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Housekeeping

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Original poster

Slugs INSIDE the house every night

37 replies

NoNamesLeft86 · 01/10/2017 22:18

It's gross. Have been battling with the problem for years and can't get rid of them.I can't put Pellets etc down as I have dogs, young children and guinea pigs.

If I see them then I get them out the house - usually over the fence at the bottom of the garden. It's quite a big garden and we have no plants what so ever (we have artificial grass, concrete and decking) so I can't see why they keep coming back.
But most of them seem to come out when I am asleep and go before I wake up. But I wake up to slug trail everywhere Shock

It's gross. I hate it. We have had our flooring changed and re done the skirting boards and we thought that would stop them getting in from under the house which seems to be where they originate from (but not 100% sure) But it hasn't helped much.

How do I get rid of the things for good?

OP posts:
Closetlibrarian · 01/10/2017 22:19

Do you have any indoor house plants? I kept on seeing slug trails in our living room and thought they were coming in from outside, but in fact they were hiding in the pot of an indoor plant.

Stilllivinginazoo · 01/10/2017 22:19
Original poster
NoNamesLeft86 · 01/10/2017 22:22

Nope, no indoor plants. We are really not plant people.

They do seem to be attracted by the dog chews. But having a puppy and a teen dog, if I take the chews away they chew my house Sad

OP posts:
ineedamoreadultieradult · 01/10/2017 22:25

I dont know how realistic this would be with your dog/kids/guinea pig situation but we had the same thing. I put a barrier of slug pellets all around the outside walls of the house. Kept the rabbits in their hutch and the cats inside for a week then binned all the dead slugs and swept up all the slug pellets. Never had a slug on the house since.

MrsMoastyToasty · 01/10/2017 22:25

We had a leak under the house and they seemed to love the damp soil beneath the house (we have floorboards qith a void below rather than a concrete base ) and we eventually worked out that they were coming up around the stop tap under the stairs. As soon as the leak was repaired and the ground below the house dried out they stopped coming up.

MyBrilliantDisguise · 01/10/2017 22:26

Do you have those brush things under your front and back doors so they can't slide under there?

Aph413 · 01/10/2017 22:27

I was told I have slugs inside because they've laid eggs once they've got in and I'll struggle to get rid.
The thought disgusts me but I have no idea where they hide during the day and since the house is rented I'm loathe to be made to fix it myself

JamOrCreamFirst · 01/10/2017 22:28

I had this. Damp course needed redoing.

StoatInACoat · 01/10/2017 22:29

This morning me and DD watched a huge slimy fucker of a slug ooze it's way through the kitchen sink overflow

It was vile yet fascinating. It was kind of extruding itself through a hole about 1/4 of the actual diameter of the slug itself.

I don't have any helpful suggestions but I'd consider that as a possibility!

Blahblahboo · 01/10/2017 22:29

Put a line of salt around where you see them and beware of them getting into your electrics because they can start fires.
I had one almost cause an electrical fire in the oven

BarchesterFlowers · 01/10/2017 22:30

We have slugs - gross - I stood on one recently when I went downstairs for a drink in the middle of the night. Old house with a coal cellar. I think they are inevitable here.

Original poster
NoNamesLeft86 · 01/10/2017 22:30

We have the same with damp under the house in the void. But not sure how to solve it without major work being done Hmm

OP posts:
mrssunshinexxx · 01/10/2017 22:32

We had this problem in old house- was because it was damp and mouldy

StoatInACoat · 01/10/2017 22:32

PS they can carry lungworm so I'd try and find a way to keep them away from the dog chews if at all possible. I know it's easier said than done though!

Alabasterangel6 · 01/10/2017 22:32

Do you bring logs in?

I had this issue for bloody ever. Drove me nuts. But it turned out to be one very persistent slug that had been irritating me for months and once dealt with was fine. It had come in on the logs. In any case the method would work.

What I did: for one night I kept the pets out of the worst room. I put down a clear sheet of smooth plastic - I used the cellophane from a Birthday card but similar would do. Put slug pellets ONLY on the cellophane in the middle of the room or the area of trails you've seen. By the next morning you should have a dead slug conveniently on the plastic with the pellets and you can throw the whole lot out.

appreciate it's not ideal and you might have to repeat it but it worked for us.

Lotsawobblybits · 01/10/2017 22:32

Just to say you are not alone- we have put a copper strip across the back door step & sealed up an Air Brick in the downstairs loo. No idea where they come from. Every morning little trails on door mat and kitchen floor like a little slug midnight grand national.

DP got up in the night for a drink a little while ago and stood on one in bare feet- (VOM) woke most of the road up cursing and washing his feet!

KakunaRattata · 01/10/2017 22:34

They're bastards, they can make themselves almost flat and get under the tiniest gap under the skirting boards. What works for us is to make a salt water solution in a spray bottle and spray all round the edges of the doors and walls inside, too salty for them to cross but doesn't leave a line of salt round the room. You may have to renew it every so often but it did solve our nightly visitor problem.

cherrytree63 · 02/10/2017 08:27

The thought of standing on one makes me shudder! I once picked up a bucket and put my finger in one Shock
I too have a slug problem, the other day I thought my dog had poo'd on the kitchen floor but it was a massive slug!

goldenclaire · 02/10/2017 11:42

I hate slugs.

Justgivemesomepeace · 02/10/2017 11:48

I have this problem, been battling it for years. I have a void under the house that gets wet due to the water table around here. Damp proof been done not helped. Some good ideas here! I'm going to try the salt water spray tonight and put the slug pellets round the outside.

Ifailed · 02/10/2017 11:51

Has this in a house with a cellar and a 'crawl space' under the kitchen. Slime trail showed us they were coming in via an air brick from the garden, then up through the skirting in the kitchen. 1 kg bag of dishwasher salt later, brushed into the skirting over a night, stopped them.

WeeMadArthur · 02/10/2017 11:56

Use salt to stop them? And get your dogs treated for lungworm which they can pick up from eating slugs (vom) or anything a slug had been on.

IMissSmashHits · 02/10/2017 11:57

Gosh we have this issue in our sitting room and hallway. I think it's because the front chamber of our cellar gets quite damp but we've tried everything.
I hate living in a lovely, grown up house and coming downstairs feeling like I've moved back to my student house.

cottonwoolbrain · 02/10/2017 12:02

Same here.

I found a HUGE one a couple of days ago.. really massive. Somehow it had got round the slug repellant, the copper tape and the row of slug pellets and there it was - I swear the bl**dy thing managed to look reproachful as I slung it over the back fence.

We've no idea where they're coming from but every blasted morning there are their trails yet again... yet we almost never see them.. the other night was an exception

sashh · 02/10/2017 12:04

I had this occasionally but a few weeks ago I had a visitor in the form of a hedgehog.

I put dried cat food out for the hedgehog but the slugs eat them, Drucila (apparently Spike is too obvious a name) then eats the slugs.

Much as it may go against the grain try putting chews in the garden, they may prefer to eat them in the garden rather than come in to the house.