How Do Slugs Get in the House?

Coming downstairs for a coffee on a bright crisp morning, and seeing a few glowing slug trails on your living room floor is a heart stopping moment! 

It’s bad enough that you see lines of slime smeared on your carpet, but what’s worse is the fact that you cannot find the tiny creatures responsible for the mess.  

Not to mention, how did the slugs get into the house in the first place? 

I’ve got the answer to this question and more below, so together let’s get rid of your slimy friends… 

How Do Slugs Get Into a House?

If you’ve just found a slug, or a family of slugs in your home, the first thing you want to know is how did they get into the house! The answer is very simple. 

Slugs can get into the house in a variety of ways. Here are some possibilities:

• The slugs have got into your house by going through a gap in the wall.
• The slugs have travelled through tiny holes in your window sills in order to pay you a visit.
• The slugs have squeezed themselves under the front/back door and have entered your house. 
• A family of slugs will also use any cutouts in walls/boards in your home to get in – holes made for cables, for example.  
• Pets can also walk on baby slugs and can bring them into the house on their paws. 
• You could’ve brought a baby slug in on your shoe. 
• They can travel along pipes. 
• Slugs will go through vents to get into your house. 

Now you know how they get in, the next thing you need to know is why they’ve decided to pop in for a cuppa with you!

 

Why Do They Come In?

Slugs invade homes for a number of reasons, but usually because there’s something good that they want inside.

• Slug love dark places, and they enter homes at night because they’re dark and very inviting. 
• They also come in because houses have moisture problems – slugs love moist environments! Moisture in the home is usually caused by a damp problem and can be sorted out. 
• In the night houses can be quite cool, which is a really welcoming environment for slugs.  
• One of the biggest reasons they come in is because food has been left out – this includes pet food and human food in some cases. 

It’s worth noting that slugs usually target older homes because they have more holes and dampness in them. But this doesn’t mean that they won’t enter new builds.  
 

Getting Rid of Slugs From Your House

Naturally, if you’re not keen on your new housemates you’ll be wanting to evict them from your home. There are various ways that you can try to get rid of slugs, and some ways are more humane than others. 

Choose a solution that works for you, but remember to pick a method that suits your home. For example, if you have a dog you need to buy dog friendly slug repellents. 

Here are some solutions you should consider:

• The very first thing you should always do is to find out where these slugs are coming from – to do this you need to follow their trails. If you don’t know where they’re coming from you won’t be able to get rid of them properly. 
• When you find out how they’re getting into your house you can block and seal up the area –  you could use a draught excluder to block up doors, for example. Or use some foam filler or sealant for holes in the walls/skirting boards around the house. 
• You could put some salt on the floor near the entrance they use to come into the house – this will cause them harm, so it is best to try some other solutions first.  
• Specialised products like wool pellets can also be used to bait the slugs – you should put them where the slugs enter your home. These methods do have mixed results though, so be prepared for this solution not to work as you’d hope. 
• Copper tape is usually put around plant pots outdoors and this helps to keep slugs at bay – ideally you need to put the tape around the areas where the slugs come in, and put some of it down around your home. This can be fiddly to work with and you may get tiny paper cuts after using it. Again, this solution does occasionally have mixed results. 
• Slug traps are also another option worth trying – this way you can keep the slugs in the trap and rehome them somewhere else. 
• It’s also possible to line up crushed eggshells along the floor in your house to deter the slugs from traveling in – this won’t work too well if you have kids and pets, and you cannot block off the area. 
• If you fancy making your own trap you could make a beer trap – the slugs are attracted to the beer and end up getting stuck inside the trap. 
• If your problem is getting out of hand you can always give a pest control company a call – always do your research. 

If you live in an older house that has old vents, it might be a tad tricky to just block the vents up, so it would be better to use the other solutions listed above. 

Finally, if you use the solutions above you may find that you’ll have to dispose of the dead slugs in your home, after you’ve used a solution. This can be a bit yucky, so wear gloves and have a bucket or a bin at hand! 

 

Preventing Slugs From Coming Into Your House in the Future

Getting rid of slugs can be really tiring and infuriating. So, instead of going through this nightmare every few months follow the measures below to prevent another sluggish episode from occurring in your home. 

• Make sure that you’ve sourced the entry point and close up any holes or gaps you can see – this way they won’t be able to come in. 
• Check your home for new holes and gaps and seal them on a regular basis. 
• Don’t leave any food on the floor and put leftovers in the bin. 
• If you have damp problems in your home they need to be fixed.
• Use appropriate slug repellents outdoors, so they don’t have a chance of getting to your house, let alone inside it. 
• Dribble some coffee around the outside of your house to deter the slugs from coming near your home. 
• Make your garden less appealing to slugs – try putting some rougher ground down.  
• Don’t put plants on your windowsill or near your doors – this only encourages them to get closer to your beautiful home. 
• Get a bird table – they like eating slugs. 
• If this is possible, try to encourage hedgehogs and wildlife to come into your garden – they can also feast on the slugs outdoors, so the slugs never make it into your home. 
• Instead of throwing out citrus peels put them in the furthest part of your garden – this will coax the slug to remain outdoors. 
• Try planting some mint or sage in your garden – slugs aren’t too keen on these herbs. 
• Wipe and clean your pets’ paws before they come into the house.
• Clean your shoes before you enter your home. 

Prevention is key when working with slugs! Try your best to keep the slugs outside where they belong.

Conclusion

A slug, or a family of slugs, in your home is horrendous! But, as bad as it may seem, if you deal with the problem quickly and appropriately you can eradicate the slugs from your home. 

It’s likely that the solutions above will take time to work, and not every solution will work for everyone, but it is possible to rid your home of slugs! 

Got your own story to share? Let us know in the comments below!