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  • From: "Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>
  • To: gardenwriters-on-gardening <gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [gwl-g] natural slug controls
  • Date: Mon, 12 Apr 2004 07:18:56 -0700

Title: Re: [gwl-g] natural slug controls
If it gets too hot, the snakes would just move.  The critical time is in the spring, when the snakes need more warmth to be active and it's still cool and moist enough for slugs to be out.  Probably by the time the weather gets hot the slugs are mostly gone or have become dormant, anyway.
 -Lon Rombough



Lon, I wonder if metal sheets wouldn't be too hot even for cold-blooded
critters in climates outside the Pacific NW.  We had several days last
summer that topped 100° F. here in Boise.  Ask your son if they're only
good in a moderate climate.  Thanks,

>    My oldest son, Chris, who is just finishing a degree in wildlife
>management, has been doing experiments in encouraging the local reptiles and
>amphibians.  He has placed old pieces of aluminum roofing around our yard
>and in the fields to provide shelter for them.  He has been successful in
>more than one way.  First, he has found as many as 31 of the native Garter
>snakes under the sheets, and he is now finding the native alligator lizard
>(a very small species that is quite harmless in spite of it's name, given
>because of it's appearance).  In the process, the local slug population has
>plummetted.  Chris was collecting slugs to feed some turtles he has, and he
>now has to go far afield to find them.  In every case, there is an
>ever-expanding radius around the sheets of alumuminum that are becoming free
>of slugs.  The lizards hunt at night or in the very early morning, and the
>snakes largely seek out the slugs underground where they hide.
>    Ironically, when first placed, the sheets drew slugs from all over.  Then
>the snakes and lizards moved in because they had a food supply, shelter, and
>an area where they could get warm from the sun all in one spot.
>    In short, if you don't mind the appearance of it, laying sheets of old
>sheet metal siding is a good way to control slugs, assuming you have some
>native reptiles and amphibians that will eat them, and you don't get in a
>hurry before the animals find the shelter island/food supply.
>    Oh yes, the sheets keep weeds from growing in those spots, too.
>-Lon Rombough
>_______________________________________________



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