Who's got the biggest slug?

[Wombat]

Good point M3!

I don't.....................hmmm, but if I feed e'm on gunpowder first they will explode on impact! that should slow the cycle down a bit

Nev

[greenbean]

I recently had a really long slug, 6 to 7 inches, not as plump as yours shiney. When I started gardening (a year ao), I used to pop them tenderly into a tupperware container with some vegetation for them to feed on and then release them into the woods when walking the dog. Until the devastation started!... now I cut them in half with sharp scissors and leave them for the hedgehog or the birds to eat. I really don't feel bad about it at all.

[ina]

I don't.....................hmmm, but if I feed e'm on gunpowder first they will explode on impact! that should slow the cycle down a bit

It would slow the cycle, but it might also remove the last shred of goodwill your neighbours still feel towards you!

Anyway, I always think if a slug managed to grow to that size in your garden without you noticing it earlier, it probably came from some neighbours, already halfway to that size in the first place. Whether they hurled it across to yours, or whether the slug decided that your garden offered better food and sneaked across by himself, that's another question.

My favourite way of disposing of them (slugs, not neighbours ) is still feed them to the ducks - which I haven't got yet. Where's the year gone; I don't seem to be getting round to half of what I'd planned...

Ina

[shiney]

Now feeding them to the ducks sounds great. I don't have any ducks but we do go and feed them down at the canal and river.

Next time I'll take a bucket of slugs, cheaper than bread!

[ina]

And healthier, too. After all, we are supposed to improve our diets...

Guess where I found a nice long slug this morning? About as long as my hand. She (or he?) was slowly making it's way across my kitchen floor. Now how the heck did that beast get in there, I have no idea!!!

Ina

[Wombat]

Gotta be a bit careful of the big ones - they can be carnivorous leopard slugs and they eat other slugs!

Nev

[ina]

BUT NOT IN MY KITCHEN!!! Anyway, I didn't kill that one (I think it was one of those meat-eating ones), I just chucked her out onto the grass.

Ina

[Wombat]

Onya Ina!

[Steve M]

When I was a student I often woke up in the morning to find a slug trail across my duvet and pillow!! Never found the blighter though. I was the only person I knew who had to put slug pellets down in his bedroom! (not very organic I know).

I used to work with a guy who would collect all the slugs up in his garden, burn them in a little pot and then mix the ashed with water. He would then spray this on all his plants etc in order to act as homeopathic deterrent. Not sure if it worked and I certainly didn't accept his offer of lettuces when he brought them in to work!

[ina]

I hope he killed the slugs humanely before burning them, or else he'd have been in trouble with animal rights activists!

When I worked in France I had to clear mouse droppings out of my bed every night before I crept in. Mind you, I was so tired after work that I sometimes couldn't be bothered. When the mice became so cheeky as to actually run across the blanket while I was in bed, I started keeping a couple of cats in the bedroom, only to find they wanted to lie on my face... Couldn't win.

Ina

[shiney]

I am now going out into the garden on a mission. We have had a mahoosive mega thunderstorm. (I always shut down the pc and unplug it) I am on a slug hunt, there are millions of them crawling on the lawn.

[ina]

Gotta be a bit careful of the big ones - they can be carnivorous leopard slugs and they eat other slugs!

Nev

It was back last night - in my kitchen - and definitely a carnivorous one! I now know what attracts them to the kitchen in the first place, me being a veggie, there isn't much for them to eat, you'd think... This one was clearing out the cat bowl. Frankie (that's the cat, I don't have names for the slugs - yet ) just sniffed at her, decided "not huntable material", and walked off.

This reminded me of a book I read, by Patricia Highsmith, I believe, about the scientist who was looking into the rumour of man-eating giant snails on a remote island, with predictable results . So if you don't hear from me for a few days, get someone to check my house - they might find me in bed, half eaten by a giant slug (which, ironically, I'd reared myself on catfood )!

Oh dear. I'd better get back to work and do something useful.

Ina

[Millymollymandy]

Maybe you could have an indoor pet chicken, Ina? Or a hedgehog!

[ina]

Hedgehog might be a bit painful, in case I trod on it in the dark ! But a chicken, well, why not. Solves the problem of keeping them indoors due to bird flu threat...

I should add, maybe I could train it to lay directly into a pan, so I'd just have to add water in the morning and put it on to boil!!!

[shiney]

Oh Ina, you are awful! But what a great idea.