Slugs

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Lotsaquestions
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Joined: Wed Aug 23, 2017 6:06 am

Slugs

Post by Lotsaquestions »

Came down this morning and I found slug trails on our carpet. I've found slugs in the house before if we've come down middle of the night. We take up all dog food every night and hoover away any possible crumbs as I know that attracts them, but I think they're still coming. Problem is - Merlin eats them. Twice I've found slug in dog vomit in the morning now. His worm treatment does cover lungworm, thankfully.

Has anyone had any issues with slugs before and do you know how to get rid? I've tried following their trails back to where they're coming in but I can't see to find it. Its two rooms only - but mostly the room with poor Merlin's playpen. All food is taken up, so I don't even know why they're still trying to come in. I've heard of warm beer drowning them...
JudyN
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Re: Slugs

Post by JudyN »

Warm beer would work - Merlin would drink it and fall into an alcoholic stupor instead of eating the slugs! :lol:

Would it be possible for Merlin to sleep in an upstairs room?

I also wondered if you could get a dog-proof slug trap which you could put pellets in (some pettets are claimed to be safe for pets but I wouldn't trust that for a moment). At risk of him getting seriously frustrated, you could test it out with kibble first to make sure it really is Merlin-proof.

If you can't tell where they're coming in, I wonder if it would help to control them outside the house, all round the perimeter? You could use nematodes outside - these are, I believe, safe if the dog eats the affected slugs, and I've found them effective in my garden (you may need to treat the whole garden).
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
Lotsaquestions
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Re: Slugs

Post by Lotsaquestions »

Merlin can't sleep upstairs as it is always too warm for him, so he just paces constantly and can't relax. It is a pain, which is why we have to sleep downstairs with him whenever he's ill. :lol:

I'll look into slug traps that are dog proof, I didn't even know they existed! Really need to deal with them. I'm sure Merlin enjoys his midnight snacks, but I don't enjoy cleaning them up!

Going to take a look in the front garden to see if there is anywhere obvious they're coming in. I am a bit reluctant to put poison outside as some people do walk their dogs off lead, and one has entered our front garden before. As much as they should really lead up their dogs, I don't want to kill them! Plus there are cats everywhere... And even one free roaming rabbit. :roll:
JudyN
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Re: Slugs

Post by JudyN »

Just in case you don't know... nematodes aren't poison, they're a parasite which only (as far as I know) parasitises slugs so definitely don't count as 'poison'. They don't work until the soil has warmed up a bit though, so you'd have to wait a month or so to use them.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
Lotsaquestions
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Re: Slugs

Post by Lotsaquestions »

Just read about them and slugs. Now I know why some slugs have really big humps on their backs, eww..

They are definately an option then if we can find a soily bit in the front garden that the slugs are frequenting. It is all paved so I can't seem to find a place where they are lurking.

I don't know of it makes a different, but the slugs are all 'Yellow Cellar Slugs' according to the slug chart I've seen, not the brown garden slugs you see outside. They are huge, horrible, striped things. I wonder if they're actually living under the floorboards.

Edit: Just thought, I take up his food, but not his water. I wonder if they are attracted to that too? Not sure what to do about that though as I don't want to leave Merlin without water through the night.
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Nettle
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Re: Slugs

Post by Nettle »

Allegedly slugs can't cross copper, so you could fit copper along the entrances to your home. Of course this won't help if they are coming up through the floorboards, but still worth doing in the doorways IMO.
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ZaraD
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Re: Slugs

Post by ZaraD »

Hi lotsaquestions

Not been on in a while as if been battling slugs myself , did anything work for you? I keep finding them in the kitchen only and everytime I go down early in the morning like 1am for example I end up stepping on one then turn a light on and the other night I found four :shock: , no idea were there coming from, than god there only ever in the kitchen so the dogs are not allowed in there now. Did you find a solution?
Lotsaquestions
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Re: Slugs

Post by Lotsaquestions »

We put some copper pennies down in the corners of the floorboards and made sure there wasn't a single spec of anything dog food shaped at all around. We've not seen the big old leapord ones since thankfully and neither have we found their trails, but we did find one tiny sneaky garden slug that I think might have been brought in by something rather than living there. After we dealt with him we've had nothing more!

We looked at traps and they were our next stop, thankfully didn't have to use them... Unless they've now become very sneaky and are hiding their tracks. :lol:
ZaraD
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Re: Slugs

Post by ZaraD »

Ok , thanks lotsaquestions, I'll hoover everyday to check there's no food left in the carpet I can't see, when you say copper pennies do you mean like 1-2pennies?
Lotsaquestions
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Re: Slugs

Post by Lotsaquestions »

I just put one penny down next to each crack. I didn't have any wire so it was an interim thing just incase it worked. Not sure if it is the pennies, or that they just gave up looking for food. :lol:
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