Snail Problems

We are fortunate enough to get Hedgehogs in our garden so we never use slug pellets. If you are lucky enough to get them in your garden don’t forget to put some water out for them in a shallow bowl this time of year. We also put hedgehog food or cat biscuits out for them as well.

I go out after a rain shower with a salt shaker and give them slugs a sprinkling, makes a mess but is very satisfying, the birds then flock down and gobble them up, maybe the birds like seasoned food.

When I lived in surrey we had huge great orange/brown slugs, we also had a greyhound who was partial to them, not sure if they are good for dogs but he loved them.

I see nobody has suggested using a slug gun

I am a bit late on this one. There is a snail farm down the road from us, probably 10,000 snails in each 'pen'. You guessed it right, I live in France. Here the pens have a brick wall about 50Cm high. The first line of defence is a shallow tray of salt around the 30 cm line. Above that are 2 pairs of wire fences running at mains voltage. So you can have your snails au nature, slightly salty or crisp !!

BobH

Get a working cocker spaniel ours takes great delight in making snails homeless.

Do not let your dogs eat slugs or snails because they may get Lungworm (look it up) which can be very dangerous!!!!

Edited By V8Eng on 29/06/2019 23:44:32

We had a serious problem with slugs and snails a few years back. We tried beer traps etc etc. No success. I happened to be in the garden one damp night late with a flashlight. If you haven't done you should! All the big slugs are out and some of them are up to 6 inches long! Hundreds of them! So, a new approach was needed. I regularly went out before bedtime with my torch and a well sharpened bread knife. One stroke each! There were no repeat offenders and you caught the ones that were doing the damage.

The thrushes woke up each morning to ready served breakfast and loved it. After two seasons there was a big drop in large breeding snails/ slugs to be seen. This year there is only the occasional one to be seen. OK not PC or for discussion in polite circles but effective.

This is something we are fully aware of and that is why the worming is carried out monthly, vet prescribed worming tablets which cover lung worm.

Edited By Bob Brown 1 on 30/06/2019 08:21:39

A friend gets a kick out of putting a ring of salt around any that dare to cross his patio in the evening!

having been one of only a few people to farm snails in the UK (long time ago) I suggest you lure the critters away then collect and rehome them. Contrary to popular belief snails dont eat your greens because they like them, they eat them because their preferred food is not availible. European snails should eat cerials. The best lure is a saucer of hoppy beer. Put it out at night and they will flock to it.

"Rehome them", is there an equivalent to Battersea Dogs Home for snails? Or does rehoming involve a tennis implement and a flick of the wrist to propel them to their new home? Not sure any of my close neighbours would be too willing to take in a bucket full of the things.

I heard something on the radio about an experiment where someone caught snails, painted a mark on the shells and released them a good distance away. They were back the next night.

Same with mice that people try to re-home.

When I was small, spending summer holidays with my aunt and uncle, I was given a bucket with salty water in it and searched the front garden for snails. I found hundreds. When I was even smaller, my mother found me chewing away on snails which I had picked out of a stone wall.

Get a duck! Duck's love snails, but there are secondary problems from ducks after they have injested snails, or anything else for that matter, and one must watch where they walk!

If your dog is partial to eating slugs make sure he/she is dosed against getting lung worm. Most distressing and incurable according to our vet.

I couldn't bring myself to do that Larry - burn them alive!

I'm too squeamish and too humane.

Mind you I'm a bit worried about Rik's and Mrs. Shaw's culinary penchant, with their phrase, "tasty little hedgepigs. "

My latest attempt is to paint the rims of the pots with engine oil. It only leaves a thin film, which will probably need renewing at regular intervals, but if little nuisances don't like the taste, maybe they won't cross the rim.

Then we can eat the beans, instead

Time will tell.

If there are any hedgehogs around the garden, and there used to be, they are welcome to feast to their hearts content, ditto for frogs or toads in the pond. Pity thrushes seem to be in short supply!

Howard