slugs in bathroom

Brie

posting this in DIY in case anyone has a solution....

so for the last few months we've been getting slugs in our downstairs bathroom.  mostly tiddlers but apparently there was a good 4 incher in there the other day that the OH flushed away.  I don't mind disposing of them but why are they there?  No windows are open so I assume they are gaining access via the plumbing?  Is that possible?? I doubt it's the loo so that leaves the shower drain, the sink drain or the sink overflow. 

comeandgo

How’s the spacing between your walls and skirting boards and floors.  A slug can get in through a very small gap. Is your bathroom damp, they do like dark, damp places.

plumb1_2

They can come from any small gaps under skirting boards, holes behind the bath panels. Best sealed up

Sarahspangles

If it's damp in that room you only need one laying eggs in there for them to multiply.  We had a lean to kitchen years ago and they were coming in around a badly sealed waste pipe.  They tracked across the lino overnight, disgusting.

Brie

no gaps that I can see.  and no slime trails.  all of which is why we are baffled.

we used to have a problem in a previous home but that's when we had cats and we'd regularly pull little hitchhikers off one of them that liked to sleep in the garden most nights.  the trails we had there could be most amazing when we missed catching one.

Eldi_Dos

Agree that skirting boards, pipe entry and behind bath panels or plinths are best place to start and redo any seals that may have shrunk back a bit, leaving a small plastic tray of slug pellets behind bath panel might be a good idea.

As they generally are nocturnal leaving light on during all the hours of darkness might stop them venturing in.Try for a few weeks till weather changes.

Are there any flower beds outside bathroom, if so give them good clearout, especially any leaf debris, this will let the birds be more proactive in doing a bit of pest control.

strawb_shortcake

Do you have any outdoor shoes nearby? when someone has left muddy boots by the back door we often see a little slug on the back door

Lorian

The do come in very small gaps round pipes and skirting boards. If you can't find where to seal some relief can be gained by sprinkling a little salt around the likely Ingress areas

Annemos

Good evening Brie,   Here is a slug story for you. (A bit long.... but to give you all the complete picture and a HAPPY ENDING!)

My bungalow subsided and the concrete path along the side wall moved away from the bungalow wall, by about half a centimetre. (Prior to that, the path had always been touching the bungalow wall.)

For the first time in 20 years living here, I started to get slugs in the kitchen. Absolutely disgusting. (I would go in for a glass of water at about 11pm.... and would find one or two). It was really grossing me out! Especially the large two-inch FAT one that ended up on the cooker and had a bright orange frill. I was getting scared to even go into the kitchen, it was so upsetting. 

I assumed that they must be getting in through a Subsidence crack in the lower brickwork. 

Well, as the subsidence claim progressed, the concrete path was eventually taken up, so that the foundation could be inspected further along to the front of the bungalow. (I had elected to have the whole path removed, to be eventually replaced with gravel.) So the ground next to the kitchen wall was exposed for the first time. 

Well.... what did we find by the kitchen?.... there was actually a half-brick which had been removed at just below ground level and through the gap was a black pipe, going from inside the kitchen and then out and away from the bungalow towards the garden.

We inspected it to see if it could be for water or gas. No sign of that. So brother-in-law decided to give the plastic pipe a good yank... and what we found inside it was an old electricity cable. (No longer connected to anything, as I had had the kitchen stripped out a few years ago.)

It looked as if that cable was probably laid by the original owner, about 40 years ago, from his kitchen along to an outside shed (long ago removed). And he had used the black pipe as a sleeve. (Pipe was about 3 inches diameter.) And he had decided to take out a half-brick at ground level to do it! (It must have been before the concrete path was even put down.)

I had a bricklayer over and he took out the half-brick that was there and filled up the hole with a full brick and carefully repointed it all. 

I am happy to report...not a single slug has been found in my kitchen since then. You can only imagine what this means for me! 


So I would advise perhaps, if you have gravel outside of the bathroom wall, or even a concrete path........ can you inspect to see if you might have a pipe just below ground level, combined possibly with a brick or a half-brick, that has been removed by a previous enthusiastic DIY-er!?

sevenhills

Brie said:

posting this in DIY in case anyone has a solution....

so for the last few months we've been getting slugs in our downstairs bathroom.  

I have a relative that gets slugs in his kitchen, the house has been extended. Is your downstairs bathroom in an extension?

badmemory

I'm surprised you aren't finding slug trails.  Have you tried putting down salt, at least it will stop them wandering.  Mine used to come in through the (badly installed) washing machine outflow pipe.  At one point I was putting down salt all the way across the back of the house until I finally found out.