Prevent slugs in your kitchen

[fenghuang]

I know this has nothing to do with erotica, and I'm always amazed when people ask questions like this round here as it strikes me as somewhat incongruous, but good answers invariably crop up, so here goes ...

How can you stop slugs getting into your kitchen? It only happens when it rains and the only place I can see for likely entry in up from the drains, through the sink trap / u-bend.

 

[pinkflames]

I'm interested in the answers, I don't get them in my kitchen but they do seem to come up through my bath tub plug hole.

 

[fire_breeze]

Slugs can get through the smallest places, so it's possible that they're getting through your pipes or a crack in your door-frame. The good thing is that they leave a slime trail so you can follow the clues, so to speak, and find out where your invaders are coming from

Check if your faucets and pipes aren't leaking. Slugs like cool and damp places, so these are prime hideout. Actually, it might be a good idea to check the pipes out a couple of years anyway, so they might be due for check-up.

Some people suggest putting salt or copper wire around where the slugs congregate (or even around the house). I don't if this is feasible, but it might be worth a try. Salt dries up the buggers. You might try chalk as well.

Another option is to put out a flat bowl (pie dish) filled with beer mixed with salt. They love beer and the salt kills them, so they'll die drunk. I don't know if it prevents from others coming back, though.

Finally, if it's really bad, you might have to call in a exterminator and have your home fumigated. However, this does not resolve the problem of the original invasion (although, some companies will look for the source, so in hindsight, it might work).

Hope it helps!

 

[emap]

What she said, except hire a plumber first, especially in the case of coming up through the tub. Exterminators only know how to kill stuff, plumbers know how to plug up what they come through.

I'm going to assume you are not in a raised house, in which case you do not want to lay salt, because said salt is absorbed into the ground and you get an area of dead ground, nothing will grow. You can put down bowls of salted beer except well said beer would attract any stray dogs, probably cats and any other animals nearby, not good for killing off slugs.

What you need to do is get a plumber, have him figure out where the openings are and then call an exterminator who hopefully will have a chemical that does not kill the land but does keep the slugs out.

Alternate method, if you can fence off your yard and the mailman doesn't have to go up to the porch to deliver mail, fence off your yard and buy geese, one or more, two is a rather good number so they have company. Said geese will drive away most animals, mailman included and eat slugs, snails, and anything else they can catch of an insect variety. They grow up fast, maybe 3 months and they will be hunting bugs, they love the rain but will need a heated room for winters.