Slugs and snails are important for gardens, as they provide food for birds and many creatures, nature in balance. So using slug pellets (which can also harm pets, as some resemble dried kibble) is not just unkind but can also harm other wildlife.
Having said that, there are ways to avoid slugs and snails munching through your vegetables and flowers. It’s best to avoid ‘natural remedies’ like broken glass, spices, salt and coffee as all can harm pets and other wildlife. Copper can suffocate snails, or give electric shocks.
Keep dogs away from slugs, snails and amphibians as they could get lungworm (symptoms which can take weeks to appear include coughing, lethargy, abnormal breathing and bleeding. It’s a medical emergency. Change water in outdoor bowls regularly, and read how to make your garden safe for pets.
Get To Know (and Love!) Slugs and Snails
Our slimy friends are quite the charm, once you get the know them! The world’s slowest creatures have muscular ‘feet’ to move using tentacles (freshwater and marine snails breathe through gills, like fish).
Snails live on dead bark, herbs, fungi, algae and animal scat. They lay up to 100 eggs (only half will hatch). Slugs are similar, they simply have no shells. So live underground, and tend to only come out when it rains (they hibernate in winter).
Grandmother Ruth Brooks won a BBC Radio 4 competition as England’s top amateur scientist, for her discovery on homing instincts of snails. Her ruthless vendetta against snails turned into a journey of wonder, as ‘dumped snails’ in a far-off wood would return home. She eventually gave up, and instead read up on the surprisingly romantic life of snails. And realised that it’s good to enjoy the slow life, and accept that snails are here to stay!
Work with Nature (garden organically)
Securely bin slug pellets and other garden chemicals, then just garden organically, working with nature. You’ll soon find visiting birds and frogs will eat slugs and snails. Leave your garden a bit ‘messy’ and leave out log piles to attract hedgehogs and frogs (ensure ponds have sloping sides).
A Physical Barrier (by a Scottish tinkerer!)
Molluskit is a barrier made mostly from recycled material, invented by a ‘garage tinkerer’ who loves earthworms. The ‘comb design’ clicks together to stop access to plants above ground (and blocks access to root/bulb systems). It’s tested by Scotland’s Rural College to be 86% effective. This is because although the average garden contains around 30,000 slugs and snails, 95% are underground. For larger gardens and allotments, buy multiple kits to fit together.
A Non-Toxic Liquid Deterrent from Yorkshire
Grazers G2 (Yorkshire) is a mix of plant extracts and calcium (good for plants) that’s applied to plants, to make them unpalatable to slugs and snails. This company makes a similar product to deter cabbage white butterflies and red lily beetles. The main product is used to make grass unpalatable to wild rabbits and other creatures (so don’t use on grass where pets eat).
Seen a Motionless Snail?
Snails on walls that look dead are likely in ‘suspended hibernation’. The usually ‘come back to life’ when it rains. Small snails with soft shells are usually okay (the shells harden with age).
If you find a snail that’s trodden on, if it’s a slight crack, it should recover. But if the shell is badly smashed, the snail will likely die slowly of dehydration. So it may be kinder to give a ‘quick stamp to Snail Heaven’, to stop further suffering.
