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When we first moved in to our house there were a few slugs on the walls outside, not really an issue so I ignored it. Over winter I found one scooting about the kitchen floor. Put it back outside and thought nthing of it. Came home today and found [i]literally[/i] 36 slugs climbing the walls outside like some sort of slug pilgrimage. We don't have bushes up against the walls, we have pebbles and paving all round the house, and all of the neighbours houses are slug free.
What the hell is going on?! Any ideas on removing them without getting violent or throwing salt on them?? Why are they climbing my walls and why only my walls?!
I don't know what you consider violent, but the only way to get rid is....
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Seriously, you can get [url= http://www.pestcontrol2u.net/details.asp?ID=625 ]copper tape[/url] that gives them a static shock that might discourage them.
Leave a saucer full or beer on the ground and they will climb in and drown. Make sure it's proper beer though and not Euro-fizz, slugs have more discrimination than the average town-centre pisshead.
Slugs migrate at this time of year, it sounds like your house is in their path. Dig a tunnel underneath and put some signs up.
We suffer the same on one was but inside the kitchen! We just happened to be up early one day and spotted one on the ceiling. We spent ages watching it. If fell off at one point but still continued in the same direction. Seems they have built in sat nav. Anyway, they're not that smart as he revealed their entry point. We put some salt around that and it appeared to do the trick. We then noticed that they were still coming out there but going straight up instead. We didn't want to salt them directly as it seems a bit much and can leave a nasty stain. Instead, we put talc right up against the entry point and have not seen any since.
We've got some organic slug killer that won't poison hedgehogs that we're about to use outside and I hear nematodes are good for controlling them.
It was on the news the other day - all the dry weather drive them to cool places but recent rains meant they were gonna be out in force.
Either that or your house is possessed. By slug demons.
It drives me nuts, every so often I come downstairs to slug trails, hall / kitchen / lounge, quite random which room but there are the trails.
The only sure way appears to wait up for them, normally can catch them about 01.30, flush them or throw them and then no probs until the next time.
Still drives me nuts though!
We have the same in the house. They come out after we turn the lights off or late at night. Horrible things. Trod on one in bare feet one night and it popped up my trouser leg. Made me gag!
They come up from below the house and can't see how to get rid of them as they come up between the floorboards.
Trod on one in bare feet one night and it popped up my trouser leg.
😕 How quick are the slugs in your house ?
And are these "slugs" cold and slimy, or are they furry and make squeaking sounds ?
Sadly, it didn't crawl up my leg, but exploded up my leg!!! 😯
Ah, popped as in exploded, not as in "I'm popping down the shops".
Yes I can visualise your predicament now......thanks for clearing that up 8)
We just got some yucca based repellent as it is child and pet safe. Also bought some sealant and went round filling gaps around windows doors and air bricks. Got 3 big ones in beer traps and the rest seem to have taken the hint and gone.
Is your house built on an old Indian graveyard?
Count how many there are, then put a small mark on 20% of them. bit of tippex or something, then have a look a week later, and see how many have tippex on them, this will give you a sense of how many are 'yours' and how many ae new.
I'm starting to wonder Ambrose! I have a feeling they hide out in the cobbly pebbles that are all around the foot of the house and then come out at night. They don't tend to come inside except on rare occasion but it is a bit revolting when they do. We put greenie-friendly pellets down in the veg patch in the garden and there were dozens dead the next morning, but it doesn't seem to stop them from assaulting the house each night - it's like the normandy landings in vertical form.
I always wondered if beer traps were just inviting them from far and wide, rather than just getting ones that are near. I've heard cold coffee works a treat as concentrated stuff kills them and less concentrated puts them off but I've no idea if it's true. Maybe salt disolved into water and sprinkled all round the pebbles? Hopefully not unkind enough to fizz them all but might send them running for another house and leave an unpleasant taste on the rocks for a while?
I looked at the copper strip but I'd need about 8 rolls to stop them, might do it in the end though.
Don't want to seal up air bricks, but at the same time don't want them rumbling round in the walls!
Count how many there are, then put a small mark on 20% of them. bit of tippex or something, then have a look a week later, and see how many have tippex on them, this will give you a sense of how many are 'yours' and how many ae new.
I'm a lover of science, however I'm failing to see the point of this, do you mean to identify if they're passing through or resident? And what's the options with each outcome, or are we just curious? Not sure tippex sticks to nuclear-slime-mankiness
Is your house built on an old Indian graveyard?
Are you suggesting that these slugs are reincarnated Indian Hindus?
I'm a lover of science, however I'm failing to see the point of this, do you mean to identify if they're passing through or resident? And what's the options with each outcome, or are we just curious? Not sure tippex sticks to nuclear-slime-mankiness
Well, curiosity is one bit. Secondly, you'll know if anyone is stealing your slugs, thirdly if you can identify their immigration status you might be on your way to deciding if it is worth throwing them out or not. If they are migrants, it's fairly pointless, they are on their way out anyway, you may get some slight relief from accelerating the program. If they are resident then throwing them out should keep your garden clear. Of course they may be homing slugs and will eventually return, but if you put them in your car and take them far away, or maybe when you go on holiday?, then they will take a long time to return (you could race them if you had different coloured tippex!!). Of course it may leave a gastropidic vacuum in your garden which is filled by some other pest which occupies the same evolutionary niche, but then you have some interesting resuls and another interesting study. So... lots of reasons for marking them up. Keep in mid, tippex may make them more visible to birds and other predators, so your sampling may be a bi biased.
I'm going to have to re-think my immigration policy then it seems. Id be amazed if they were just tourist slugs, I'd expect all [s]countries[/s] houses in the area to have similar issues, unless someones built my house in a slug highway, and I reckon the house has been here longer than all the slugs I've seen, some are big but they're not THAT big. One measured 7 inches last night!
it might be that the slugs have very long life spans, salt not withstanding (does anybody know?). They might just be wondering where all the houses suddenly appeared from.
Stab them with knitting needles and leave them for the birds.
Takes ages to clean their slime off the soles of bare feet, REALLY sticky and slimy, eurgggh! I tend to lob them across the fence into someone elses garden, 'cos im nice like that.
Takes ages to clean their slime off the soles of bare feet, REALLY sticky and slimy, eurgggh!
Stick a couple in your tires and you have an organic option for going tubless?
Or even better, sell them on STW clasified 'Slugs no tubes tubeless kits'
😉
it might be that the slugs have very long life spans, salt not withstanding (does anybody know?)
The oldest known slug is thought to have been born around the time when Christopher Columbus discovered the New World.
It is thought that a generally laid back attitude, plus a tendency to engage in long periods of deep meditation, contributes to the fact that slugs hardly heffer have heart attacks.
Stab them with knitting needles and leave them for the birds.
Can I order a Limax Sweater please, size large!
Slugs migrate at this time of year,
Yes, I suspect these are Asian slugs which have migrated to the UK for breading.
They are attracted to the dead body in the loft.
They are attracted to the dead body in the loft.
Tis possible, I have to admit.
I remember seeing a program on slug migration. A tortoise was caught in their path and was totally overwhelmed, like a tidal wave but slower, and inland, and slugs not waves.
I suggest you dress up as a giant slug and try to reason with them.
Why not leave the beer out for them. Then once a few of them have fallen in, simply pick the glass up and neck the lot, slugs and all.
Make sure you do it in full view of the others. And smile at them in a slightly deranged manner as you wipe the slime from around your mouth with the back of your hand.
All the rest of the slugs will think you're mental. A proper hard bastard. They'll soon be on there way
Unless they've access to firearms and are bent on avenging their fallen comrades. Then you could be in trouble.
Can you not somehow surround the building with (copper?) conveyor belts, baited with baby robins?
shedbrewed - Member
Stab them with knitting needles and leave them for the birds.
When the other slugs see it they tend to get the message they aren't wanted.
Dig a deep hole line it with a waterproof liner fill it with water plants and frogs. You now have an attractive garden feature and a form of slug control . It does take a couple of years to really kick in though.
plus if you change your mind you have somewhere to stash the body from the loft.
Can you buy domesticated hedgehogs?
What? and walk them round on a lead?
Perhaps one of them was bad at typing on the keyboard and hit a G instead of a T (directly below)- hence they are all out for a walk
Can you buy domesticated hedgehogs?
I remember once Gerald Durrell mentioning that there are hedgehogs living in New Zealand, but that whoever had transported the first ones must have de-fleaed them, cause none of them have any fleas (some people have argued that because hedgehogs have so many fleas, they must be vital to them)
So somewhere along the line people have domesticated hedgehogs. I have no idea of where you would buy one though.
If you did buy one, would you end up having to buy extra slugs to keep it fed?
Dig a deep hole line it with a waterproof liner fill it with water plants and frogs. You now have an attractive garden feature and a form of slug control
Maybe a moat around the house? With frogs of course. Interesting idea, I fancy a draw bridge and portcullis but I'm not sure it'll look right in suburban Scotland.
Copper conveyors sound fun. Not sure they're quite so practical, that's like border control robocop style.
Hey, maybe that's a good idea - webcam, motorised paintball turret and vision system. Might upset the posty in a morning but imagine the fun and pretty colours on the wall in the morning, and lots of splattered slugs!
I'm losing the non-violent side now!
I'd love hedgepigs - not seen any round here though? I could happily get ferrets (they love slugs) but I couldn't let them roam the gardens, wouldn't be long before local and dogs were masacred in the garden...hang on...two birds....
If you did buy one, would you end up having to buy extra slugs to keep it fed?
Hell no, I'll get a photo of the nightly parade later!
Well actually I am reliably informed by my pet crow that not all slugs are edible. Apparently those little black ones with orangey undersides are absolutely delicious, but the big fat pale brown ones (which are generally the ones that find their way into houses) are totally disgusting and require to be immediately spat out.
Obviously that's a crow culinary preference, but I strongly suspect that hedgehogs share simular tastes (such as tasty frogs v poisonous toads) So whilst not a bad idea, a pet hedgehog is not necessarily quite the best solution the OP might be looking for.
Nematodes ftw. It's like the most horrifying form of biological warfare EVER dreamed up by sick minded film makers only worse.
And even then it's too good for the little FKKERS! EAT MY PLANTS WOULD YOU?!! DDIEEEEEEEEE!
It's like the most horrifying form of biological warfare EVER dreamed up by sick minded film makers only worse.
I remember as a child on a couple of occasions whilst collect earthworms for my African Clawed Toads (Xenopus Laevis) coming across earthworms which had attached to them, wormlike creatures which were in the process of devouring them alive. It was an utterly revolting sight which made me want to throw up 😐
Nematodes... off to search
Oy! I mentioned them right at the start of this thread.
Hilarious thread after a rubbish day at work! Thanks all
I used to use slug pellets in the yard, I inherited a tub off my grandad (they last for ever). Kept the buggers under control.
When it finally ran out, I got another tub from ASDA, different brand but same basic packaging. The new stuff didn't make a fig of difference to the slug population, but I was picking dead birds out of the yard for the next three days. 😯