How to get rid of slugs in the house and in the basement?

Perhaps, few people will be delighted to find representatives of gastropods in their apartment or private house. Of course, we are not talking about giant snails, which are specially brought in - we mean "uninvited guests" who penetrate into a person's dwelling and parasitize in it. These include slugs, the measures to combat which we will talk about today.

Slugs are gastropods that differ from their congeners by the absence of a shell. When they live in their natural conditions, that is, in nature, in the forest, they even bring some benefit to the ecosystem, feeding on fallen leaves and animal excrement, thereby accelerating the processing of organic matter. But here when they creep into a garden or vegetable garden, and even more so a living room, you should not stand on ceremony with them.

That is why, if these mollusks are found in a house, apartment or basement, it is necessary to urgently take measures to destroy them.

Where do dwelling slugs come from, you ask? The answer is extremely simple: if the mollusks are crawling "about their business", and a certain building appears on their way, they will definitely penetrate inside. Damp basements and cellars, dark, cool, become their favorite havens. Apartments located on the ground floor of the house are also attacked by them - there they are lured by delicious smells (houseplants, animal food), as well as life-giving warmth. As a rule, slugs choose a bathroom as a habitat in an apartment. Coolness and humidity attract living beings in the summer, they look for warmth when the cold comes.

If you are surprised by the very fact that a slug can get into a living room, especially a city apartment, remember this: there are no absolutely sealed buildings, no matter how well they are built. There are always at least small cracks, gaps in walls, windows, doorways, through which slugs crawl. Their flexible body is capable of stretching up to 20 times of its original length and, accordingly, narrowing, so it is not difficult for them to get inside the room.

In order to get rid of slugs forever, you need to start acting as soon as they are found. There are several methods of pest control.

In general, it is not recommended to use chemicals in a residential area - they should remain the most extreme measure and be used only when other methods have been tried and did not bring the desired result. And here's why: the effect of chemicals extends not only to slugs, but also to the respiratory system of people, pets, which are at risk of intoxication. Of course, if you have the opportunity to process the room and leave it at night, taking your pets with you, then the use of chemicals will be justified, and you can get rid of not only harmful molluscs, but also other household pests: cockroaches, wood lice, etc. ...

Let's say a few words about drugs that are effective in the fight against slugs. As a rule, they contain a dangerous toxic substance metaldehyde, whose mechanism of action is associated with impaired osmoregulation (increased mucus secretion and dehydration of the body) and damage to the intestinal walls of molluscs. Accordingly, in order for the agent to work, it must go directly to the body of the slug.

The only chemical that is safe for home use is ammonia. And here's how to use it:

• drip ammonia onto cotton pads;
• put them in the places of your home where you find traces of mucus.

You can also destroy shellfish with the help of folk wisdom. There are several effective methods, by the way, harmless to humans and their pets.

• An excellent effect is given by table salt, mustard powder and simple instant coffee. It is necessary to take any of the proposed products, sprinkle them with sheets of paper and spread them out in places where slugs crawl (these places can be calculated by the characteristic "snotty" paths left by mollusks). You can also scatter salt along baseboards, around flower pots, etc.
• Oddly enough, slugs love the aroma of ... beer! You can take advantage of this "weakness" of theirs and build the following trap: wet a rag with any beer and put it on a cellophane film in the place where shellfish most often appear. It is better to do this at night, and in the morning it will be possible to collect the mollusks that have crawled onto the bait and destroy or throw them away.

What if slugs attacked the basement? Let's figure it out.

There is one very effective way to clean the basement / cellar from slugs - aeration of the room.

1. First, take out all food, including canned food.
2. Take a sheet of iron, put a sulfur stick on it and set it on fire. At the same time, it is very important to strictly follow the instructions for using the checker, observing all precautions so as not to poison yourself with sulfur vapors.
3. The cellar / basement must remain locked for three days after the procedure.
4. After this time, open the doors, thoroughly ventilate the room.
5. Bring all the food back, arrange / arrange them in their places.
6. If you store fresh vegetables in the basement, check each one for slugs before bringing them in.

Another basement processing technique is considered sparing. However, it is used only in those cases when slugs have just occupied it and did not have time to take root and multiply there. Its essence is to dust the basement with a mixture of vegetable (wood) ash and chalk or bleach:

• clean the basement by removing inventory and any foodstuffs from there, plug the cracks;
• dust with the selected substance (ash + chalk or bleach);
• all the slugs in the basement will curl up and die - you just have to manually collect them and burn them or just throw them away;
• whitewash the walls, ceiling and floor with plaster;
• dry and ventilate the room well;
• you can bring everything back.

Everyone knows that preventive measures are the best way to prevent an unpleasant event from occurring. To prevent slugs from ever entering your home, take care of prevention.

• If there is a problem of high humidity and constant dampness in your room, be it a house, summer cottage, apartment or basement, immediately take care of its elimination.Find places where moisture penetrates from the outside - it can be a leaky roof, cracks in the walls - and seal them. For basements, make it a rule to ventilate them from time to time.
• Always make an inventory in the cellar on time, do not store spoiled food, rotten wooden boxes and other similar things. Throw away the trash on time, inspect your workpieces, check each vegetable before taking it to the basement for storage.
• Lime pollination is a good preventive measure against slugs in the cellar.