I am sick of slugs INSIDE my house!

[MrsSeanBean]

We have a 1920s brick house.

Slugs somehow get inside the house - mainly at night - and I come down to their horrible slimy trails all over the floor every morning.

I called the pest control people at the council who advised me to lay cracked eggshells outside the air-bricks, but still the problem persists. Aside from laying pellets inside the house (dodgy), I don't know what else to do. Sometimes I come down in the night to get a glass of water and find the slugs crawling around. My patience and sanity is wearing very thin.

(a) Does anyone else have this hideous problem;
(b) if so, how did you solve it?

[CouthyMowEatingBraiiiiinz]

The white things were slug and snail mites - basically slug nits!

[CouthyMowEatingBraiiiiinz]

[sugarknockers]

oh my god that has just made me cringe even more yakkkkkk thanks for replying tho :)

[CrazyOldMare]

Sorta glad I'm not the only one suffering. Can stand spiders & snakes, toads & worms but slugs urrgh!
Regularly finding them in my new kitchen; whats anoying is I'd gone round the holes when the old one was removed & used filler in all the gaps.
Didn't have a slug problem before with the old kitchen.

I heard someone mention mint spray as a slug deterrant & wondered if anyone has also heard of this?? How do you make it or get it from any ideas ladies?

[VivaLeBeaver]

Since I last posted on this thread I've got rid of the slugs!

I made homemade beer traps. You get a mineral water plastic bottle. Saw the top off with a kitchen knife. But beer in the bottom. Invert the top into the body of the bottle and tape it on. Lay the bottle on the side.

The slugs are attracted to the beer, they go in but can't get out.

[PigletJohn]

Raid is an insecticide. Slugs are molluscs, not insects.

Slug treatments are usually found on the gardening shelves. I have used one that you water on, but I think it is for leaves and things that they eat, rather than a contact killer.

[PigletJohn]

ignore that. it relates to a different page.

[matchless]

How do they get in? PVC doors and frames have drainage slots cut into them-easy entry for slugs. Wooden doors NEVER fit properly, so you just can't win. Why do they come in? They smell FOOD! A 3am surprise visit will catch them out.

[fanglespangle]

Not sure if this will get seen under the sea of posts here, but I found the best way to stop slugs without leaving a frothy mess is just use light. slugs hate light. they will avoid it.

obviously, if you get slugs in the bedroom then this is not a good alternative but for the most part, it works fine. probably cheaper than investing in slug pellets and less fuss than salt.

[Alwayscheerful]

Slugs are usually attracted to damp. We had a similar problem in a cottage we owned. There was a guttering joint above a window which leaked slightly with heavy rain and rotted the joists and the wooden floor, none of this was obvious until we had the house rewired. The builder cleared out the area beneath the floorboards, sat the joists on slate and replaced the floor! No more slugs, wonderful to get up in the night and not worry about slugs.

[Nuttyslack]

Just woke and found a trail all over the bedroom floor. Removed / moved everything to follow the trail, found the little bugger!
It's come in through the window during the night, I can see the trail.

[Damnautocorrect]

I was going to post the same, used to just see the trails in the living room, now in the bedroom too.
Eeeeeek.

[Damnautocorrect]

Sugarknockers, if they are the same as snails you need to take them 2 miles away so they don't come 'home'

[Mellyboo]

I've been having the same problem for over a year!! 1st they were in my bathroom, the that died down (still get the odd on in there though) no they're in my living room!! I keep finding the odd one! N then I would wake up the next day n find loads of slug trails! And last night I woke up at 3am went to the loo (my bathroom is downstairs) n I spotted a big on so threw it outside n then noticed more!! In total I got rid of ten in my living room last night! I didn't think it was that bad :( tried salt, not working, can't use slug pellets cos of my 3 year old so my next step is to fill any holes I can find! I hate living like this :(

[PatriciaPT]

I once knew a family who bought a (Edwardian) house over the road from us. They had it completely renovated and apparently when they floorboards were taken up in one room, underneath was just a mass of slugs. Which ought (but doesn't) to give me a sense of proportion when I find (quite often) the odd one or two, usually in my kitchen (Victorian house). And slime trails all over my work tops but no sign of the slugs. Try as I have, I still find them so repulsive - I'd be more than happy with toads or slow worms but slugs - ugh! Once I got up because of strange noises in my house, couldn't find anything but in the morning - there was a frog in my upstairs bedroom. As my pond was frequented by frogs, I was used to finding the odd one indoors when I had the garden doors open, but upstairs - that was a new one on me.

[beeapi2]

i'd just like to say thanks to everyone for all the helpful tips on getting rid of indoor slugs. We have them coming into our conservatory - and from what people have said, they probably get in through air bricks or under the door - yuk! They seem to be making a beeline (excuse the pun) for our poor old dog's food bowl. No help for it, we have to leave him some dry dogfood down at night, because he's eating so little at each meal.

I also found that salt seemed to keep the slugs away, but I'm off to find some of that Growing success advanced slug stopper.

If that doesn't work, I might be looking to hire the boyfriend on offer!!

[tobiasfunke]

Best thing to do is try to get rid of them in your garden and then there are none to come in. We had a garden full of them and they used to come in to the house. We used nemaslug in the garden and they just disappeared and in the rest of the 10 years we lived there we had no more slugs. Lots of snails but no slugs. It was magic.

[elvisola]

I live in a new build but they still get in through the tiny gap under the front door I think. The cat eats them

[stubbornstains]

You can get organic slug pellets, that cause no harm to pets or children (allegedly). They're available at any garden centre. They contain ferric phosphate, which causes them to swell up and explode, apparently. Am I wrong that this thought gives me immense satisfaction?

As I live in a Victorian granite cottage in the World Capital of Damp, I've pretty much resigned myself to having some of the little slimy fuckers in the house. I am cheered that, on the strength of this thread, I'm probably not the only person disturbing the neighbourhood with cries of "Get out of my fucking HOUSE you little slimy bastard!" at 1.00am...

[triana]

i have them coming up plughole every night and these are babies yuk did have an adult but my boyfriend persuaded it to leave,is hotrrible getting up to slugs in the night grrr

[Eejoweejosan]

I've had 'slug problems' on and off for years. Live in a 1940's semi. Reading all the comments brought back horrific memories of coming down in the early hours night after night (in bare feet too may I add... :( ), to find them sliming their way across my hallway and living room floor. Constantly found trails the next morning plastered over the stairs carpet, up the walls and ceiling (?!?) with no visible entry/exit point! Think the parachute theory is totally on the money! Said culprits were always scooped up in wads of loo roll and promptly flushed (they were well wrapped, so hope there were no great escapes!) and after a while, things slowed, and eventually stopped. This was probably 6-8yrs ago. However, last week, noticed a tiny slime trail on the living room rug... Kinda thought, 'oh no, this is not good, gonna need to sort this' in a not very urgent way. But. Early morning coffee in hand this morning, my daughter was just about to plop herself on the sofa... When I spotted the London Underground map of slug slime ALL OVER THE SOFA!!! Blood boiling, I've now declared all-out war on this band of dirty bleeders! Going to use the salt barrier, slug pellets, beer traps made from plastic water bottles washing floors with salt added to the water, whatever it takes! Thank you to all the tips here! They will not win!! thrusts fist in the air and runs to the kitchen yelling Get me the saaaaaalt!!!!

[Gloriousconfusion]

I never realized it was so common to have slugs in the house. If I find them in the kitchen, I pick them up with a paper towel, put salt on them and throw the slime-filled paper into the waste bin. In the bathroom I just chuck them in the toilet and flush it.

Even the cat won't go near them, which is a bit disappointing, because one of the reasons we keep a cat is to keep down pests.

I hate them so much that I have even written a poem called Arena of War on my Web Page War on Slugs

[noplacelikehome1]

Best way to get rid of slugs is find where they are coming into and exiting the home and seal it. Slugs like all living species are intelligent forms and know that if they are to go inside they must be able to get out too or risk death by drying up. I found holes on the outside of my kitchen where they were coming in through and exiting. I used a sealent to seal the holes on both sides of the walls and since theres been no slugs. Job done! Oh and by the way slugs dont drown in beer they just get drunk then when they're good and ready slither out.

[wheresthedoobrey]

Phew!! Very relieved to come across this thread - despite it being several years old. Thought I was going mad....
These bloody things are invading my house........ and my dreams (the other morning I woke up convinced they were on my pillow.... could be only a matter of time..)!!
Oddly enough I've hardly ever happened across these vile things in my front and back garden.....

and yet.... wait for it... they are appearing in my shoes, curled up inside my youngest child's Duplo Lego pieces, slimey trails under the settee and on the stair carpet, and even over my children's school book bags - much to their horror!!! Revolting isn't the word.

We live in a big,rented (luckily!),Victorian house, with 2 open fireplaces, and stripped wood flooring. So difficult to pinpoint how and where they are getting in, as so many bloody possibilities.

Our house isn't damp at all, so I totally fail to see the attraction. What are they feeding on??

To top all that, we have have a couple of mice who seem to love residing here into the bargain!!!! Arrrrgggh!!!

I'm beginning to think the landlady saw us coming! We've got the house until February 2015, with the option of extending, but now I'm seriously considering getting the hell out!

Is anyone else still experiencing this problem? If so, has anyone tried using slug pellets or repellent inside the house? I've started by liberally spreading salt in some of the cracks and crevices around the house. Prob give the beer suggestion a try.

x

[StairsInTheNight]

If you have hard floors you can track your slugs. By sprinkling flour on the floor overnight,you'll see the trails where they came in!

They you have to clean up the flour, of course :-(