WANTED : Advice on getting rid of slugs..

[Strawbs]

We have just moved in to a ground floor flat and are having an issue with slugs in our kitchen during the night.. We have caught them in the act a few times (coming out to 4 or 5 of the things) and also the evidence is there in the morning when we wake up ( if we havent caught them in the act ourselves). We have put slug killer down and also we now put the plug in when we go to sleep which seems to have stopped them for a few days but woke up this morning and their trails were everywhere so they are back..

Any tips on how we get rid of them or atleast deter them?

thanks

[Rowanofski]

A saucer or pot of beer. Seriously! My mum used to put one out in the garden and they'd always slither off to their watery grave on the promise of free beer. For the tee-total slugs, she takes great pleasure in going out in the middle of the night with a torch, a trowel and an unhealthy level of sadistic pleasure in chopping them up alive. As far as I'm aware, they never made it into her legendary casserole. Or did they...

[Strawbs]

As in they would drink the beer then go and die or they would just way much prefer swimming in a pool of beer than slugging around on a kitchen sink?

Wow your mum was keen on slug removal! ha ha ha..

We have tried putting a line of salt on the kitchen surfaces, dishwasher etc.. Will try your pot of beer idea.. Its all worth a try at this point!

thanks

[SteveT]

slug pellets from asda or diy shop in LL

[Ladymuck]

...milk also works (even better if it's slightly out of date because the smell is more attractive). Also, I'd ensure the receptacle used is at least one inch deep. This is because the CLEVER ones, will just sit on the edge and sip, drink to their heart's content, and then come back the next day (this applies whether using milk or beer). If deep enough - they DROWN - HA HA HA HA! Little bastards, some nights I catch over 100 of them.

[giggirl]

Are they coming up through the plug hole in your sink? Yuk. Beyond disgusting. Why not pour some bleach down at night and then put the plug in firmly. Sprinkle lots of pellets outside too.

[SeanMacGabhann]

When you catch them at night, have any bared their fangs yet?

;-)

[SimonM]

What you need is a pet hedgehog....

only they tend to have fleas...

[*Tee*]

Yuk, how disgusting, this used to happen with our old flat, ground floor too. I totally feel your pain strawbs. I decided i had enough and spent the day hunting down where they were coming from, found some holes and blocked them up.Its usually a little gap down behind the sink or similar! saw less and less each day. Also slug pellets and salt like a ring all around the house.

Some of the gaps that i could not reach, i got salt and threw it down behind the kitchen units, sounds drastic but Worked a treat! Slugs hate salt, and wont go anywhere near it. This will work promise!

[Strawbs]

Hey all thanks for the responses.. I can totally confirm it is beyond disgusting and the kitchen is getting scrubbed within an inch of its life every day!

Tried the bleach, tried the plug (which stopped them for a few days but now they have worked out another way of getting in), tried the salt and also continue to put pellets down.. I think the only thing left to do is way more salt in each cupboard like you say Tee and pulling all the cupboards out and filling any space we see..

Is it a seasonal thing or can we expect this all year round?

x

[sanity girl]

on a positive note, apparently slugs love to eat mould, so at least your kitchen will be mould and mildew free :) I have a green cleaning book that suggests keeping a couple of slugs in the shower to keep it free of mould - I kid you not!!

[Narnia]

I know beer has been suggested but I always heard it was Guinness that did the trick. Maybe it where I'm from?

[TillieTrotter]

File for a divorce.

[SteveT]

lol tillie.

[daizie]

Strwbs iv got slugs as well. If i forget and leave the dogs food out overnight ,there are slug trails everywhere. Yuk. Just keep all food locked away, they havnt come back since ive been doing that for the last week, not nice .

[*Tee*]

Totally seasonal. With us they only came in when it got warmer, and only in the night, huge light brown ones they were, one after the other YUk! So you are not alone. I'm freaking out thinking about sluggate at our old flat. Please be assured its not all year round promise.

Salt soon becomes your best friend.

[Jeremy]

Why don't you try frying them with some garlic butter? They probably taste just like snails.

[daizie]

To go with Sandpersons blackberry + maggot jam , yummy

[bigbadwolf]

Back to the topic at hand.

Strawbs,

I'm being serious when I say you may want to get more powerful anti-slug deterents/poisons because this is what happens when they move in for good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUntmynCPGw

[Sue]

Been there, done that, trod on them in the dark with bare feet .....

You probably have a damp problem in your flat, sorry, need to sort that and then the slugs won't come in :-S

[ibilly99]

Buy One Get One Free

OK, a slug comes into a bar, asks for a drink. The bartender says, we don't serve slugs, and throws him out the door. Three months later, a slug comes into the bar and says, "Why the hell did you throw me out?!"

[Ladymuck]

SeanMacGabhann Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> When you catch them at night, have any bared their

> fangs yet?

>

>

Fangs? ... they don't stand a chance...into a big plastic bag they go...nice tight knot in bag...into the wheely bin...and those that manage to survive suffocation...GET CRUSHED ON A FRIDAY BY SOUTHWARKS'S GIANT CRUSHERS...HE HE HE HE HE...little bastards(6)

[Ladymuck]

Declan Wrote:

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> I know beer has been suggested but I always heard

> it was Guinness that did the trick. Maybe it where

> I'm from?

Guinness DOES do the trick - but it's FAR too good for those little BASTARDS (God I HATE slugs - as a 100% organic gardener they make my life ten times harder(6)) than it could be. GGRRRR).

[SteveT]

True gardeners go out at 4 am with a torch and then stamp them out, as they roam freely at that time of the morning, wear something on your feet, to stop the slug-slime getting between your toes.

[Peckham native]

Not alot of use for inside the house but I used nematodes for the first time this year in the garden and it worked. Applied once to the garden in early June and haven't seen a slug since. (Don't buy it now if you're thinking of applying it next spring as it has a short shelf life) Nematodes