I once got rid of ants by leaving a small pile of sugar out for them.
I like to think the ants that found it took it back to the nest and said "hey guys look what we found!" then got "don't be so stupid! humans never do that! It's obviously a trap, don't ever go back there"
Years ago I had a housemate and she told me that every night, a slug would leave a trail on her bedroom mat and this was going on for years. She could never find it or catch it.
She went away for a week or so for work so I poured some salt on her mat.
Next morning I go look and I find the slug stuck in the middle of the mat unable to escape.
Took a photo of it, tossed it out into the garden and vacuumed the mat.
Showed her the photo when she returned and told her what I had done. She was so relieved that the phantom slug had been dealt with.
My guess is it got in through the window and was never able to find its way out and probably hid somewhere in her room during the day, coming out at night to uh... feast on... no idea.
It's probably like a fly, can find its way into houses and things but not get out. It probably found a way onto the mat through the least resistance and then didn't find a way back out by the time I found it.
They're actually quite resilient especially if weather is humid. They don't need to eat every night either. I've had slugs in houses where there was no visible food left for them, and they stayed. They do like scraping mold and rot off a variety of surfaces, so it's most likely it survived on whatever was growing or rotting underneath the carpet, or behind a damp wooden skirting or windowsill. Stuff that us humans wouldn't notice unless went literally looking for it
Maybe this is a regional specific thing, but if I kept finding a weird streak in my bathroom, I would never in a million years assume a sneaky slug suspect.
I was a wee little lad when a neighborhood friend showed me what happens to a slug when you pour salt on it, how anyone can see that and condone or joke about the use is akin to gas chambers being "effective" for the nazis or death sentences.
Slugs are amazing, their benefits are like worms, birds, and legumes super packed into tiny squishy guys (they compost, spread seeds, and are a good protein source for nature (link)).
Slugs also don't just "show up" and sneak into the house. If you've got a gap under the door like that then EVERYTHING is getting in and your entrance is about as energy efficient as a barn door (for the love of god just get an under door weatherstrip for 10$ even if you rent).
Slugs rely on very moist conditions, your gutter/foundation drainage at that point should be a priority and will 100% make the problem naturally go away. If they're in your house, you should be concerned about possible health complications with whatever conditions are making it a viable habitat for them (probably an open crawlspace with plumbing leaks and water pooling from improper grading). I would probably be worrying about mold and termites more at that point than some slimy guys.
And much like some other superstitions/religious beliefs, we now see the practicality of putting a line of salt across thresholds to your house! The first time I considered food safety in conjunction with a desert people in 4000 bc, I realized the Talmudic prohibition on consuming shellfish and pork was pretty logical.
To be clear, they aren’t all reasonable (for example: black cats and the ban on mixed fiber textiles), but I’m always excited to find another prescientific belief with a scientifically grounded benefit.
the ban on mixed fiber textiles was about banning practices common to competing religions in the local area during the bronze age. it makes sense as a way to increase group identity. you can easily see the same thing today, whenever Group A has an enemy, Group B, and vilifies things they see as emblematic of Group B, even if they're objectively pretty neutral.
In that vein, any dietary restrictions that those around you don’t have, have a logical basis of furthering your in group cohesion and distancing yourself from your neighbors, just because sharing meals with people generally deepens relationships (or honestly, any restrictions of any type that differ from those around you serve to other you from them, thereby driving you together as a group). That is a scientifically substantiated benefit, but it’s not quite what I was getting at, because it’s not inherent to the rule itself, but rather how it applied in that specific context.
That said, I didn’t realize that about the textiles and it’s super interesting!
They can get through a gap of 1-2mm (about 1/32 - 1/16 inches) through cracks round door frames, along the holes for water pipes, in tiny cracks between bricks or concrete.
They have an amazing sense of smell and are especially fond of cat food or that tiny bit of lettuce that fell underneath the fridge.
... ok, but just for a sec, imagine the snoil looking & feeling around like snails do, then suddenly executing one is those elegant cat or dog jumps that they do jumping over a fence.
"hearty amount of jam"
Annnnnd now I have slugs and ants.
Slug diplomat makes agreement with ant diplomat.
Ants carry away salt.
Slugs share jam.
OP unwittingly made bug super alliance.
but what's in it for the Ants? They do all the work and have to share their bounty.
It’s classic slug politics where they throw their weight around on the international stage.
They now have enough salt to wage war on the slugs, the slugs win will be temporary until the ants weaponize the salt.
Arachnids can definitely be bugs in my book, but I had never considered mollusks before!
An informal term for minibeasts of all types.
"minifauna" is going on my list.
Something something scorpion.
Put cinnamon around the outer wall and ants will stay out. Not sure what it does to slugs though.
Great, now half my kitchen cabinet is poured onto the floor
Holy shit. What a throw back. That was one of my mates at university who did that, the exact post. It must be about 15 years old.
Edit: I've just checked, and it was 13 years ago to the day. 12th June 2012 this was posted, and then an update on 13th.
Update here: https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/06add345-006e-4679-9ca0-ed83bb1c11a9.jpeg
So what you’re saying is you are able to update us with the results?
I expect the maze to be massive, spanning the entire house by now. Anything else and I would be incredibly disappointed.
Only one update was given on Facebook https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/06add345-006e-4679-9ca0-ed83bb1c11a9.jpeg
I think after that he got a bunch of ants because of the jam, so resulted to slug pellets. Don't remember exactly, as it was 13 years ago to the day.
Thanks for the reply!
I once got rid of ants by leaving a small pile of sugar out for them.
I like to think the ants that found it took it back to the nest and said "hey guys look what we found!" then got "don't be so stupid! humans never do that! It's obviously a trap, don't ever go back there"
Hello nice to meet you, now that we know each other I will post that I know the friend of a guy who posted this photo, thank you.
You think that's impressive? I've responded to a comment from someone who spoke to the friend of the guy that posted this photo.
Did the slugs just use the sides of the door frame to skip over the edges of the maze?
Only one update was given on Facebook https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/06add345-006e-4679-9ca0-ed83bb1c11a9.jpeg
I think after that he got a bunch of ants because of the jam, so resulted to slug pellets. Don't remember exactly, as it was 13 years ago to the day.
Seriously, who doesn't realize slugs can climb up walls?
Well then what happened? Did one complete the gauntlet?
Only one update was given on Facebook https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/06add345-006e-4679-9ca0-ed83bb1c11a9.jpeg
I think after that he got a bunch of ants because of the jam, so resulted to slug pellets. Don't remember exactly, as it was 13 years ago to the day.
You're a flipping legend for posting the update! Cheers!!
So what happened!?
Only one update was given on Facebook https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/06add345-006e-4679-9ca0-ed83bb1c11a9.jpeg
I think after that he got a bunch of ants because of the jam, so resulted to slug pellets. Don't remember exactly, as it was 13 years ago to the day.
Your mate is hilarious!
Did he awaken to a scattered graveyard of slugs or did one actually make it?
Only one update was given on Facebook https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/06add345-006e-4679-9ca0-ed83bb1c11a9.jpeg
I think after that he got a bunch of ants because of the jam, so resulted to slug pellets. Don't remember exactly, as it was 13 years ago to the day.
Years ago I had a housemate and she told me that every night, a slug would leave a trail on her bedroom mat and this was going on for years. She could never find it or catch it.
She went away for a week or so for work so I poured some salt on her mat.
Next morning I go look and I find the slug stuck in the middle of the mat unable to escape.
Took a photo of it, tossed it out into the garden and vacuumed the mat.
Showed her the photo when she returned and told her what I had done. She was so relieved that the phantom slug had been dealt with.
This leads to more questions than answers for me.
Where was the slug coming from, and if it had got onto the mat despite the salt, why couldn't it go back the same way?
My guess is it got in through the window and was never able to find its way out and probably hid somewhere in her room during the day, coming out at night to uh... feast on... no idea.
It's probably like a fly, can find its way into houses and things but not get out. It probably found a way onto the mat through the least resistance and then didn't find a way back out by the time I found it.
They're actually quite resilient especially if weather is humid. They don't need to eat every night either. I've had slugs in houses where there was no visible food left for them, and they stayed. They do like scraping mold and rot off a variety of surfaces, so it's most likely it survived on whatever was growing or rotting underneath the carpet, or behind a damp wooden skirting or windowsill. Stuff that us humans wouldn't notice unless went literally looking for it
Maybe this is a regional specific thing, but if I kept finding a weird streak in my bathroom, I would never in a million years assume a sneaky slug suspect.
This was in her bedroom, and it looked like the regular snail or slug slime trail.
If you had seen it in person, you'd have known.
Of I misread it was in her bedroom. That's waaaay worse! I wouldn't be able to sleep with a rogue slug on the loose.
Decoy slug.
What's a bedroom mat?
A small rug I guess, just a square piece of carpet that I couldn't bring myself to call a rug.
A mat that's in a bedroom.
It’s a room with a big mattress you can sleep on - but please, my name’s not Matt.
I was a wee little lad when a neighborhood friend showed me what happens to a slug when you pour salt on it, how anyone can see that and condone or joke about the use is akin to gas chambers being "effective" for the nazis or death sentences.
Slugs are amazing, their benefits are like worms, birds, and legumes super packed into tiny squishy guys (they compost, spread seeds, and are a good protein source for nature (link)).
Slugs also don't just "show up" and sneak into the house. If you've got a gap under the door like that then EVERYTHING is getting in and your entrance is about as energy efficient as a barn door (for the love of god just get an under door weatherstrip for 10$ even if you rent).
Slugs rely on very moist conditions, your gutter/foundation drainage at that point should be a priority and will 100% make the problem naturally go away. If they're in your house, you should be concerned about possible health complications with whatever conditions are making it a viable habitat for them (probably an open crawlspace with plumbing leaks and water pooling from improper grading). I would probably be worrying about mold and termites more at that point than some slimy guys.
Found a slug trail almost all the way to their room... but no mention of finding the slug.
It's about to touch them and one of the twists was they can't know there's a slug chasing them.
But they do know because they found the trail of slime.
The 'fiery death' is actually they melt into a surprisingly large amount of very liquidy goo. You don't want that in your fitted carpet..
They spread a cup of salt on it, we're past caring about the carpet
Salt is easy to vacuum. An encrustation of a dried salt-mucus-protein mush though - that's another level!
Nice of you to draw an arrow to indicate the start, must be very helpful to them.
An arrow made of salty death.
Imagine if they just go straight towards the smell and create a bridge of dead slugs through the salt
And that's why you need to use aluminium instead.
Do slugs even like jam? I really don't feel like doing a web search 😂
This is how you end up with hyper slugs a few generations down the line
Guess that's what OOP's trying to selectively breed
What kind of shit houses are you guys building over there?
Looks like low budget college housing. I doubt anywhere is so perfect that a slug can't slip under the door of a low budget college home.
It doesn't take much of a gap for a slug to get in. They could probably get into your home if you were in a wet enough climate with enough slugs.
Sorry, what? Is this what you're used to? Doors so crappy that slugs can wriggle through?
Wow I had no idea slugs went into people’s homes like that
And much like some other superstitions/religious beliefs, we now see the practicality of putting a line of salt across thresholds to your house! The first time I considered food safety in conjunction with a desert people in 4000 bc, I realized the Talmudic prohibition on consuming shellfish and pork was pretty logical.
To be clear, they aren’t all reasonable (for example: black cats and the ban on mixed fiber textiles), but I’m always excited to find another prescientific belief with a scientifically grounded benefit.
the ban on mixed fiber textiles was about banning practices common to competing religions in the local area during the bronze age. it makes sense as a way to increase group identity. you can easily see the same thing today, whenever Group A has an enemy, Group B, and vilifies things they see as emblematic of Group B, even if they're objectively pretty neutral.
In that vein, any dietary restrictions that those around you don’t have, have a logical basis of furthering your in group cohesion and distancing yourself from your neighbors, just because sharing meals with people generally deepens relationships (or honestly, any restrictions of any type that differ from those around you serve to other you from them, thereby driving you together as a group). That is a scientifically substantiated benefit, but it’s not quite what I was getting at, because it’s not inherent to the rule itself, but rather how it applied in that specific context.
That said, I didn’t realize that about the textiles and it’s super interesting!
Yes, they fucking do, and it's annoying as hell. Also, super gross when you step on one barefoot in the middle of the night.
in which kind of regions? Stealth slugs are new to me
Wet ones. Maybe slugs stay out of your home if the humidity is low? I wonder if a dehumidifier could be a slug repellant.
Much of Britain, certainly.
They can get through a gap of 1-2mm (about 1/32 - 1/16 inches) through cracks round door frames, along the holes for water pipes, in tiny cracks between bricks or concrete.
They have an amazing sense of smell and are especially fond of cat food or that tiny bit of lettuce that fell underneath the fridge.
Only if you take the deal.
Disgusting.
Carpet.
This is how you breed an army of unstoppable super-slugs.
Tower Defence in real life.
Sounds like he's immortal.
IDK but since amoeboid organism can solve maze surely slung can do it too.
Sam and Dean Winchester approve
I love tower defense games.
The SUPREME tower defense game was "Beat the Geek".
Are you familiar?
... ok, but just for a sec, imagine the snoil looking & feeling around like snails do, then suddenly executing one is those elegant cat or dog jumps that they do jumping over a fence.
My first thought was someone trying to creatively communicate the hallucinogenic they'd taken, before I read the text.
Natural selection