We have some uninvited visitors. Unfortunately not the type that can be satisfied with a bowl of pasta and a bottle of wine. Or crisps. Or whatever, you get the idea.
No, we have uninvited visitors who come into our house for god knows what reason. And only at night. Sounds suspicious yet?
Hmmm it's rather disgusting actually. We get slugs coming in every night (the little buggers are nocturnal) and have a wonder around the living room. They used to come in the kitchen too but we seem to have sorted that one out. Because we have indeed turned into demoniacal Slug Busters. Like Ghost Busters only slightly more creepy in my mind.
The reason why we've sorted out the kitchen is because we're currently trying every solution under the sun to get rid of them (unlike our neighbours who seem content on hoovering/ mopping every morning...). Slug pellets? Salt? Beer? We've tried it all. And I can tell you that finding a slug that has drowned in beer first thing in the morning is a rather weird feeling. Combined excitement of having killed one with the fact that they, yet again, have made their way inside.
During the course of last week we decided to find out where exactly they were coming from. We can't just carry on putting salt outside, it's not practical, and I think it's turning us into slightly demented and obsessed Slug Busters. So we taped plastic sheets over all our air bricks. We thought they might be coming in from there. Now before anyone calls Building Control on us, we know you're not meant to cover air bricks, this is just a temporary solution to work out if indeed that's how they're coming in. We'll eventually buy some mesh covers instead.
But still, one (or more?) is coming in the living room. Always in the same area. The night we put up covers on the air bricks it got really angry and left us an extra amount of goo on the carpet (are you grateful yet that I have chosen not to include any photos in this post?). I think it's upset. But we don't care. Only we're getting quite angry that we can't figure out how they're getting in.
Cue the final solution. Stay up all night in the dark with a torch and wait. Wait for the little buggers to come out. Then we'll fill whatever hole they're coming through and hope (for the sake of our sanity) that they never return ever again. Please.
Come back later this week for the next instalment of Slug Busters...
11 comments:
My Mother has one in her kitchen too. Only one, I think. If you discover the secret of getting rid of it I'll gladly pass it on to her!
Oh the thought of walking barefoot on one of those! Horrible. I hope you managed to fix it once and for all.
oh yukk!! That is one creature I cannot abide. Tks for the 'no photo' approach, but do hope you solve your problem!
We totally have this too! Pretty much every morning we come down and are faced with lovely little swirly slug patterns all over the living room carpet. Lovely.
And there's nothing like stepping on one in the middle of the night in the kitchen when you haven't bothered to turn the lights on when you've gone to the bathroom (our bathroom's downstairs in case you think I'm mental!). Squashed slug on your bare feet? Not a pleasant feeling.
I can sympathise with you here because my boyfriend's kitchen has a major slug problem. His flat is in a very damp and mouldy old Victorian property so I guess the slugs love it. We can't figure out where they come from either as the trails always follow the same sort of routes and all seem to begin at a wall with no air brick or anything - it's a mystery! Thankfully, he's moving in with me in two weeks so those slugs will be someone else's problem!
We won't use pellets as it just ends up poisoning other wildlife when they eat the slugs. We just keep evicting them and hoovering every morning, but it's a really unpleasant thing to live with, especially when you wander into the kitchen for a drink in the dark, in the middle of the night, forgetting the unwanted visitor and step on one barefoot...eewww!
Good luck with your slug busting!
Oh no! This isn't the sort of Home Sweet Home post I was expecting! I have thankfully never had a problem with slugs so I can't help. Have you tried googling it? Do Rentokil do slugs? xx
Bleugh. Poor you. Some how slugs in the house are much more freaky than mice (I had a cat who used to bring them in then let them escape). Hope you get things sorted out soon.
Good luck! I've not heard of anything better than salt I'm afraid - enjoy your stake-out ;)
Eurgh!
Hope you get your slug problem sorted soon - that just sounds damn right nasty!
Oh I do feel for you - we had that in our old house in the kitchen...fortunately (ish) they were coming in through the air bricks so we managed to stop them. GOOD LUCK with your stake out
Clare
x
Hi,reading ur post is like I wrote it!! I recently moved into this place and like you we started to have uninvited guests who leave their disgusting slimy trail all over the carpet in the living room.it's not a nice sight in the morning!!we have tried to find out where they came from but so far have failed.they seem to come from one corner which has no access to outside ,so it's driving us mad.i've become so obsessed in chasing them that the first thing i do now everything is look for trail instead of getting breakfast!!there is salt all over the carpet but they seem to find their way around it!we're really desperate just like you! If you find a solution plz let us know.thank you
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