Preventing Slugs From Entering Your Home

Slugs like damp situations and live under stones. Unlike snails, which hibernate during the winter by sealing themselves in their shells, slugs are active throughout the year.

Slugs are mostly found in the garden where they can be a real problem for gardeners, munching away at their plants throughout the year but they are often considered a greater problem in the house.

Slugs in the home pose little health problems to humans though they may carry all sorts of viruses and bacteria. They may find their way into your vegetable rack and begin to eat your vegetables, thus spoiling them. Slime trails across the floor are unpleasant, unsanitary and unsightly – and it is horrible to tread on a slug, particularly if you are not wearing anything on your feet! Since slugs feed mostly at night they are often found in your home first thing in the morning.

There are two main ways to prevent slugs entering your home – one is to create a barrier of some sort – a copper strip or something that slugs do not like cross, such as dry grit, crushed eggshells or ash. The other is slug pellets, salt, or other chemicals. The caffeine in coffee has also been found to keep slugs and snails at bay. These do, however, pose the problem of poisonous materials that children and pets may find and it might be difficult to encircle your house with eggshells or ash!

The other is to block all means of entry.

Slugs can enter your house through holes under doorways, in gaps between bricks and through damaged fascias. These entry points should be discovered and blocked with cement, plaster or wood.

A more common entry point is the holes in the airbricks situated around your house. These are vital components of your house, allowing air to enter the cavity walling so keep it aired and damp-free and so it is essential that these holes are not blocked.

The solution is to cover the airbrick with a fine wire mesh or purchase a purpose-made wire mesh cover that can be easily fitted over the airbrick. This will still allow air to pass through the airbrick but the fine mesh will prevent slugs entering.

Preventing slugs from entering your home is a much more humane method of slug control than using chemicals – leave it to the gardener to solve the slug problem in their domain!