slug slime
schubbs
Posts: 3
There is a waste ground behind my back fence. An eco-friendly way of getting rid of slugs from my garden is to collect them by hand and lob them over the fence (though I'm sure they make their way back). However, I am left with a lot of slime on my hands after a session of slug lobbing which soap, bleach, lemon or vinegar can't shift. Only a pan scourer liberally applied will get the stuff off. Any less aggressive ways to clean off my hands please?
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Posts
Wear gloves-or wear disposable gloves
Yep, wear gloves.
And it's been proven that they do head straight back.
It's quite an extraordinary substance. Normal washing simply doesn't touch it. I'm surprised it doesn't have some important commercial application.
I use gloves, but it makes a mess of them, so best keep some old gloves just for that purpose. The gloves need to be fairly thin too, to allow a good sense of feeling, otherwise it can be difficult to detach the slug from the plant, without dropping it.
Slugs and snails have a very good sense of smell, the slime they secrete is to alert other slugs and snails to where the good feeding spots are, and so that they can find their way back.
I admire your good intentions of moving them to a patch where they can roam free but in reality they'll find their way back quickly unfortunately.
I've found that wetting your hands with cold water then rubbing with plenty of salt works quite well, then rinse with cold water again.
just a thought but how about someline like vasaline put on your hands first to act as a barrier cream?
I have taken to dropping my snails into a bucket of salty water to dispatch them to ensure they dont come back!
i have mentioned my bucket of snails a couple of times. This was collected in an alarmingly short period of time
Wear gloves - I lob mine into the allotment behind the house,
on the basis there are far more tastier leaves there than in my garden so assume they don't want to sliver back across a cobbled back street 
Water on it's own makes the slime worse, so rub off as much as you can with dry paper towels, then dampen one with white wine vinegar and salt to wipe the remainder off, before washing with soap and water. Or, a lot easier, dedicate a cheap pair of garden gloves to your slug-lobbing pursuits!
I'm with Sparklepinksunflower on this one. Plastic freebie teabag -out- of -pot extractor (No touching slimy critures for me!) and bucket of salt water!