Slugs

MonHawk · Slugs

Hello, I have a 10 week old Brittany puppy, and am new to this forum.

Although she is not yet allowed out in public grounds, we take her into our garden. With the recent wet weather, I have had to take her out on a lead every single time because our garden is just riddled with slugs. My vet warned me that although lungworm used to be a west country problem, it is now also a growing problem in Surrey (where we are) and that I should definitely try and prevent her from eating slugs.

I've been looking into slug control, and have seen some conflicting advice about Metaldehyde slug pellets - several opinions insisting it's safe for dogs, others the opposite. However, I've also come across Nematodes - in the form of NemaSlug.

I was wondering whether anyone here had used either of these methods, and with what level of success?

Kind regards, Monique

guy

Monique,
welcome.

surrey - not far from NE Hants :-)

We solved our slug problem with a few bantam hens, not sure that helps you at the moment though.

I understand the problem with slug pellets is they taste sweet and are very poisonous to dogs. Coffee grounds around the plants deters them but again not much use to a dog discovering the world.

Liz

Hi Monique and welcome to the forum.

I wouldn't want to use any form of slug pellets or garden chemicals with a puppy around - I feel the dangers are far too great.

Hope you can find another way of getting rid of the horrible things.

Annie as admin

Beer - small pots sunk into the ground filled with beer - any kind will do but I believe stout is particularly ewffective. Just empty them out in the morning before you take puppy out and refill for next time Wink

They die happy Laughing

MonHawk

Thanks for your replies.

I think the garden is too big and the slug problem too great (there is literally a slug every yard or so in the mornings) to tackle it with beer - I think I read somewhere that I'd need at least a jar per square metre of beds (and we have about 100 sq metres).

I'm genuinely worried about the risk of lungworm, and I agree that slug pellets are also a risk, despite what the manufacturers say.

Having asked around a bit more, I am going to try NemaSlug which appears totally safe and organice and hopefully quite effective. (See http://www.nemasysinfo.com/slugs.shtml). I will keep you posted on the results!

Annie as admin

Wow, lucky puppy having that size to play in.
Hope you enjoy the forum, Monique! Would yuo like to tell us you'r pup's breeding? And have you looked at the new club website, and have you joined the Club?
Lots of questions, just wanting to make you feel at homw Wink

We havea special weekend in October - perhaps you'll come to it with Pupskin Question

Annie

MonHawk

Thanks for the welcome!

I haven't joined the club yet (shy newcomer) but will take a look around. What do you mean by the pup's breeding? Do you mean her pedigree?

Her mum's from Stourling in Dorset, her dad is Sh Ch Raoul Du Sulon at Brittyhill (Imp Fra) (I can work out what some of the abbreviations mean, but can anyone tell me what Imp Fra means - is there a definition list somewhere for novices?).

Her official name is Stourling Demeter, otherwise known as Pebble to us.

Mugi

Imp Fra = means Imported Dog from France in this case.

She looks lovely.

Victoria

Hi Monique, Imp Fr means that he was imported from France. My puppy's dam is Imp UK!!

Annie as admin

Hi Monique
We all know Raoul very well, his owners, Pauline & Mike are Club Members. Do you have her Mum's name? Pebble is a lovely name for her - one of my pups (now 7 years old) carries that pet name too. We'd love to see some photos of her as she progresses. Do you have any specific plans for her on working, agility etc, or is she mainly your companion?
Please join the CLub - we are a very friendly bunch! Wink

Some of us are a bit mad, but then if you own a Brittany you must be a bit mad too Rolling Eyes

Annie

MonHawk

I sort of guessed that Raoul must be well-known, he is also Pebble's maternal great-grandfather!! Smile

(Her grandfather is Brittyhill Varrim).

Pebble's mum is Brittybarton Tiny Tina at Stourling, otherwise known as Isca, but the breeder told me she's not a member of the Brittany club. Isca's just had this one litter.

I do think I'm a bit mad, we agonised so much before getting Pebble. We wanted a family pet (we have 2 children aged 7 and 8 ), and when looking for a breed narrowed it down to gundogs. On the Kennel Club website I took a look at all the gundog breeds, and instantly fell in love with the Brittany, having never heard of them before. But we appreciate how much exercise they need, so thought long and hard over whether it was fair on the dog, for us to get her. We are very lucky that we are surrounded by lots of woods and commons, we love walking, cycling and running and have many friends with dogs, so in the end we decided it would be fine. (We hope!).

I don't intend working her, but would be very interested in doing agility. In fact last weekend we had a bit of fun with her by setting up a seesaw (plank of wood over paint tub), tunnel (kids tent tunnel) and hoop (kids hoolahoop) and just larking around. She seemed to like it though!

We're down to join puppy socialisation class in 2 weeks time, and then beginners obedience class at the end of the summer.

She seems very bright so far, and we thought we'd got housetraining down to a tee, but unfortunately this morning I was greeted by 2 accidents...

The kids love her, but she's still very bitey and scratchy, hopefully she'll calm down a bit when she's allowed to meet other dogs.

Any tips and hints very gratefully received!

Annie as admin

Gosh, Pebble has landed on her paws. You sound a lovely family. The person to speak to on agility is Liz Muir, who is a Committee member - you can see her diary on Sherry and Ozzies agility antics here
http://thebrittanyclub.myfreeforum.org/about725.html
Hope you'll join the Club and come to Le Weekend in October
Annie

MonHawk

Thank you.

How do I join the club? I've looked at the application form, but how do I go about getting a Proposer and Seconder?

Monique

Annie as admin

Normally we say to ask your breeder to sign, but since he/she isn't a member either send it to me with your cheque made out to BCGB - I'll take it from there. You could try persuading Pebble's breeder to join too Laughing

Ghilliegumdrop

You can buy some stuff called 'Slug It' liquid which you water on the ground. It's brilliant stuff and the dogs, birds etc cannot eat it....most garden centers sell it.

johnhod

Victoria

Or give the beer to a horde of hedgehogs!!
Covered bucket or tin lids with bran will get them, but if there are heaps of them it might not be so effective.

Ghilliegumdrop

And oatmeal sprinkled around plants will also get them. They eat the oatmeal and then swell up and go pop.....lovely thought Twisted Evil

MonHawk

I most like the suggestion of drinking the beer...

We've been picking up slugs recently, as a sort of mindless therapy. Makes no dent on the slug population, even though we easily pick up about 50 in 5 minutes.. They love the bucket of salty water we put them in Sad

SlugIt has also got Metaldehyde in it, so maybe less dangerous because it's not in the form of pellets, but still..

I am looking forward to my order of NemaSlug arriving, if it works then I think it's an extremely good solution.

In the meantime Pebble is strictly on the lead every time she goes out - in this wet weather it's almost impossible to keep her off the slugs. Somebody please tell me that they lose interest in slugs when they grow up??

Ghilliegumdrop

Yes......then they go on to snails [well they are French] some of them[mentioning no names] quite like rolling on snails and then wiping the result off on chairs, clothes etc Rolling Eyes

Annie as admin

Sure they do! They find things like dead rabbits Twisted Evil

Mugi

Ghilliegumdrop

Guess who else has taken a liking to snails.......I'm hoping he will come back from Rory having been cured of the habit [but I'm not holding my breath] perhaps we should be putting garlic on them, the snails I mean Rolling Eyes

Annie as admin

Get some ducks - I don't have one snail or slug in my whole garden, but plenty of lovely fresh eggs. Wink