Are Slugs Poisonous? A Few Effective Ways to Get Rid of Them
The slug, commonly known as the snail without a shell, is a mollusk that looks like a snail without a shell, with a moist and slimy body surface, dark black, dark gray, yellowish white or grayish red in color. So, are slugs poisonous? How to get rid of them?
1. Are slugs poisonous?
Slugs are non-toxic.
1. The slug is a general term for animals in the family Arionidae (slugs). When an adult is stretched out, its body length is 30-60 mm and its body width is 4-6 mm; its body surface is dark black, dark gray, yellowish white or grayish red, soft, smooth and without a shell, with colorless mucus; it has 2 pairs of antennae, dark black, the lower pair is shorter, about 1 mm, called the anterior antennae, which have a sensory function, and the upper pair is about 4 mm long, called the posterior antennae, with eyes at the tips.
2. Slugs overwinter as adults or juveniles in moist soil at the roots of crops. From May to July, they are active in large numbers in the fields and cause damage. As summer arrives and the temperature rises, their activity weakens. After the climate turns cool in autumn, they become active and cause damage again. They are afraid of light and are all active at night, starting to move out from dusk, reaching a peak at 10-11 p.m., and then gradually burrowing into the soil or hiding places before dawn.
3. The slug is a harmful animal with complex feeding habits and a relatively large food intake. It feeds widely, eating strawberry leaves into holes, or feeding on their fruits. It mainly eats taro, breadfruit, small-fruited fig, blood tree, Wedelia chinensis, Wedelia biflora, vegetables, mushroom bulbs, mushrooms and other plants, fungi and their fruits, etc. It has strong starvation tolerance and can refrain from eating or moving under conditions of food shortage or poor conditions.
4. Although slugs are non-toxic, their body surface is moist and slimy, and they look too disgusting. They are pests, yet they can be used as medicine. They are salty in taste and cold in nature, and have the effects of clearing heat and dispelling wind, reducing swelling and detoxifying, and breaking phlegm and unblocking meridians. They are used to treat stroke with deviation of the mouth and eyes, muscular contracture, convulsions, asthma, throat obstruction, swelling of the pharynx, carbuncles, erysipelas, amenorrhea, abdominal masses, centipede bites and other conditions.
2. How to get rid of slugs?
Slugs are pests, so they need to be eliminated. Here are several methods you can try.
Method 1: Elimination with salt, white sugar, or natural enemies: Sprinkle a little salt or white sugar on the slug's body, and it will die from severe dehydration, or introduce natural enemies such as chickens, ducks, and geese and let them eat the slugs as much as possible.
Method 2: Elimination by food lure: Add milk, beer, or cornmeal to a glass bottle, leave the bottle mouth exposed, and bury it in places where slugs frequently appear to lure them inside, then let natural enemies eliminate them.
Method 3: Elimination with high temperature and strong light: Slugs are afraid of high temperatures and strong light. You can use plastic film mulching to cause their death due to temperature stress and lack of food sources, or increase heat sources or light sources to improve plant physiological activity and photosynthesis intensity for control.
Method 4: Elimination with chemicals: Mixing chemicals with seeds can reduce slug damage; spraying crops with chemicals can control them; fumigating with toxic chemicals in greenhouses can kill slugs above and below ground at one time; during periods of high slug infestation, use toxic bait or toxic powder for control.
Method 5: Elimination with ginger powder, lime, aluminum sulfate, or plant ash: Sprinkle ginger powder, lime, plant ash, or aluminum sulfate in places where slugs appear, and it can kill them.
Method 6: Repelling with plant scents: Plant mint, scallions, ginger, garlic, chicory, etc. around the plants. The scents given off by these plants can repel most slugs and stop them from approaching the vegetables.
Method 7: Repelling with copper wire: Wrap a thin ring of copper wire around the base of the plant. Slugs do not like the weak electromagnetic field emitted by the copper wire and will stay far away.
Summary: Slugs are non-toxic, just a little disgusting. They are pests, yet they can be used as medicine and have the effects of clearing heat and dispelling wind, reducing swelling and detoxifying, and breaking phlegm and unblocking meridians. Because they are pests, this article introduces several methods to eliminate them, and we hope they are useful to everyone.