Blech, sorry for the dumb vent - I hate slugs!

[reezley]

Slugs, like the ones kids find under stepping stones in the backyard, that you've told them not to lift up and move!!

And I don't like they (and their friends, who are here) lifting up rocks that I told them not to lift!  It's dangerous and chips the rocks, and makes them easier to trip over on their way to the door, and it reveals slugs. That they pick up.  And beetles, which I don't mind as much.  I just don't understand boys.  (I know girls do this too - but my sisters and I didn't, so I'm calling it a boy thing.  :P  )  And then I sound like I just don't want them to have fun as I tell them not to lift the rocks. And I'm sorry, I'm not too interested in having you show me the slug close up, either.   Sigh, I'm done venting, thank you.  :)

[Red Pajama]

I'll share my slug story. We get them around here, and they are as big as small snakes. 6 " long at least. I like looking at them, and torturing my husband with them. One of my boys will pick them up.

Yesterday morning, as I looked out the window, a slug oozed down the window screen leaving a slime trail behind it.  How on earth did it get there? and why did it bother?

[jenniferlynne]

Oh, slugs.  I hate them, hate them, hate them.  I know it's ridiculous:  they're completely harmless. But they make my skin crawl.  One time when I was on my own in the house for a few days, there was a slug in the shower and I just skipped showering--for four days!--until someone came home and removed it for me.  Blech.  

[reezley]

Originally Posted by jenniferlynne 

Oh, slugs.  I hate them, hate them, hate them.  I know it's ridiculous:  they're completely harmless. But they make my skin crawl.  One time when I was on my own in the house for a few days, there was a slug in the shower and I just skipped showering--for four days!--until someone came home and removed it for me.  Blech.  

That's really funny! Well, in hindsight, I'm sure....!  I'm enjoying these slug stories, and knowing maybe I'm not crazy for hating them.  :)

[Mummoth]

I set up the tent in the back yard and went 'camping' with the kids a few years ago. I got up to pee in the night, and when I came back, as I was zipping the door shut, a slug fell into the tent when my hand touched it. I got the flashlight, found the slug and tossed it out of the tent with a sock. I turned the flashlight out and as I was laying back down, DD started to wake up. I had to lay really, really still so she'd settle in again... it was then that I started to imagine hundreds of slugs crawling all over the roof inside the tent, and I laid there forever waiting for one to drop on my face!

OP, if I was you I'd get a bunch of sidewalk salt and sprinkle it around under all the stepping stones. Putting salt on them makes them shrivel up, so I'm guessing that they'd avoid soil with a high salt content... I'm not sure what that'd do for anything growing in the immediate area around the rocks though.

[SweetSilver]

Ducks eat slugs.  Garter snakes do too.  My girls don't like slugs.  Even dd2 who loves every bug on the planet hates slugs.  When I was little my dad had those zip-up half boots that he used to squash slugs with.  I hated those shoes!  I gave the boots a *wide* berth, as if the slug goo would leap off them onto me.

[4midablemama]

Slugs don't just make my skin crawl, they make me physically ill. When I was a kid, my aunt lived in Florida, and in the early mornings, they would be all over her front walk. It only took one instance of me running out her front door barefoot and stepping all over them to give me a lifelong hatred of them, I can't even stand to think about them! Blegh!!!

[kayleesmom]

ewww ewww ewww.

[SweetSilver]

I have a certain tolerance for them because they are such good recyclers.  Several kinds are native here, a few others are not.  There are certain encounters that are extremely unpleasant--stepping on them inadvertently and discovering them on your pillow while camping (yuck!)  Rubbing alcohol is good for removing slime off your skin in case of accidental collisions!  

[kitchensqueen]

Hahaha... I know it's not funny, but it's funny. I say this until my son is old enough to start flipping rocks and picking up slugs... :-)

[reezley]

Oh, the horror stories!  I guess I'm in pretty good shape, compared those of you who came into unfortunate bodily contact with them!

I can try the salt.  There isn't anything important growing near the stepping stones.  Thanks for the idea.  :)

[swd12422]

If you want to get rid of them altogether, you can bury a shallow container (like an old cream cheese or butter container) in the ground so it's level with the surface and pour cheap beer into it. At night, the slugs go in, get drunk, and drown. Of course, you'll need your kids to empty the traps for you, but at least their numbers will be diminished. Or, as someone said, get a pet duck!

[SweetSilver]

Originally Posted by swd12422 

If you want to get rid of them altogether, you can bury a shallow container (like an old cream cheese or butter container) in the ground so it's level with the surface and pour cheap beer into it. At night, the slugs go in, get drunk, and drown. Of course, you'll need your kids to empty the traps for you, but at least their numbers will be diminished. Or, as someone said, get a pet duck!

Blech!  If there is anything worse than a live slug, it's dead, drunk slugs, especially if the kids "forget" to empty the bowl.  Ew! Ew! Ew!