Topic: how to kill snails pain free

[jinita77]

hi, i am new and wondered if anyone knows the most painless way to kill slugs..i don,t want to kill them but they eat everything..there are tons in the garden at night so if i picked them up and chucked them over the hedge would they be back again over the next days or weeks....or.. do  i have to kill them...i can,t bear the thought of them  in pain as they die..thanks

[David R]

Hello jinita77!

Welcome to our world.

I suppose stamping on the snails must be one of the quickest ways to dispatch. However, not for the squeamish. Pellets are a no-no. They are definitely not quick and poison anything else that is unfortunate enough to eat the dying snail.

There is pretty good evidence that chucking the snails next door doesn't work, they will trudge back (as long as they've landed intact!).

Ever thought about beer traps? They drown, so can't be that painful - I suppose - pretty hard to imagine what the snail goes through in terms of pain.

Others will have their fave methods of dealing with them. My own philosophy is just to ignore then. I know I will not win, so don't worry about it. Apathy is my way of dealing with them ;D

[return of the mac]

Beer traps are probably most humane- i mean if you could choose a way of dying, drowning in beer would be my favourite ;)

[aquilegia]

I feel pretty much the same Jinita. I do not like to kill things (which is why I'm a vegetarian). And as a teetotal household I refuse to buy beer.

Chucking them over the fence doesn't work - they have a homing instinct.

The best way is to encourage thurshes, frogs, toads, hedgehogs etc to do the work for you. Have you got a pond? That will increase the amount of pest-eating wildlife in your garden/plot. Also put in a large stone for thrushes to use to smash the shells. I was so excited the first day I found a smashed shell in my garden!

A log pile or stone pile will provide space for frogs and toads to hide and also beetles, that will also eat slugs.

I'm toying with the idea of collecting all the slimey beasts and putting them in a large plastic box with the sides smeared with vaseline. That way wildlife will get an easy feasts!

Like David, I tend to ignore them in my garden. I put up barriers against them around susceptible crops (fleece pegged down works for most things and I start seedlings where possible indoors so they have a chance to grow before they are munched. If they have to be sown outside, I put jam jar/pop bottle cloches over the seeds/seedlings) and have given up growing delphiniums and any other ornamentals they are partial too.

[redimp]

I am also a vegetarian and do not like killing things.  I do use beer traps and I have also sunk a pond, have stones for thrushes and keep ground cover for ground beetles.  With snails at home, I painted them with Tippex and took them progressivley further away until the white ones stopped returning.

[Andy H]

Just collect them all up until you have a few hundred

then put them in a cardboard box

and the wrap it in brown paper

then.....





Post them somewhere like Tasmania or just France would do ;D

Garden free of them, no killing done and slugs get free holiday in the sun somwhere ;D

[Merry Tiller]

Nevermind squeamish, a torch & a pair of scissors is what I use, Mwahahahaha

[oubykh]

i just popped down the back garden to go get a cheeky bottle of red and......................bloody hell SLUGS everywhere. never seen so many. Must be the wonderful (ahem) weather here in south wales.!


i'm afraid slug rage took hold of me :-[ ;)

[teresa]

I recycle? collect them through the day and throw them on our conservoty flat roof for the birds.
My aunt would have a jam jar with half inch of salt in the bottom and a long pair of tweesers. Yes go out on slug patrol at night with torch collect in the jar with a screw top lid and when the jar was full pop them in the dustbin. Worked fine for her I like to feed the birds and they can see them on the roof.
oh well each to there own.

[Merry Tiller]

Cutting 'em in half is totally pain free..................................... for me anyway ;D

[moonbells]

I put them in the dustbin.

Simple as that - then they go merrily away to help recycle at the landfill site where they can eat as much rubbish as they can and not my plants.
Course, this depends on me picking them up - which can be patchy as my poor delphiniums will testify. They got all the emerging shoots this year  :(

moonbells

[wardy]

I've been encouraging birds into my garden and thrushes love snails and I can hear them tap tapping to break the shells open so they can devour the plump mollusc inside.  I couldn't kill one myself as I am soft and would rather let the birds take them

[Robert_Brenchley]

If there was a slug equivalent of the rack and thumbscrews I'd use them without a qualm. I seem to be getting away with it so far this year; every day I go down to the plot expecting to find that they've been at the French beans and pumpkins,but  they haven't touched them yet. Bet they had the lot last night now I've said that!

[Andy H]

I`ve just put a sign up...

        NO
      SLUGS
         OR
      SNAILS

that should keep them off ;D

[clairenpaul]

worth a try Andy  ;D  ;D.


but if that doesn't work we'd recommend encouraging the birds and frogs to do the dirty deed for you. it works in our garden and hopefully it'll do the same on the allotment although so far we haven't had much trouble (bet that is famous last words....)

[Andy H]

Never seen  toad or frog on plots? wonder if little pond would work?

They do appear in garden at home but if they get near the pond then the Koi get them. skin frogs and birds, rip feathers off and skin frogs so that they have fingers!!! Put lily`s in pond and woooooosh! gone. eaten,destroyed. maybe I shuld plant some Koi in the allotment :-\

[gunnerbee]

Stamp on them as hard as you can then feed them to the chickens?

[Andy H]

 :-[ not allowed chickens :(

Want a few but won`t let me :-[

[gunnerbee]

or you could encourage mr hedgehog into the garden with a hedgehog box under a huge logpile?

[Ed^Chigliak]

You have no choice but to collect them and relocate them. You need a container with a lid, a rubber glove and a torch. Collect them after dark when conditions are damp and humid. Also place old kichen/bathroom tiles on the soil where they will hide during the day and check under them regularly. Take your slugs & snails some considerable distance away. Try to encourage, frogs, toads, birds, slow worms, hedgehogs etc

Don't sow seed directly in the ground. Raise plants to a reasonable size and they will withstand some slug & snail damage.

Raised beds with parallel wires run around the perimeter face connected to a 9v battery will deter slugs & snails for a whole season. Please take care not to form a short circuit with this method. The wires should be parallel extending the terminals around the bed and must not be be connected together as this will short circuit the battery. Tension the wire between nails hammered in at regular intervals and wrap the wire behind the head of the nail keeping it tensioned. Offset the position of nails on the top and bottom wires to avoid any possible contact between them.

A slug or snail attempting to cross the wires will bridge the extended terminals and closes the circuit getting a small zap so will not cross the barrier. Same as if you put your tongue on the terminals you get a small buzz so you can understanf why the slugs don't like it. I have found copper strips or pipe to be less effective than a 9v battery+wire and also more expensive.

Continue to collect  slugs from the bed and consider treating with nemaslug to deal with the smaller slugs and any eggs that might hatch. Alternatively push jam jars into the soil and place 4 or 5 pellets on the upturned glass. Place somes stone around the outside of the jar and cover with a tile such that the tile is slightly raised above the jar & pellets. Check & replace pellets throughout the season. You will use the absolute minimum of pellets which cannot be directly eaten by birds and will not wash or dissolve into the soil. The slugs will tend to remain hidden in the stones or go to ground after eating the pellets so minimal risk to birds. Use the new 'safe' pellets to further reduce any risk to other wildlife & pets. Once the problem is under control you will not be killing very many slugs since you are making it so difficult for them to re-populate the beds under cultivation. Keep the perimeter of the beds tidy and don't allow any leaves to reach over the electric barrier to the ground below. Beds should be lined or skirted with plastic that extends some way into the ground to prevent slugs coming up through the soil.

Slug control is a sub-hobby of gardening so enjoy it.