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Do slugs like metal?

FireFire Posts: 17,116
in Tools and techniques
Some slugs enjoy hiding under dead leaves, on rotting wood and they delight in plastic. Turning over rocks and terracotta I will often find them snoozing. But do you find they like metal? Are metal containers (pots, troughs), bed edging, trellising etc less attractive to them? Do find that slugs are less likely to scale rusted containers than, say, plastic?

(This is not a question about copper).

Do slugs like metal? 9 votes

Yes, slugs love metal - I see them on metal often
11%
Jenny_Aster 1 vote
No, I don't often find slugs on metal - they seem to like other materials better
11%
edhelka 1 vote
Shrug. No idea.
44%
B3raisingirlSonnieBCanterburyBells 4 votes
I don't understand the question
11%
Chris-P-Bacon 1 vote
Other
22%
LynSkandi 2 votes
«1

Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 9,979
    Metal conducts heat very well, so that's probably got something to do with it.
    Hiding from the sun squeezed under a bit of metal in the sun would kill it - and may freeze in the cold
    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,623
    Other
    I find slugs UNDER metal, but I don't have any vertical metal for them to climb, they like being under the feeders and troughs that are metal.
  • FireFire Posts: 17,116
    edited February 2022
    Skandi said:
    I find slugs UNDER metal, but I don't have any vertical metal for them to climb, they like being under the feeders and troughs that are metal.

    Interesting @Skandi - so by you they are not actually sitting on the metal, but sheltering under it? They don't have to touch it at any point to get there?
  • war garden 572war garden 572 Posts: 290
    what type metal copper,steel, iron, aluminum ?
  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,623
    Other
    They cling to it the same as to any other thing I leave lying on the ground so they don't seem to care, it's rusted iron if that makes any difference.
    I've also found them under the rim of the stainless steel water bowl I have out for birds/dogs etc.
  • FireFire Posts: 17,116
    Thanks
  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 1,973
    In my garden they like anything that gains them access to fresh plant growth, particularly at a critical stage!
    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.
  • februarysgirlfebruarysgirl Posts: 640
    Not gonna lie, the title of this thread automatically conjured images of headbanging gastropods 😂 If slugs could be easily distracted by heavy metal we'd be sorted here! Add some beer traps and it'd be a mini Download Festival for slugs 🤘 😂

    From reading all the slug related posts I don't think anything will stop one hell bent on feasting on your plants.
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 6,449
    edited February 2022
    Shrug. No idea.
    I've got a couple of galvanised steel pots and they do seem to deter the slugs. There's plenty of other stuff for them to eat though, so whether it would work if they were hungry, I'm not convinced
    “Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first” 
  • Chris-P-BaconChris-P-Bacon Posts: 942
    I don't understand the question
    Clicked on the wrong option.. but you can't seem to edit once you've voted.
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