Gah! I feel like a murderess...

[Lauri D]

I don't know what it is, but snails seem to love me, or my apartment, or whatever. Lately they seem to come in droves and especially at night, will try to sneakily enter the place by creeping in up the front and back walks and under the doorframes. More than once in the past few weeks I've found them merrily traipsing across the living room carpet on a journey to some unknown destination.

Just now, for the third time today/tonight (twice through the front entrance and once through the back) I walked out and by the sound of the *splatcrunch* beneath my shoe, knew that I had killed yet another innocent snail. I didn't mean to do it. I wasn't looking where I was going; how was I to know?! :sadcheer:

I don't know why I feel so bad when that happens, it's something to do with the sudden and unexpected realization that I have just, without a moment's notice, put down the Foot of Death down on this sad little creature just trying to find its way to a better life.

And also the fact that I have to clean snail entrails off my shoes and walkways :ill:

[Legs]

You're only a murderer if you're doing it on purpose :laugh:

Poor little snails, I hate crunching them too - we don't have any around here yet, but soon. :snail:

[Leesifer]

Kill them! Kill them aaaaalllllll. They destroy my garden.

We hates snails, we do.

I throw them up on the shed roof for the birds to eat. :muahaha:

[viscousmemories]

I know the feeling, Lauri. It sucks. I recommend you hang vines from your ceiling and the trees right outside, and swing your way to envirofriendliness. :giggle:

[Kevlar]

Or, do like the French, and bake them in butter and garlic. They are quite tastey.

[MonCapitan2002]

I hope you don't take offence to this, but I will say it anyway. They are just slugs. They aren't worth any kind of moral consideration.

[godfry n. glad]

Kill them! Kill them aaaaalllllll. They destroy my garden.

We hates snails, we do.

I throw them up on the shed roof for the birds to eat. :muahaha:

Amen.

http://www.cityfarmer.org/corry.gif

[Leesifer]

Is that animal friendly, godfry?

One reason I don't like using slug pellets is because I'm sure I've read somewhere that they can harm birds that eat the slugs that have fizzed up on the pellets.

[viscousmemories]

Is that animal friendly, godfry?
Not if you're a snail, apparently.

[Leesifer]

:fftongue:

[Kevlar]

Will salt kill snails? I know it will melt down a slug pretty rapidly.

[Shake]

Will salt kill snails? I know it will melt down a slug pretty rapidly.
Only one way to find out: experiment time! :P

[godfry n. glad]

Will salt kill snails? I know it will melt down a slug pretty rapidly.
Only one way to find out: experiment time! :P

It's never failed for me. On slugs or snails, salt works fast. My wife used to trawl the garden on mornings after a light rain with a salt-shaker in hand.

As a gardener, I'm not too keen on that. Remember the Romans salting the soil of Carthage?

As to being animal friendly....I'm not sure. I doubt it, given the alternate source with Debbie T was trying to get me to find, but I've had great luck with Corry's. I post the empty box out front to warn dog owners and my cat shows no interest whatsoever in them. I frankly had not given much thought to the bird issue. Living in the center of an urban agglomeration has severely limited the types of birds we have to mostly seed eaters and carrion eaters, with a few nectar-slurpers back in the action of late.

I hear ducks and geese are great gastropod gastronomes, but I understand they'll uproot other little plants, too. The best suggestion I've heard was here, and it was about creating a place for toads in the garden. They love slugs and snails, from what I hear. Now, if I could just convince all the slugs to slither their way over to the toad patch, I'd have it made in the shade...literally.

[Legs]

Awww... but snails are so cute. :sadcheer:

[JoeP]

by the sound of the *splatcrunch* beneath my shoe, knew that I had killed yet another innocent snail.We need a smilie for this.

Oh, did I say that out loud? I meant, I feel your pain, Lauri. That was awful for you. Not too good for the snail, either.

You're only a murderer if you're doing it on purposeExactly. I find the defendant Lauri D guilty of snailslaughter in the fifth degree and sentence her to no lettuce for a week.

[godfry n. glad]

Awww... but snails are so cute. :sadcheer:

So are tribbles.

[pescifish]

:foot:

[Lauri D]

Gah! The Foot of Death! (luckily I wasn't barefoot though... *this time* )

I think I can do no lettuce for a week. You do the crime, you do the time...

[ceptimus]

If you put a glass of beer (or a plastic yoghurt carton of beer if you prefer) in the garden, the snails and slugs all make for it and drown. It's best to put the container in a hole, so the rim is level with the ground.

I think this is kinder to the soil, and to birds, etc., than salt or pellets, and it might even be a nice way to die for the slugs. It is, perhaps, a waste of beer though.

[Dingfod]

At least they die happy.

[Leesifer]

If you put a glass of beer (or a plastic yoghurt carton of beer if you prefer) in the garden, the snails and slugs all make for it and drown. It's best to put the container in a hole, so the rim is level with the ground.

I think this is kinder to the soil, and to birds, etc., than salt or pellets, and it might even be a nice way to die for the slugs. It is, perhaps, a waste of beer though.


This really does work too! I've got a couple of specially made slug/snail catchers and they are always full of slugs the next day after laying them down.

Also, I now have loads of toadspawn in the pond, so, this year may be a bad year for slugs in my garden.

[But]

I just give them to our neighbour's ducks and geese. By the bucket. They love them. Nothing like the sight and sound of ducks slurping down slugs.

[cappuccino]

I dare you to drink the beer after a few slugs' drowned in it.

[Leesifer]

:vomit: