SLUGS!

Right, for a start WHAT is the point in a slug?!
My kitchen is in the cellar, the garden is higher than the kitchen as you have to go up 5 steps to get to it.... In wet and damp weather I end up with slugs in there and I kid you not, I just went down and there were knocking on 40 of the slimy little twerps! My house is not a nasty disgusting mess full of rubbish and what not, it's clean and tidy. Why have these horrible efforts decided to invade? I don't leave anything out they could want to eat and I need to find a way to deter the little toerags because if my dogs eat them they can end up with lung worm and it can kill them and I am NOT having my babies being ill because of these grotty little squelch balls Plus the little swines have had my lillies!!

Hello,

Slugs are native, they are an important part of a balanced eco-system. They take care of keeping the forest floor clean of dead and dying debris. They decompose live and dead vegetation, consume roots, lichen, algae, fungi, carcasses and numerous other items recycling them into soil. It is said that their favorite food is mushrooms. Sometimes they eat garden plants, not excessively, just a nibble here and there.
We only have the SMALL one's where I live but I grew up on the coast and OMG they are HUGE. The only thing I have EVER seen eat one is a Seagull.

Lynn

LOL Lynn, I hear ya - on the coast they are ginormous! Not unusual to see them the length of your hand. Just...*shudders* ew.

But there are no mushrooms or dead things in my kitchen. It's clean and tidy how can I deter them? It was like walking into a horro film last night.... ATTACK OF THE SQUELCH BALLS! I don't want to kill them, just stop them getting in

If you can tell where they're getting in, you could lay down a line of salt. Slugs do not like salt because it dries them out.

Depending on where you live, they could be coming inside to escape heat or dryness. I doubt it has anything to do with your clean and tidy home and more they're looking for a place of shelter.

Ahhh right, they always seem to turn up in damp weather, I know my neighbour has the same problem Cheers Kaere

Hello

OMG it was too funny the AM when me middle Son ( the bug boy and fish boy ) say his first LAGE Slug in the appartment ( ground floor) we were stayin in . It was an OLD buiding and they woud come in from the soaked concrete balcony. OMG he had it by one antini. I screamed bloody murder. I was so grossed out. Goes Mom why is it so big and why am I covered in goo. OMG. It took so much soap to get him clean.
I know that a frind has some "Natural and Organic " garden stuff he uses. I might suggest some of that near the door or window they come in. Might help STOP the entry. OMG the thought of stepping on one with socks on going out one AM to get the News Paper.....If one is old enough to remember "TOE SOCKS" with the Rainbow design needless to say they were pitched.

Lynn

I think hedgehogs eat slugs so try not to use slug pellets or other poisons if you can help it.

Never thought about a hedgehog! had every other form of wildlife in there too!

Be careful though. I read a book once where people reincarnated into the creature they had mistreated most during their lifetime. So, Rainbow, if you don't want to return as a slug...

You mean i'm gonna come back as an earwig....oh no ....

Deepwaters.... How can you say that to me lol!

I just want them to stay out of my kitchen. I mean the clean up in the morning is ritual, but it's my dogs I'm bothered about more than anything. I've found them in the bin where I keep their food and sliming up their dishes *shudder* and my dogs are my babies, I don't want them getting ill or worse because of these uninvited guests. I have heard that copper repels them so the hubby is going to put some round all the thresholds to see if that works. If not I'm at a loss as what to do

If you obtain some wide tubing or pipe and cut it in half lengthways then fix it all around the house outside with the curve facing outward, apparently they can't crawl over the rim.
Try the garden centre. I've seen this in catalogues for gardens so it shouldn't be too hard to find. Of course it wouldn't work for open doors because you can hardly put a tube across the doorway. Hmm, have to think about that.

Have you tried sprinkling wood ash, sand or broken egg shells? They don't like crawling over it.

Just a thought, your dogs could just as easily swallow the slugs directly from the garden when they're outdoors, so they're still going to be at risk... surely the garden centre must have something to drive them away, otherwise you're just going to have to kill them off if it means them or the dogs. Sad.

Ahhhh yes, crushed egg shells I knew there was something 'natural' to deter them, I wonder if cat litter would work in the same way I can't see dogs trying to eat that

Violet ... have you met my dogs? One of them ate my couch!



Deepwaters, thanks for the tips I'll give them a go but if it comes down to it then I'm afraid I'll have to run the risk of coming back as a slug as my dogs mean a whole lot more to me than the slugs. My dogs are my babaies, best friends and playmates.



Yes I'm obssessed with my furry pups lol

Rainbow, since you began this thread slug things seem to be everywhere i've seen books galore and even a slug GAME your slugs are haunting me as i've been helping you plot their demise in this thread

Slugs can 'slide' through little cracks in the wall or floor. I can only suggest you check for any holes. We renovated our bathroom and didn't realise the builders had not blocked up gaps. I would often walk in the kitchen and find them coming from under the washer. After putting up with it - basically because it wasn't every day - we removed the washer, the kitchen sink and a floor unit before we saw a number of gaps. Since blocking them up we've only had one which we assume was already in the house/kitchen hiding somewhere. We thought they were coming through the back door and tried salt and eggshells on the steps outside, it didn't stop any of the blighters though. I have heard copper tape stops slugs from climbing up a plant pot so it might well work around the home.

I recently saw a slug eating a leaf I saw it's mouth it was weirdly mesmerising!

Slugs are as worthy of kindness and mercy as anything else....