Slugs are slimy, slithery creatures that munch on plants and love to stay in moist, cool places.
People often find slugs in their kitchens when they get up at night for a glass of water or a late-night snack.
Since your kitchen has plenty of small, dark corners for these pests to hide, they tend to make these spaces their home.
You will also notice the telltale trail of these slugs around your kitchen.
So today, let’s find out how you can rid your kitchen of them for good.
How to Get Rid of Slugs in Your Kitchen
Here are some excellent ways of getting rid of slugs in your kitchen.
Remember, you should also look for permanent fixes to ensure that these pests don’t come slithering back into your home again.
Seal Off the Cracks
The first thing you need to do to get rid of slugs is to figure out where they are coming from.
The best way to do this is by following the slimy trail they leave behind.
You should do this at night by using a torch, as it will highlight where the slug has been and allow you to follow its trail.
You will notice that they are probably coming inside through a crack in the door or the window. So, you should get to work on sealing off these cracks.
You can do this by using caulk for the doors and foam for the windows.
Use Rough Surfaces
Slugs have soft, slimy bodies. Therefore, they prefer to crawl over smooth surfaces instead of rough ones.
Crawling over rough surfaces hurts their soft bodies. You can use this knowledge to your advantage by roughening up the surfaces where you notice the slug trails.
You can use diatomaceous earth, sandpaper, and salt to roughen up the edges of the windows and doors.
Get Some Slug Killer
Slug killers are easily available at any gardening shop. You can also find them in the cleaning section of most stores.
These solutions work quickly to get rid of slugs and ensure that they don’t start breeding. Slug killers are particularly effective in small, dark corners around your kitchen.
The best time to use slug killers is during early spring. This is the time when slugs appear in kitchens and start to breed rapidly to increase their population.
So, make sure to use the slug killer then. It will stop them from making a home in your kitchen. It can also reduce their population all year long.
Attract and Eliminate
Luring the slugs and then killing them off will help you get rid of the kitchen population.
You can put out an upside-down plant pot, some citrus peelings, or even a leaf of lettuce to attract the slugs. They enjoy feeding on these substances and will quickly collect in this location.
Then, use a slug-killing spray to get rid of them. You can also sprinkle some salt over them for the same effect.
However, if you prefer more humane ways of dealing with the kitchen slugs, you can also collect them in a jar.
Place the lure inside a box or jar, so the slugs collect there. You can then leave them at a nearby park.
Salt Them Out
One of the most popular and handy ways of getting rid of slugs in your kitchen is by sprinkling salt over them.
Slugs are instantly killed when exposed to salt. This means you can just grab some from the pantry and get rid of them instantly.
However, you must keep in mind that salt can also kill off plants. So, if you have slugs living under your plant pots, you should be careful, or they might get damaged as well.
Also, keep in mind that sprinkling salt on a slug will create a slimy, orange mess. You will have to clean out your kitchen well after it.
Use Copper Tape
If you’ve found a slug in your home, the chances are that there are more as well. Slugs breed quickly and will increase their numbers before you know it.
Therefore, you need to act fast to ensure you don’t have an entire population of slugs living in your kitchen. Copper tape can help you do this easily.
Copper tape is one of the most effective ways of getting rid of slugs.
It is an inch-wide tape that is flexible and can bend to take on different shapes. This allows it to bend in corners and get attached easily around the nooks and crannies of your kitchen.
You can also use it to wrap the bottom of your flower pots, behind the refrigerator, and other dark spots in your kitchen.
Copper tape is an organic treatment, and it doesn’t kill the slugs. Instead, it drives them away and out of your kitchen.
This means that copper tape is an eco-friendly, animal-safe solution for getting rid of kitchen slugs. It works well, acts fast, and can easily last for 2-3 years before you have to replace it.
Get a Bird Feeder
Birds, ducks, frogs, etc., all love to feed on slugs and snails.
So, a great way to prevent slugs and snails from entering your kitchen in the first place is by inviting these predators to your garden or yard.
By installing bird feeders in your backyard or the front garden, you will be inviting different birds to your home. These birds will also feed on slugs roaming around the yard, trying to enter the kitchen.
It is a great way to feed animals in your neighborhood while also getting rid of your slug problem.
Other Things to Consider to Get Rid of Kitchen Slugs
Now you know of all the ways to get rid of the slugs slithering away in your kitchen.
Let’s go over some other things you should also consider when trying to get rid of those pesky slugs.
These pointers will help you ensure that these pests don’t make a comeback into your kitchen once winters are over.
Look Under the Plant Pots
If you enjoy keeping potted plants on your kitchen windows and by the doors, the chances are that these are slugs hiding under them.
Slugs love to hide under potted plants. This is true for nearly anything that sits flat on the ground of your kitchen floor.
While we aren’t sure how they manage to get under there, you should know that it is highly likely that the slugs in your kitchen are hiding there.
So, make it a practice to clean under these spots at least twice a week. You should also make sure to do quick checks every few days and get rid of any slugs you may find immediately.
Doing so will help you prevent the chances of slugs making the bottoms of your potted plants their very own breeding ground.
Clean Up Every Night
Slugs love hiding out in cool, damp places around your kitchen.
They can easily make your kitchen their home if you leave your dishes overnight or don’t mop the floors regularly.
An easy way to get rid of slugs is by taking away their hiding places. A good clean-up can help you do this since it will leave them exposed and vulnerable.
Be sure to wash and put away the dishes before going to bed every night. Also, remember to wipe down the counters, mop any spills, and ensure that your kitchen is dry each night.
Prepare During Winters
The time of the year is an important factor to consider when you’re trying to get rid of slugs.
This is because the winter season is when slugs generally disappear.
This is a natural occurrence, so you should make the most of this time and remember that the winter months are the best to deal with slugs.
Try to plan out your grass cutting accordingly. As the winter months roll around and the slugs disappear, use this opportunity to prepare the soil and ground well.
You can do this by making the ground rough. We discussed earlier how slugs tend to stay away from rough ground.
Therefore, this will prove to be an effective way to get rid of the slugs for good.
Avoid Ground Covering Plants
Slugs and snails are experts at hiding underground covered with plants.
Most people enjoy keeping plants in their kitchen for a nice, refreshing look.
While plants can do wonders to brighten up your kitchen and make it look nice, they do also invite in numerous pests.
Among these pests are slugs that can easily hide in or around your plants. This is especially true if you have low-lying plants in your kitchen or ground covering ones right outside.
Slugs can easily hide in these plants and sneak into your kitchen at night.
So, try to bring in plants that don’t trail on the ground or hang low. This removes the slugs’ perfect hiding space and gives you a slug-free kitchen.
It also ensures your soils are well-aerated and keeps other pests away!
All the best in getting rid of the slugs in your kitchen!
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