'Slugs & Snails'

[gismorail]

I'm sure I'm not alone with regard to these horrid creatures that seem to be a major curse of gardeners and pet owners in the UK. Living as I do in a very rural location I seem to have more than my fair share of these pests that appear to have the ability to get anywhere they wish including the house !!!! .

My main annoyance is their love of pet food grrrrrrrr

 

 

The above picture explains what I mean although it only shows one slug I can very often find up to six or more chomping away at my cats food to their hearts desire and get very fat as a result 

Well I have just finished a new home for my cat ( he is very much an outside variety ...) and whilst construction was under way I investigated ways to try to stop the 'Slug invasion' and found a rather novel way on 'youtube ' and decided give it a go 

 

The idea is to surround the base of the shed / kennel with two strands of copper wire which are connected to a 9 volt battery and this will give the slugs a nasty shock as their slippery slimy bodies get in contact with both wires     ( I would point out that this process does not kill or cause any long term affect to these creatures just in case anyone was wondering )  ........ it just tells them to 'your not wanted here'  

 

 

This shows the two wires stapled along the base of the shed and goes all the way around the structure. the distance is approx 10mm .

 

 

Where the two wires meet you join them together and feed them through the side of the structure making sure the both are kept insulated 

 

 

The two wires are then attached to a 9 volt battery and the circuit is completed 

 

 

And hopefully a slug proof cat house is completed. please note that all the joins throughout the structure have been well sealed 

 

This idea would also work well around a raise garden bed or large plant pot which might well contain a treasured botanical specimen which one wishes to keep away from the 'evil garden pests'  

 

Hope this is of interest to any gardeners / pet owners 

Edited July 11, 2018 by gismorail

[Nearholmer]

Keep us posted on results.

 

We've had a real problem with the blighters somehow coming indoors since the weather turned dry and hot, and I'm looking for any viable solution up to and including flame throwers!

 

the mystery to solve tomorrow is where the dickens they are getting in.

[Ian Smeeton]

I wouldn't have thought that the battery was necessary.

 

We have lots of plants attractive to slugs in pots, and have used self adhesive copper tape around the more vulnerable ones, which seems to keep the little blighters out.

 

Buried jam jars filled withbeer also work, a happier ending for the slugs.

 

A trainee gardener I know has discovered that while slugs shrivel with salt, vinegar has far more explosive results. I have to say that I use neither method, leaving slug hunting to my better half.

 

She has perfected the art of slinging slugs into a bucket of bleach.

 

Each to their own, I suppose.

 

Regards

 

Ian

[Nearholmer]

I don't necessarily want to murder them, but do want to keep them out.

 

Does anyone know anything about slug software algorithms? I reckon they only carry three subroutine 'avoid getting eaten', 'eat' and 'reproduce', each with about ten lines of code, which makes them very single-minded ...... if we knew what the code was, we'd be better placed to give them repulsion or attraction stimuli...... more than anything they seem to hate light, so maybe the cure is a whisking great lamp shining where you don't want them.

[rab]

My son showed a keen interest in gardening,

from an early age, encouraged in no small part

by his grandad.

 

One evening when they were in the garden,

he saw a slug and pointed it out to grandad.

"Ah yes", says grandad, "We need to get those,

but there's a special way to catch them.

You have to grab them by the back legs"!

 

As my son got older he of course saw

the funny side, but he's never forgotten it,

and often comments on it if we see a slug

[russ p]

The best solution is to encourage hedgehogs into your garden but as you have cat food out and non are about seems unlikely that you have hedgehogs in your neighborhood.

Best not to use slug pellets as these are lethal to hedgehogs as they eat slugs and snails which have eaten the pellets.

We are lucky and visited by about seven hogs each night and have no slug problem at all

[Fat Controller]

We used to look after a very dim cat called 'Ptolemy', who actually used to catch the blessed creatures, and leave them outside the toilet door..Not nice when you nip for a quickie in the night, and are trying not to turn the lights on.

When I came home after a late shift once,when my mother was staying with us, I  discovered her bending over in the garden; she was sprinkling salt over the slugs.

Edited July 12, 2018 by Fat Controller

[Dava]

Russ is right.

 

Mrs Dava supports a couple of unemployed tomcats in our garden in addition to the quartet of girlie home cats. It's insane of course.

 

Anyway there are a few active hedgehogs who come along at night to snack on leftover cat food. We do have slugs & snails but the snuffles are friendly allies in keeping them down.

 

Dava

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Why is there pet food lying around to encourage foraging by other creatures? Keep carnivore pets hungry enough that they wolf the food down the moment it is available: that's their natural feeding pattern. We'd see fewer Flabradors, Fat Russell Terriers,  Bloathounds, Wheezemariners and stuffed cushion cats if pet owners fed them right.

 

Another of the slug algorithms is seek the coolest and dampest locations. In dry hot weather a house becomes that place. A strategic trap - the shaded sunken jar containing beer is best - near the entry point will do for most of them. Then there's human discipline. They travel in on your footwear: drop your outdoor footwear in a porch or small external cupboard arrangement, whatever may best suit to avoid transporting them in.

[Reorte]

Where I used to live I had slugs constantly getting in to the kitchen, I think through a pipe. Occasionally they got through to the lounge, treading on one in the dark whilst only wearing socks was particularly unpleasant. As was picking up the dishcloth to start cleaning a glass only to find a slug in it after I'd squished it around a few times. Thankfully there aren't many of them around where I live now.

[Nearholmer]

“Another of the slug algorithms is seek the coolest and dampest locations. In dry hot weather a house becomes that place. ”

 

That, I’m certain is the issue.

[Phil Bullock]

The best solution is to encourage hedgehogs into your garden but as you have cat food out and non are about seems unlikely that you have hedgehogs in your neighborhood.

Best not to use slug pellets as these are lethal to hedgehogs as they eat slugs and snails which have eaten the pellets.

We are lucky and visited by about seven hogs each night and have no slug problem at all

Absolutely Russ

We have had hogs for the first time in 8 years in our garden this year and even the marigolds have survived. Natural pest control - and wonderful wildlife to have in garden too

 

Phil

[Nearholmer]

So, simple really: I get a couple of hedgehogs to live in our kitchen during hot dry weather.

 

I spent until 01:00 this morning staking-out the kitchen, with the kick boards off below the cupboards, and I’m pretty sure they are getting in where a drain pipe penetrates the ‘plank and beam’ concrete floor to the air circulation space below, which, in turn, vents via air bricks to the garden.

 

Expanding foam filler!

[Reorte]

Expanding foam filler!

Wonder if they can chew their way through that (although trying to might get rid of them for you)?

[NeilHB]

Beer traps are all very well and good providing you don't have a Labradoodle that will drink the contents if left unsupervised - thankfully its before the slugs have fallen in...this is the dog that also helps himself to cherries directly off the tree in the garden - enough said! 

 

Must admit we've seen a lot less slugs and snails this year thankfully, though I will admit that I've not grown much in the garden this year of the sort that is usually swiftly devoured by them. 

[Nearholmer]

I knew the ones I'm having trouble with weren't from round here. Derby slugs, that's what they are!

[NeilHB]

I knew the ones I'm having trouble with weren't from round here. Derby slugs, that's what they are!

 

Always happy to share Nearholmer! :-) 

Edited July 12, 2018 by NeilHB

[shortliner]

I bought self-adhesive copper tape from China via ebay (cheapest source) to make power buses under my baseboards, and discovered that a strip stuck in the channel across/under the back door seems to be a definite cure The channel across the door is there to prevent rain water getting in, but it also seemed to be what they were using to make their way into the kitchen

Edited July 12, 2018 by shortliner

[E3109]

I have no issue with slugs and snails at all (or even puppy-dog tails).

When I inadvertently crush a snail by walking on one I always say a little 'sorry', quietly and to myself.

If all slugs were eradicated from a garden then the natural balance would be disturbed, don't forget there are some slugs whose sole purpose is to predate on other slugs.

 

I could never use slug pellets and the like, for those that do please bear in mind the unintended consequences for our bird life and hedgehogs.

 

The only creature I'd wish to see consigned to history forever, is the obnoxious mosquito and its ilk although even then, I suspect that the eradication of this vile beast would also affect nature's balance.

 

Oh and the African Eye Worm.

If there is a god, then why did he allow the existence of such an apparition?

[alastairq]

I used to have an indoor slug problem, at my last residence...which was an old ex-farmhouse.

Mostly coped with using a coal shovel, then playing 'sling-a-slug'....

However, one day, one decided to slither over the [exposed, inside] mains input terminals to my washing machine....caused fuses to trip, etc....the investigation process involved poking around where I couldn't see clearly, and sticking fingers in equally sticky slimy mess of ex-slug.

 

I have heard, that used coffee grounds spread strategically about can discourage slugs...They don't like the excess caffeine, perhaps?

 

Makes them hyperactive ? {A hyperactive slug??]

 

Now residing in a modern-ish house, thus, so far, no indoor slug issues.

 

There are hedgehogs visiting....there is a deep box-of-a-pond in the front, in which I have found several hedgehogs drowned [after I moved in]....seems they can swim, but if they cannot get out, they tire, and drown...

 

This has now been sorted, by begging one of next-door's redundant concrete gate posts.....sinking one end into the pond, leaving the other end stuck out on the side.

 

Now used as a public baths by all the various groups of sparrows, pigeons, and others...quite a sight, all queued up for their turn [or not, as sparrows are wont?]

[gismorail]

Just to update the original lead post for this thread. After getting on for six weeks since the experiment started I am glad to report that not one single slug or snail has got into the cat kennel..... and the cat has his food to him self ...result me thinks ...

Edited August 27, 2018 by gismorail

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

...Oh and the African Eye Worm. If there is a god, then why did he allow the existence of such an apparition?

 Ah, the 'problem' of evil. Not actually a problem in the context of the usual god of the West: who permits free will and acknowledges that there is active opposition.

 

BTW, 'he' is all sorts of trouble. Gender neutral is big in this field. Probably better to try 'Ship of Fools' for this kind of discussion.

[PhilJ W]

Keep us posted on results.

 

We've had a real problem with the blighters somehow coming indoors since the weather turned dry and hot, and I'm looking for any viable solution up to and including flame throwers!

 

the mystery to solve tomorrow is where the dickens they are getting in.

I have the same problem, they usually sneak out after dark but I did see a large one crossing the living room carpet when the room was lit. It was duly collected in a piece of kitchen paper, well salted and binned. When I visited Barbados about 40 years ago the hotel was a series of lodges set in a garden, the slugs got into the lodges but there they were a foot or more long and about an inch in diameter.  

[gismorail]

I have the same problem, they usually sneak out after dark but I did see a large one crossing the living room carpet when the room was lit. It was duly collected in a piece of kitchen paper, well salted and binned. When I visited Barbados about 40 years ago the hotel was a series of lodges set in a garden, the slugs got into the lodges but there they were a foot or more long and about an inch in diameter.  

uuuugh horrid give them an electric shock but would need more than 9v 

[Free At Last]

I used to get the slugs to work for me by leaving the empty cat food tins by their hang-out. A day or two later the tins would be gleaming and they would not stink the recycling bin out.