report back!

Original poster

amanaplanacanalpanama · 14/08/2016 19:04

Does it mean the house is damp? We had a full survey done and no damp was found but I'm beginning to realise that surveys really aren't worth the money we pay for them.

OP posts:

midnightmoomoo · 14/08/2016 23:29

We ended up taking the floorboards up in the living room and clearing out years worth of crap to ensure good airflow. You can get pet friendly slug pellets so find these and sprinkle round outside.

mariesmith · 15/08/2016 07:36

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Mumstudentbum · 15/08/2016 14:21

We get them in our girls bedroom! They come in via the floorboards next to the patio doors. I didn't want to put pellets down even though my girls are 6 and 9 just incase so I put salt down instead.

All was good until I found them in the bathroom! They'd found another way in lol

Original poster

amanaplanacanalpanama · 15/08/2016 15:32

That's the stuff I bought mariesmith. I put some outside and also behind the tv where we'd had trails and the kids can't reach. It doesn't look like any was eaten last night but there were trails elsewhere in the room. Do the pellets attract them so that they eat them?

I feel really embarrassed about this. Whenever I tell anyone in rl about it they recoil in disgust. We had slugs in the house back in my university days but the house wasn't in a good state of repair and probably damp. And it was just a house. This is our home

OP posts:

celeste83 · 15/08/2016 15:57

Just try and set your alarm at 3am so you can go downstairs and catch them in the act. I hate slugs with a passion!!!

ineedamoreadultieradult · 15/08/2016 16:22

Don't think slug pellets attract them more they crawl over them and die but I could be wrong. You could set a beer trap that attracts them but I'm not sure how you would do it inside because we used to dig a while to put the beer in outside.

MontePulciana · 17/08/2016 23:11

I actually did the slug pub thing at my last house. Literally just left a bowl of Beer for them to indulge in over night in the garden. Next morning it had 20+ slugs in it. Keep doing it, overnight, all around the house. And seal up your house, if that's possible.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeG0es · 17/08/2016 23:18

I've done that at the allotment. Sainsburys basics bitter, about a pound for 4 cans, they love it. But again not ideal with cats around. I suppose I could shut the cats in for the night then put the beer outside the back door.

MontePulciana · 17/08/2016 23:21

My cat didn't bother with it. We used tesco value beer, it was horrendously cheap (DH still went for it though)

Topdrawer1 · 17/08/2016 23:31

If you usually leave a window open downstairs like i always have, they get in through there. Had same problem every morning with trails everywhere, put salt in all the nooks n crannies to no avail! My dp suggested that was where they may have been getting in and sure enough, since closing window at night... no more slime trails:-)

WaitrosePigeon · 18/08/2016 07:10

That's a good tip point.
Does anyone know why slugs like coming into the house?

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