commando slugs!

[Mr_Rimps]

During a weekend in the woods, sleeping in my hammock, I was surprised (for want of a better word) to wake in the night a find a sizable slug slithering its way across my arm! Yuk! My friend had a similar experienced in his hammock.

So what to do to prevent these "commando" slugs from climbing the trees and crawling (do slugs crawl?) across the hammock ropes to get to you?

Here are some things I'd like to try...
1. Put vaseline on the hammock ropes (A bit messy I think)
2. Put a birch bark disc/plate on the hammock ropes and cover that with vaseline (wont mess up the ropes)
3. Put salt on the ropes..?! (hmm)

If you know of a proven method (other than sleeping in a tent) please let me know.

 

[jdlenton]

if you use an mosquito net the slugs wont get in its never happened to me in a hamock but sleeping on the ground I have no solutions for.

 

[ScottC]

Come on mate, it is after all only a slug it's not gonna hurt you

 

[andyn]

I wouldnt worry too much about the slugs, unless you sleep with your mouth open LOL Saying that I found a dead spider in my nostril a few weeks back LOL.

However thats some impressive slivering!!!

 

[Wayland]

Slugs and snails do not like copper so a tuppence piece with a hole in it on each rope should do the trick.

 

[sxmolloy]

Check the trees when setting up your hammock and tarp and remove any from the trunk, lay slug pelletts (more humane than salt) at the base of the tree trunk to deter any from slithering up in the night.

Never tried it, but might be worth a go. The 2p with a hole sounds good though.

ATB....Stu

 

[andyn]

Check the trees when setting up your hammock and tarp and remove any from the trunk, lay slug pelletts (more humane than salt) at the base of the tree trunk to deter any from slithering up in the night.

Never tried it, but might be worth a go. The 2p with a hole sounds good though.

ATB....Stu

Sorry mate, but laying slug pellets or salt around your camp site just because you (not you you, but you as in anyone) doesn't like bugs in not the thing to do. In fact laying any posion or item designed to kill an animal for no reason other than you dont like the thought of one on you at night is not the thing to do. Slug pellets don't deter they attract...it is posion food. In the garden around your veg is one thing, but out in their habitat is another! You a visitor not an owner.

Bugs, insects and creepy crawlies exist...if you (again not you you) don't like them that much then don't go outside. Killing something just because you don't like it is not nice and certainly isnt humane however you try to justify it.

I always find these posts about not liking insect slightly amusing but this is getting daft now recommending to kill them.

 

[sharp88]

Slugs are nothing to worry about! The worse thing is when you wake up in the morning and a wasp is buzzing around your head. Annoying and painful. Both of which though, can be prevented with a mozzy net.

 

[jdlenton]

Slugs and snails do not like copper so a tuppence piece with a hole in it on each rope should do the trick.

the copper thing certainly works i use copper brake pipe ( new not used ) to protect my plants and it works a treat it needs any oxide removing i've had some of mine outside for 2 years and it stopped working a quick scrub up so it shines and the little blighters dont like it any more

 

[sxmolloy]

Sorry mate, but laying slug pellets or salt around your camp site just because you (not you you, but you as in anyone) doesn't like bugs in not the thing to do. In fact laying any posion or item designed to kill an animal for no reason other than you dont like the thought of one on you at night is not the thing to do. Slug pellets don't deter they attract...it is posion food. In the garden around your veg is one thing, but out in their habitat is another! You a visitor not an owner.

Bugs, insects and creepy crawlies exist...if you (again not you you) don't like them that much then don't go outside. Killing something just because you don't like it is not nice and certainly isnt humane however you try to justify it.

I always find these posts about not liking insect slightly amusing but this is getting daft now recommending to kill them.

Crossed wires here I think Andy. I mentioned pelletts rather than salt because I was under the impression (and I may be completely wrong here) that the pelletts deterred slugs rather than killed them. After laying them in my garden at home I have never found a dead slug in that area, where as, of course the salt will kill the slug. I was not recommending anyone killed them for whatever reason, they don't bother me because a use a little one man tent so I am still safe to go out, without being daft about it.

 

[andyn]

Hey mate,

Slug pellets generally work in one of two ways depending on the active ingrediant. One of which is only harmful to slugs and snails, the other of which can also kill small mammals and birds and probably make a child pretty ill too if ingested.

I'm not going to go off googling for the exact ingredients, but basically the pellets are food that have been laced in chemicals.

The first cause the slug to produce more than normal amounts of mucus and basically dehydrates them to death. Not very pleasant, but also a high %age will survive as slugs are generally out when it is damp so they can keep their mositure levels up.

This caused gardeners to want something stronger (or perhaps it was the other way round and this one was around first - i dont remember now)...so they produced pellets with an actual posion in that is also effective against small mammals and even dogs and probably children too, birds and the such. Which will kill them. I assume that after numerous bird deaths they decided to colour them blue...apparently most birds dont eat blue things but this doesnt help the odd hedgehog, mouse, child or whatever else from eating them and dying or getting sick...or the slugs themselves for that matter, although i think they now have a flavour additive to make them taste unpleasant to mammals and birds and to try and stop them from swallowing them.

Copper on the other hand is a deterant as it causes an electric shock to travel through the slimey mucus trail..so works like an electric fence would and keeps them back. Using pellets would probably just mean you end up waking up with a dead slug on your arm

I have the (un)fortunate pleasure of having a keen gardening family and the same with my missus family, so get to hear all the exciting details of these things

 

[Spikey DaPikey]

you need this book, and yes, i do own a copy

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/50-WAYS-T0-KI...ryZ11112QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Tony]

He he, I have to admit that I’m not keen on slugs, I was fine with them till one wet night in a shelter I knelt on one, it was messy, then I tried to wash it off, that was the wrong thing to do as it got even more messy, so in the end I shaved the whole area of my leg and removed, slug and hair till I was all clean.

Since then I’ve been a lot more conscious of them and I’ll look out for them more than I used to. It doesn’t stop me getting out or anything but squished slug, matted in hair….. No thanks

 

[The Joker]

He he, I have to admit that I’m not keen on slugs, I was fine with them till one wet night in a shelter I knelt on one, it was messy, then I tried to wash it off, that was the wrong thing to do as it got even more messy, so in the end I shaved the whole area of my leg and removed, slug and hair till I was all clean.

Since then I’ve been a lot more conscious of them and I’ll look out for them more than I used to. It doesn’t stop me getting out or anything but squished slug, matted in hair….. No thanks

 

[sxmolloy]

Hey mate,

Slug pellets generally work in one of two ways depending on the active ingrediant. One of which is only harmful to slugs and snails, the other of which can also kill small mammals and birds and probably make a child pretty ill too if ingested.

I'm not going to go off googling for the exact ingredients, but basically the pellets are food that have been laced in chemicals.

The first cause the slug to produce more than normal amounts of mucus and basically dehydrates them to death. Not very pleasant, but also a high %age will survive as slugs are generally out when it is damp so they can keep their mositure levels up.

This caused gardeners to want something stronger (or perhaps it was the other way round and this one was around first - i dont remember now)...so they produced pellets with an actual posion in that is also effective against small mammals and even dogs and probably children too, birds and the such. Which will kill them. I assume that after numerous bird deaths they decided to colour them blue...apparently most birds dont eat blue things but this doesnt help the odd hedgehog, mouse, child or whatever else from eating them and dying or getting sick...or the slugs themselves for that matter, although i think they now have a flavour additive to make them taste unpleasant to mammals and birds and to try and stop them from swallowing them.

Copper on the other hand is a deterant as it causes an electric shock to travel through the slimey mucus trail..so works like an electric fence would and keeps them back. Using pellets would probably just mean you end up waking up with a dead slug on your arm

I have the (un)fortunate pleasure of having a keen gardening family and the same with my missus family, so get to hear all the exciting details of these things

Andy, obviously you are much more in the know regarding this, some interesting info there.

I would advise that my idea (rather harmful, I now know) be ditched regarding the pelletts and the copper idea is the way to go. I never would have come up with that myself, thumbs up from me. I could have sworn though that I have used slug deterent, maybe I'm wrong but as I have used up all of what I had and chucked the container I will never know until I go and search the shop shelves again

ATB .... STU

 

[Zodiak]

The worse thing is when you wake up in the morning and a wasp is buzzing around your head.

"Wasps are just ********" - Quote Dave Saxondale

 

[elma]

you need this book, and yes, i do own a copy

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/50-WAYS-T0-KI...ryZ11112QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

only you could find something like that spike

 

[Spikey DaPikey]

only you could find something like that spike

Cheers !!

 

[OldJimbo]

Just out of curiosity how big is a big slug there? We have them commonly in the 6-8" range in the forest here and I don't remember seeing any that big in Britain.

 

[scanker]

...I could have sworn though that I have used slug deterent, maybe I'm wrong but as I have used up all of what I had and chucked the container I will never know until I go and search the shop shelves again

ATB .... STU

I think I've seen a slug deterrent before - in a similar tube/packaging to slug pellets - from what I remember it worked along the same lines as crushed egg shells - slugs didn't like passing over it.