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Original poster

a slug is loose in my house!

27 replies

hana · 05/07/2004 22:01

Just saw the wasp invasion thread and remembered that for the past few days I have woken up to a snail trail (or maybe a slug trail) all over the rug downstairs. Very yucky. Any tips on getting rid of the thing? Have moved all the furniture back to see where it is hiding but no luck. The trail is dry by morning....are they nocturnal!?!?
thanks for your help!

OP posts:
dogwalker · 05/07/2004 22:07

Same happened to me a while ago, I just couldn't find the thing that was leaving trails over the hall carpet, but a few months later I found a severely dead snail stuck to the back of a photograph that was on the hall table.

dogwalker · 05/07/2004 22:08

They're definitely nocturnal - perhaps you could leave a few slug pellets around ? and then vac them up before they become a danger to kids/pets?

codswallop · 05/07/2004 22:09

whats she doing htere then

StickyNote · 05/07/2004 22:30

DO NOT PICK IT UP WITH YOUR BARE HANDS - dh did this and spent an hour (I kid you not) washing his hands over and over with Swarfega and he could still feel the slime - yuk!

chocbox · 05/07/2004 22:37

Srinkle the area where you find the trails with salt (lots of). If the snail/slug goes onto the salt it will die. Nice 'n' easy!

chocbox · 05/07/2004 22:37

That was meant to say 'sprinkle'

Frenchgirl · 05/07/2004 22:39

hana, I have no intelligent comment to make on this but love the title of your thread, all it needs is a little 'Hitchock' style music to go with it
aaaaarrrrggghhhhhhhhh
I can see it now going up to your bathroom while you're in the shower

kalex · 05/07/2004 22:40

I used to get them in the kitchen and leave salt in the door biitie ( God! brain turned to mush)

Has kept them out all summer

Last year I want into the kitchen at 3am and stood on one Was not a happy bunny, spent about 3 hours in the shower. Still makes me shudder in the retelling

StickyNote · 05/07/2004 22:42

I stood on a toad once with bare feet...the squish was something I never want to hear/feel again.

wobblyknicks · 05/07/2004 22:49

kalex and stickynote - urrrgggghhhhh!!!

hana - if you see a big bit of 'fluff' on the carpet don't touch it and watch where you walk/sit!!!

Branster · 05/07/2004 23:06

there's what you need to do hana: leave a bowl 1/2 filled with beer on the carpet and you'll find the offending snail in the morning in there. not sure if snails drown in beer or they get drunk and have a coma or they just swim happily in there for hours on end , but that'll do it. you'll find the snail (if there is such a creature wondering around your house, one must not overlook the possibilty of a little green alien residing in your house, you never know )

Blu · 05/07/2004 23:14

LOL Frenchgirl!
The Sliming....

Original poster
hana · 06/07/2004 12:16

well.
Snail trail even longer today. I left out a lid of beer and the trail went up to the lid and the snail clearly did a bypass around it to explore a little more.
Maybe I'll leave more beer, perhaps he was a bit put out by the small offerings!

OP posts:
foxinsocks · 06/07/2004 12:23

oh we seem to have an army of slugs trailing around our house at night. When I go downstairs to the loo in the night, I now have to turn the light on otherwise I end up treading on them (and they are now enormous). There's nothing worse than getting them stuck between your toes

Check what your neighbours are up to. I haven't put down the pellets because I'm worried the kids would eat them but I know that both neighbours have done, so the little blighters have ganged up and bombarded our home instead. Salt works but I'm afraid they are bloody difficult to get rid of permanently.

Original poster
hana · 12/07/2004 18:34

slug/snail still here!! I did find one and thought that was it, but the next day the trail was there all over the rug again. Waiting for him to shrivel up and whither away......!!!

OP posts:
colinsmommy · 12/07/2004 19:04

OMG!!!! Thanks for the thread. We have one in our house and can't figure out where or how it is alive. I thought it was just a disgusting thing that happened to only us.

whizzz · 12/07/2004 22:08

I the odd slug visits in my previous house - it was an old house & I think they came up through gaps in the floor boards. Put salt round the skirting boards.

slug · 13/07/2004 13:38

Personally I usually come in through the front door.

Original poster
hana · 13/07/2004 21:37

will try the salt - but we have so many big gaps!! At least the slime is dry by the morning

OP posts:
foxinsocks · 13/07/2004 22:16

hana, follow the trails around. You'll see straight away where they come from. They love damp houses (ours fits that bill) and live in attics or under the floor (or anywhere warm and cosy I think).

They absolutely hate coffee as well as salt so either will do as a deterrent. Good luck slug hunting!

colinsmommy · 13/07/2004 23:21

Its dead!!!!!!!

I knew I could come to Mumsnet for advice, but I never thought to ask about slugs.

poppyseed · 13/07/2004 23:23

R.I.P Slug

Pagan · 14/07/2004 00:12

Did you get it with the salt then or was it trampled to death by the big slipper or did it drown in beer???? Go on tell us???

colinsmommy · 14/07/2004 00:20

Drowned in a pool of beer. It made me happy to tell him that I got the idea from MN. He mostly makes fun of me for being on here with "a bunch of drunk British women". He came home one day for lunch(8 hrs behind) and I was in a virtual bar, so that is what he thinks I do all day.

Branster · 14/07/2004 01:04

i take it "he" is dh not the defunct slug